New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-06-02

| sion this patronizng tone gives way TO admira-
ton for the genius of the young General. II In
those days Barras could have separated the
threads of his fate from those Of his col
leagues in the Directorate this note OF admiration
might have deepened into affection for Napoleon
and reverence for his genius. But the strongest
sririt In the Directorate that Of Carnot. and
the strongest feeling in Carnot was resentfulness
toward those more Intellectual than he was or
more popular more successful From the first
the experiment OF the Directorate an obvious
failure In a short time all France and all Eu-
rope gazed in wonder at a Government whose
armies were winning victories while It's own weak
ness was such that it could not police the cities
under its control Nobody more clearly
aware Of this inherent weakness than the Direct
ors. who looking to be masters had become the
victims of their own political machine If there
had been really authoritative mind among
them he could have anticipated the supremacy OF
Napoleon in his own person. II they could have
made up their minds to say frankly that their ex-
pertinent had failed and to step down and out be-
fore they were forced to do So they could have
saved their credit. The more ridiculous they be-
came the more petulantly they criticised men
who were stronger than they For authoritative
utterances they gradually substituted queruous
complaints when a blank silence would have
saved their dignity. In such conditions Barras
betrayed a steadily increasing acrimony toward
Napoleon, the tribute of man going down the
ladder to the man going up. But II any of the re-
marks which he makes in the small type of the
second volume compared with those on the
same topic the nearest page consecrated to
large type ii will be seen at once how far he was
as a Director from cherishng the bitterness which
characterized him as writer OF memoirs.
Thus the inference is plain that Barras.
throughout the active portion Of his life. was
better and wiser man than these volumes,
hastily scanned. would seem to show. 1t is neces-
sary to make this Inference otherwise his mod
Grafton in the councils of the Directorate is be-
yond explanation. One would be obliged to ac-
cuse him Of deliberate Justification every time he
reports his own speeches. unless one could at
tribute to him in those days certain sanity In
his views of things Americans can afford TO re-
member that he was less willing than his col
leagues to quarrel with the United States In
general, he superior 10 those panic terrors
which affrghted other Dir ,ctors and was able
to repress the tendencies to judicial slaughter
which they displayed. France could not have
Reign of II = II twice in the same century was
one Of the remarks with which he honored him
self. His practical philosophy may have been
trine cynical but IL efiicacious In It's de-
gree to the same ends which n more generous
feeling would have served. With all his limita-
tons considered. both those which he inherited
and those which a confessedy licentious lie
fastened upon him. he must at least be acquitted
Of hypocrisy of deliberate intent to falsify
facts. If his account Of certain noteworthy epi-
sodes the capture OF Toulon or the fall OF Robe
SPHERE for example. modified by frequent
nd by the reSentmpntS OF old age.
that would still be a very different thing from
saving that he was consciously forging history.
The effect OF repetition the memories OF an Old
soldier has often been remarked 1t is some
thing which historical critic can approximately
estimate He NAV also discount senile exagger-
alton But when these deductions have been
made from significant chapters In these volumes.
the remainder must stand the work OF man
who meant to tell the truth. and who felt that
the facts justified the hatred which he could not
restrain The conditions under which the WORK
has been produced will always cast shadow
on its credibility. The share in 1t Of NJ de saint
Albin as original writer over and above hi'
editing. will probably constitute one Of the I'M
answerable problems Of the future. Ike the
identity Of the Man in the Iron Mask. or the
authorship OF the letters Of Junius; but II the
history in It cannot be distinguished now from
tho embellishments of malice II would be better
to burn il than to circulate II. The only feasible
starting point for discriminating criticism must
be an acknowledgment that Barras meant 70 tell
the truth and that he was capable Of doing this
even when he spoke I'll Of men and women whom
he had known.
As TO the Bonapartc family. 1t may be said
safely that Barras In his bitterest moods. with
the aid Of NJ. de Sant-Albn Is unable to say any
worse things Of 1t than lis members in their time
said Of each other. BarraSs gross disclosures re-
speeding Josephine will shock those only who are
unfamiliar with history. NJ. Duruy. as a Bona
partst. defends himself on this ground for allow
jrg these portions Of Barras's "reminiscences To
see the light. II content myself" says he. with
referring to the supplement Of the Geographic
Michaud' and to the Papiers ct Corrcspondances
de la Famille Imperiale the persons I may be
unfortunate enough to dlsplcase by allowing the
wicked utterances of the ex-member Of the Di-
rectorate about her who Empress Of the
French to see the light Of publication 1t will be
sufficient to glance this article Of the
Geographic and the two letters of Josephine TO
Barras published BY the commission which az
cepted the task of ransackng subsequent to the
4th of September. 1870. the papers Of the En-
peror Napoleon III. in order to convince them
selves that the Memoirs Of Barras. whatever in
nuendoes they may contain. reveal nothing on
this score which has not long since been di-
vuged" Frederic Massons book on Napoleon
and the women who were intimate with him. be
meath its decorous and eloquent phrases, carries
a vivid suggestion Of the antecedents of the
woman whom Napoleon married In haste and
divorced al his leisure. and NJ. Mason does lot
hesitate TO make II plain that Napoleon would
have been justified by her subsequent conduct in
demanding separation for other than reasons
OF State In the light Of all that could be said on
the subject, one wonders II NJ. Duruy Was rot
indulging in a conscious rhetorical flourish when
he penned this sentence: 81 would doubtless nave
shrunk before the revelation Of the weaknesses
to which it is unfortunately too certain jose
phne allowed herself to succumb previous TO the
time when deep sentiment-one probably new TO
her-purined her Of those vices Of the day, and
made the too quickly consoled widow of Alex
andre de Beauharnais the bameless wife OF the