Parlement of Paris. Active freemason, he was a member of Les Neuf Soeurs lodge since its creation in 1776. His legal occupation did not prevent him from devoting himself to literature, and in 1785 he published an account of a visit he had made to the noted naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon at Montbard: La visite à Buffon, ou Voyage à Montbard. He was also the author of a philosophical work published after his death, Théorie de l'ambition. Despite his upbringing, Hérault became an early proponent of Revolutionary ideas, and took part in the storming of the Bastille in July 1789. In December 1790 he was appointed judge of the court of the 1st arrondissement in the département of Paris. From the end of January to April 1791, Hérault was absent on a mission in Alsace, where he had been sent to restore order following a period of civil unrest and to enforce the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Here he received death-threats. On his return he was appointed Commissaire du Roi in the Cour de cassation. Legislative Assembly and initial missions He was elected as a deputy for Paris to the Legislative Assembly, and in September 1792 was elected a deputy to the Convention, where he gravitated towards the extreme left. He also served as a member of several committees; during his time as a member of the diplomatic committee, on 11 June 1793, he presented a memorable report demanding that the nation should be declared to be in danger. During and after the 10 August 1792 insurrection, he worked alongside Georges Danton, one of the organizers and leading figures of this rising and, on 2 September, was appointed president of the Legislative Assembly. In 1792, he was elected to the National Convention as deputy for the département of Seine-et-Oise, and was sent on a mission to organize the new département of Mont Blanc. He was thus absent during the trial of King Louis XVI, but he made it known that he approved of his execution. 1793–1794 On his return to Paris, Hérault was several times president of the Convention, notably on 2 June 1793, the occasion of the attack on the Girondins (when he unsuccessfully pleaded for the troops to retreat), and on 10 August 1793, on which was celebrated the passing of the Acte constitutionnel (called "of The Mountain"); Hérault de Sechelles served, alongside Louis