The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-04-13
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ty-eight Sectlons Jook up arms ob"i"'s sAe
Convention; and that great body was I'M
perilod by the onrushing OF counter rev.
olution. Matters came TO . crisis In the
beginning of October The Convention
had to protect itself by force or perish.
Swift, swift was the work now necessary
to be done. Tho stifed, but not extinct,
Jacobinism Of Paris began to below and
mobs from the disafected quarters OF tho
city came on unanimously to assaii the
Convention Hall and overthrow the exist
ing governments
Never has history shown more dra-
matte scene than that which now ensued
1t was tho 5th of October, 1895. In tho
peril of tho hour the Convention drew TO
itself the troops that were still faithful TO
the established order. A COMMANDER was
necessary. BY a hasty decree this danger
GUS honor was conferred on Paul Francois
Barras, president of the Convention. He
was intrusted with the fearful responsible.
ity OF protecting the body and preserving
II possible, the half-ripe-but ripening-
fruits of six years OF legislative toll and
travail. Ho had already shown himself
capable In two preceding riots This one,
however, was more formidable What he
most of all needed In the emergency was
real commander, who had the courage and
skill to extemporize, with all haste, divi-
sion Of troops for the defense of the gov
ernment. Barras arose In his place, and
nominated as his lieutenant and second In
command Napoleon Bonaparte He had
seen that officer at his guns before Toulon,
Napoleon himself was sitting, obscurely,
In the gallery when his name was present.
cd for the perilous duty. He accepted;
and Immediately there was speedy work.
A Houng officer, whom Napoleon know,
Joachim Murat by name-whom history
will presently record as the great cavalry
general Of the empire-was sent with all
speed out TO the Champ de Sablons TO
whirl In the batteries stationed there. In
few hours guns were planted around the
Convention Hall, and at the near by bydges
of tho Seine, commanding all lines OF APP
proach; and at the breecbes stood grim
gunncrs with lighted matches.
Here, then, was business for life or
death. The insurrection rolled itself In
great volumes along tho streets. 1t might
be seen coming on like the sea. The Sec
tion Lepelletier leads the van. The In
surgents get possession of the church OF st.
Roch, nearby, and then Of Pont Neuf, and
then bristle up face TO face with the guns
of the Corsican. There is not moments
hesitation. The order to fire Is quick and
sharp. The Convention Hall is suddenly
shaken to foundation stones with the roar
of artillery. The guns are loaded with
grape and canister. Horrid gaps are cut
In long bloody alloys through the insur-
gent mob Observation-Disclosures blown
by hundreds to horrid death. They 60
back before the hail Of destruction. The
National Convention Is saved. General
Bonaparte has the honor of suppressing
tho last mob of the French Revolutionl
Strange to note what the effect OF all
this was on the man himself He was in
nowise jubilant. Indeed he had besitated
for half hour before accepting the place
Of general against the revolted Sections.
In his report he covered up his own re-
sponsibility--as the facts gave him OPP
portunity to do-making it appear, con-
trary 10 his won't, that not he, but others,
had put down the mob. He had acted only
under orders of the National Convention
and General Barrasl Ever through life,
moreover he looked back with regret to
this hour and event Of his career Doubt
less, at bottom, he was Jacobin himself;
but he was an Imperial Jacobin. The two
elements In his character did not consist;
the one was at war with the other.
Thus much only Is certain, that Napo-
leon would gladly have had his great tri-
umph over the Partisan insurgents blotted
from the record. No doubt he was at heart
at one with insurrection; but he was also
the friend Of order. Long ago he had wit
messed on that memorable 10th of August,
the great mob successfully assailing and
sacking the TuileYies. Though no admirer
of the King-though himself at that time
q Jacobin adventurer--he nevertheless
longed to SEQ the mob blown away from
the ancient palace with blast from load
cd batteries--and said that he tcould do iU
His success In restoring order In the
capital may be said to have made Napo-
leon famous. He had already become an
adviser Of the Committee of Public Safety.
Indeed he held that relation before his
namo was stricken from the list of gen.
erals in active service. Eleven days after
the suppression of the Sections, he was
made professionally General of Division,
and four days afterwards the provision
ally" was struck out, and he was ap-
pointed commander of the Army of tho
Interior, having as its central field of
operations Paris itself.
Destiny reserved for the winter Of 1906
90 another capital fact in the life of her
devotee. Napoleon found Josephine. He
first met her at the house OF Barras She
belonged to the Socete des Victimes--
"Society ot\the Victims" To enter this
band of the new elite Parisiennes, one
must have lost recently near relative by
tho guillotinel Josephine had lost one
her husband. The Vicomte Alexandra de
Beauharnais had married Marie Josephe
Rose Tascher, the beautiful Creole of
Martinique, in December of 1770 She
was then in her seventeenth year. In 1880
the Vicomte came TO America with Ro-
chambeau. Afterwards he was deputy
in the States-Gesnral, and was twice pres
ident of tho National Convention. He
commanded, under Custine. at Mcntz, in
1893, when that place was surrenu, red TO
the Germans. To surrender was death.
He was hailed to trial. condemned and
guillotined only five days before the col
lapse of the Terror. When Robespierre
fell, tho Societe des Victimes was formed.
The light creatures took wing like butter
flies from the blood. pools of the Place de
la Revolution They still wore crepe on
their arms when they began TO dance anew