Thomas Mahi Favras, marquis de, a French conspirator, born in Blois in 1745, hanged in Paris,.Feb. 19,. 1790. Having entered the army and served in several campaigns, he was made first lieutenant in the Swiss guards of the count de Provence (afterward Louis XVIII.), and in 1787 commanded a legion in Holland during the insurrection against the stadtholder. In December, 1789, he was apprehended as the ringleader of a plot to introduce an army of 30,000 men, Swiss and Germans, into Paris by night, which was to murder Bailly, Lafayette, and Necker, and to carry off the royal family and the seals of state to Peronne. He was supposed to be a secret agent of the highest personages, and suspicion was directed to the count de Provence, who exculpated himself by a speech at the hotel de ville. Favras was summoned before the Chatelet, where he defended himself with great calmness. His witnesses were refused a hearing, and the whole trial was conducted in the most irregular manner. The populace shouted Favras to the lamp post," and he was condemned to be hanged. He met his fate with unshaken fortitude.

When told that no revelations would save his own life, he answered,Then my secret shall die with me." His execution took place at night, by the light of .torches, amid the jests of the crowd.

Favositea Niagarieusis.