Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-06-07
The BARRAS MEMOIRS.
Review by M. w. HaseItine of
the New York Sun.
BOOK OF VERY GREAT INTEREST.


by Her Former Friend.
The volumes of Barras memoirs-the
book which all Napoleonic readers have
been eagerly expecting-have made their
appearance
Who was Barras9
Let us rapidly run over the outline Of
his life. Paul Jean Francois Nicolas vi
comte de Barras was born June 80, 1885,
at Fosse- Emphoux, in Var. BY birth he
was an aristocrat of the aristocrats allied
by blood or by marriage to the noblest fam
lilies of France.
His youth, save for brief service against
the English in India was one of wild dis
sipation in the French capital. Then came
the revolution. Barras cast his lot with
the antirOyalists. In the national conven-
ton, where he represented Var, he even
voted for the immediate execution of Louis
XIV. He conducted the siege of Toulon
and suppressed the revolt in the south of
France, but he antagonized Robespierre
with bitter hatred and played the chief
part in the tyrant's downfall.
He then became virtual dictator, and in
1895, being again appointed commander
in chief by the convention he called to his
aid young CorsiCan named BOnaparte,
whom he had first met at the siege of TOu-
Ion. BOnaparte crushed the insurgent sec
tions with the historic "whiff of grape
shot" He was mainly instrumental in
sending Napoleon to Italy to begin his ex-
traordinary career of battle and conquest.
Eventually his protege turned against him,
and by the coup d'etat of the 18th Bru-
MARIE (Nov. 9, 1890 ousted him from
power and sent him into exile. After the
restoration he returned to Paris and occu-
pied himself chiefly in compiling these
memoirs
First Interview With Napoleon.
Toward the close of 1898 Barras, who
was in high favor with the Jacobins, then
dominant in Paris, Robespicrre alone dis
trusting the sincerity of his sentiments
and despising his corruption was sent as
representative of the convention to the
republican army then besieging Toulon,
which was defended by British fleet and
a land force mainly composed of English
men and Spaniards. Barras tells us that,
engrossed as he was with everything de-
manded by such a serious undertaking as
the capture of Toulon, he thought that
careful attention should in the first place
be paid to those points on the coast Of
Provence where the enemy might effect
further landings.
He needed an officer who understood rec
onnoitering and how to place batteries. For
such work an intelligent lieutenant would
suffice. 81 intrusted it, he says, "to one
of the youngest, who came to me to receive
instructions. He fulfilled his mission
promptly and punctually. Well pleased
with the report he handed me on my re-
turn, said to him, I thank you, captain
He replied to me most respectfully: 4 beg
pardon. l am only lieutenant You
are a captain, was my reioinder, because
you deserve to be one, and 1 have the pow
er to confer that rank on you. Such
was Bonaparte's first interview with Bar
ras.
Napoleon Like Marat.
The author recalls that he was struck
with the latter's activity from the time
they first came together at Toulon, while
his attention to his military duties i'm
pressed the representative of the convention
favorably. The two had many CONVERSE
tions during the preparations for the siege
and, presently admitted to the table of
Barras the young artillery officer was al
ways placed at the hosts side. The attrac-
ton which the author felt for him is ut
tributed to the amazing physical resem-
blance which Bonaparte at this time bore
to Marat.
That such likeness existed will be new
to many persons, and we accordingly
quote the passage which relates to it: "The
world in general is inclined to kindness
and even to certain admiration for a man
of frail physique who displays more
strength than nature seems to have grant
ed him. His soul appears superior to his
body, and one feels that he ought to have
credit for q double triumph. independents
1y of this reason, there was another about
which do not wish to make any mystery,
but which attracted me toward this young
lieutenant of artillery. 1t was not merely
the merit Of courageous activity, the per-
petual motion and physical agitation
which, rcplcte with energy, began with
the head, never to end, even at the eXtrem-
tiles, in that little man of low stature. 1t
was rather in all this ensemble a striking
resemblance to one of tho famous, not to
say the most famous, of the men who fitted
by on the stage of the revolution. This
revolutionist whose name the reader is
anxiously awaiting I do not hesitate to
III lllt llttlNC JTtSSlOll VI Jlt
ness debating my memoirs. Well then,
this physical double of Bonaparte was
Marat."
Napoleon Made General In Chief.
What part did Bonaparte play in the
overthrow of the Paris sections by the con-
vention? According to Barras, "Bonaparte
was neither more nor less than my aid
de-camp on the 18th Vendemiaire. was
mounted. He was afoot and could conse-
quently not follow me wherever 1 went
The only mission hereceived from me was
to go to the Pont Royal and return and re-
port to me what was going on there. He
did not give, and had not the authority to
give, any order on his own account; he
was never at any point of attack except at
the Carrouscl, whence he did not stir after
once going to it. Bruno was in command
there"
1t seems singular that if the services of
Bonaparte on the 18th Vendemiaire were
so insignificant he should have been made
Immediately afterward the virtual general
of the Army of the Interior. 1t is well
known that this occurred. How the ap-
pointment came to be made is explained
by Barras as follows: "When 1 appeared
before the committee of public safety for
the purpose of rendering my resignation of
the post of commander of the Army of the
Interior, 1 noticed that several Of its men,