The sun., 1895-05-26
SOME NEW BooKh
The Bsrrss r1er,oir..

The Bsrrss r1e>oirs.
70 has long been known that the vioomte DI
BAnnAs. better known es the successful oppo
mont of Robesperre, and most influential member
OF the Directorate. loft memoirs. or the material
for memoirs which was wrought by friend
into consecutive and readable form. It IL GER
tain that these memoirswere seenfn manuscript
by Lanfrey, and we may take for granted that
they wero also seen by Taine for he would
never have rested until he had ransaoked every
source of information which he knew to have
been inspected by any of his predecessor. II
these memoirs haye remained unpublished for
some sixty years, IL IL because they contained
matter obviously libellous and which almost
certainly would have subjected the publishers to
criminal prosecution. At the present time they
may escape punishment, for IL is clearly the
interest OF every one concerned In upholdinR the
third republic to quench the revival OF tho
Napoleonic legend in q flood Of ridicule and
obioquy. Such was unquestionably the aim Of
the author of these memoirs and we cannot
comprehend how their editor, NJ. George Duruy.
can reconcile their publication with his pro-
fe,sed, nay. apparently sincere, devotion 70 the
memory of the great Emperor 1t 10 true that
in two prefaccs and an Introduction the editor
attacks with forvor. and, in our opinion, man
ages TO demolish the two main theses which
Barras strove to establish: first, that Bona
parte was deserving of no particular credit In
connection with the siege of Toulon. or with
the successful struggle of the Convention against
Tho Paris sections on tho 18th Vendemiaire;
and secondly. that Bonaparte was guilty OF In
credible baseness in condoning at the time OF his
marriage with Josephine her preceding rea-
tions with Barras, and even connivlng at the
subsequent continuation Of the liaison. II the
editor was convinced that the charges made by
the ex-Director were gross ISLANDERS. without
any foundation in fact, he would have done bet
ter. one may think, to suppress the calumnies,
as they had already been suppressed for two
generations As he has chosen to publish them,
however, and consequently they have passed
into the current material of history, to receive
such weight and value as the individual judg-
ment may afflx. 1t is needful to notice them, and
we shall. accordingly. proceed to outline what
Barras has to say in support Of the two main
theses above mentioned.
Ono preliminary word about tho author OF
these memoirs. the first two volumes OF which
are now published in an English translation by
tho Harpers. There were many self-stylod no.
bles of dubious pedigree even undor the ancient
regime but the vicomte Paul de Barras was not
one OF them. His family was one of the oldest
aud most honored in the Department OF the
Var. where he was born on June 80. 1865.
"Noble as the Barras. who are coeval with our
rocks" was Provencal proverb. One of his
ancestors commanded an important corps in ono
of the Crusades. Two of them were Grand Com
manders of the Order of 81. John of Jerusalem.
Ono was Grand Seneschal of Provence, another,
Grand Chamberlain to Charles VIII. The au-
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