He retained all the employees of his office apart from those who were totally hostile to the revolution. Due to this he was denounced as being an instrument of the moderate faction. At this time the Committee of Public Safety was becoming increasingly powerful, and the ministers were becoming secondary agents. Dismissal and death On 12 Germinal year II (1 April 1794) Lazare Carnot proposed to suppress the executive council and the six ministers, replacing the ministers with twelve Committees reporting to the Committee of Public Safety. The proposal was unanimously adopted by the National Convention. During the Terror (5 September 1793 – 28 July 1794) Destournelles tried in vain to defend one of his brothers, but was arrested himself. He was kept in prison until 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794). Convinced that he would not escape execution by the revolutionaries, he took poison during his captivity. The dose did not kill him immediately, but hastened his death. Destournelles died in Passy, today the 17th arrondissement of Paris, on 27 July 1795. References Citations Sources 1744 births 1795 deaths French politicians