Anionic Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave, a French revolutionist, born at Grenoble, Oct. 22, 1761, guillotined at Paris, Nov. 29, 1793. He was educated for the law, and at the age of 22 he was chosen by the bar of Grenoble to pronounce a discourse at the closing of the parliament; his subject was the "Division of Political Powers.1' He distinguished himself in 1788 by a pamphlet against certain arbitrary measures of the king; and a few months after he was elected a deputy of the third estate in the states general which met at Versailles, May 4, 1789. He supported the movement for a national assembly, the formation of the national guard, the abolition of all feudal privileges, the declaration of the rights of man, the secularization of the church estates, the emancipation of the Jews, the abolition of religious orders, and the abolition of negro slavery; and opposed the absolute veto of the king, the elegibility to office of members of the national assembly, and the conferring on the king the right of making peace and war. On the last two questions he separated from Mirabeau. In October, 1790, he was made president of the assembly.

On May 11, 1791, he proposed that no change should be made in regard to slavery without the consent of the planters; he was opposed by Robespierre, Sieyes, and Gregoire, and defeated. On the flight of the royal family and their arrest at Varennes, he was sent with Latour-Maubourg and Petion to bring back the captives to Paris. From the date of this event he was totally changed. He became the advocate of the king and queen, and maintained constant relations with the latter, endeavoring to bring them into unison with the constitutional party in the assembly. He defended the inviolability of the royal person, opposed the proposition to give soldiers the right of denouncing their officers, spoke in behalf of priests who denied the authority of the assembly, and moved the order of the day on the question of the right of the assembly to dismiss the ministers. He retired to Grenoble in January, 1792, and devoted himself to political philosophy and literature until Aug. 29, when he was arrested on account of a pamphlet found in Jhe king's cabinet. He was kept 10 months in prison at Grenoble; was transferred to Paris, Nov. 3, 1793, and was tried before the revolutionary tribunal Nov. 28, and guillotined the next day.

His last words to the people about the scaffold were: "Behold the reward for all that I have done for liberty." A statue was erected to him in the senate house under the consulate, but on the restoration of the Bourbons it was removed. His works have been collected in four volumes by M. Berenger (de la Dr6me).