JORDAN, CAMILLE (1771-1821), French politician, was born in Lyons, January 11, 1771, of a well-to-do mercantile family. He was educated in Lyons, and from an early age was imbued with the royalist principles that distinguished his townsmen. He actively supported by voice, pen, and musket his native town in its gallant resistance to the Convention ; and when Lyons fell, in October 1793, Jordan fled. From Switzerland he passed in six months to England, where he formed acquaintances with other French exiles and with prominent British statesmen, and imbibed a lasting admiration for the English constitution. In 1796 he returned to France, and next year lie was sent by Lyons as a deputy to the council of five hundred. There his eloquence won him consideration. He earnestly supported what he felt to be true freedom, especially in matters of religious worship, though the energetic appeal on behalf of church bells in his Rapport Sur fca liberte des cellos procured him the sobriquet of Jordan-Cloche. .Jordan would have been one of the victims of the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor (September 4, 1797) had he not escaped to Basel. Thence he went to Germany, where he met Goethe, and probably laid the foundation of his affection for German literature, especially as represented by Klopstock. Back again in France by 1800, he boldly published in 1802 his V•ai Sens du Vote Xational pour is Consulat a lie, in which he exposed the ambitious schemes of the First Consul. He was unmolested, however, and during the first empire lived in literary retirement at Lyons with his wife and family, producing for the.Lyons Academy occasional papers on the Influence reciproque de l'Eloguence sur la Revolution, et de la Revolution, sue l'Elopence ; Etudes sur Kiopstocle, &c. At the failing health to resign, Camille Jordan remained at his post till his death, May 19, 1821.

To his pen we owe Lettre a M. Lamou•ette, 1791 ; Histoire de la COUUCTS2.072. dune Dome Parisienne, 1792; La Loi et la Religious Fengees, 1792; Adresse a ses Commettants see la Revolution du 4 Septembre 1797, 1797 ; Sur les Troubles de Lyon, 1818; La Session de 1817, 1818. His Discours were collected in 1818. The "Fragments Choisis," and translations from the German, were published in L'Abeille fraPcalse.

Besides the various histories of the time, see for further details, vol. a. of the Revue Eneyelopedique; and a paper on Jordan and Madame de Staiil, by Sainte-Drove, iu the Reese des Deux Mendes for March 1568.