Charles Francois Dumouriez, a French general, born in Cambrai, Jan. 25, 1739, died near Henley-upon-Thames, England, March 14,1823. He served with distinction and was frequently wounded during the seven years' war, and afterward engaged in the war and intrigues which brought on the annexation of Corsica to France, and in the affairs of Poland previous to the first partition of that country. After the accession of Louis XVI. he was put in command at Cherbourg, where important improvements were accomplished under his direction. In 1787 he was appointed brigadier general. During the first years of the revolution he maintained friendly intercourse with the court, while gaining popularity with the revolutionists. A member of the club of Jacobins, he became in March, 1792, minister of foreign affairs in the cabinet formed by the Girondists. His counsels displeased the king; he also disagreed with his colleagues, who were dismissed, and he himself resigned. Assuming command of the French army on the N. E. frontier in August, 1792, he stopped by a series of brilliant operations the advance of the Prussians, who were repulsed at Valmy, Sept. 20. He now crossed the frontier, routed the Austrians at Jemmapes, Nov. 0, took possession of Brussels, and within one month completed the conquest of Belgium. After a visit to Paris, during which he was denounced as secretly negotiating for the rescue of the king, he planned the conquest of Holland; but having been defeated at Neer-winden, March 18, 1793, he plotted with the enemy the overthrow of the republic.

The convention summoned him to appear at their bar, and on his refusal the minister of war, Beurnonville, and four commissioners were sent to arrest him. Dumouriez had them seized by some of his hussars and delivered to the Austrians; but he had mistaken the sentiments of his own troops, and was obliged to fiy. This he did in company with the young duke de Chartres, the future king Louis Philippe, the soldiers firing at them while they escaped. He was coldly received by the Austrians, and after wandering about the continent went to England, where, in consideration of some secret services, he received a pension of £1,200. He then published his Memoires and a series of pamphlets on the affairs of France. He is charged with having devised plans of military operations against the French, and given directions in 1814 to the allied armies for the invasion of France. However this may be, he did not succeed in conciliating the favor of the Bourbons, and never returned to France. - See La me et les memoires du general Dumouriez, by himself (3 vols. 8vo, Hamburg, 1794), translated into German and English.