Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-04-15


 sued. It WAS tho 9th of October 1795. In the peril of the hour the Convention drew to itself the troops that were still faithful to tho established order. A commander was necessary. By hasty decree this dangerous honor was con- ferred on Paul Francois Barras presi- dent of the Convention. He was intrust- ed with the fearful responsibility of protecting the body and preserving, if possible, the half-ripe-but ripening-. fruits of six years of legislative toll and travail. He had already shown himself capable ill two preceding riots. This one, however, was moro formidable What he most of all needed in the elner- gency was real commander, who had the courage and skill to extemporize with all haste, S division of troops for the defense of the government. Barras arose in his place, and nominated as his lieutenant and second in command Ma poleon Bonaparte. He had seen that officer at his guns before Toulon.
 Napoleon himself was sitting, ob- scurely, in tho gallery when his name was presented for the perilous duty. He accepted; and immediately there was speedy work. A young officer, whom Napoleon knew, Joachim Murat by name-whom history will presently re- cord as the great cavalry general of the empire-was sent with all speed out to the Champ dc Sablons, to whirl in the batteries stationed there. In few hours guns were planted around the Conven- tion Hall, and at the nearby bridges of the Seine, commanding all lines of ap- proach; and at the brooches stood grim gunners with lighted matches &
 Here, then, was business for life or death. The instruction rolled itself in great volumes along the streets. It might be seen coming on like the sea. The Section Lepelletier leads the van. The insurgents get possession of the church of St Koch, 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 ar- tillery. The guns are loaded with grape and canister. Horrid gaps are cut in long bloody alleys through the insurgent mob. -Frenchmen-are blown by hundreds tohorrid death. They go back before the hail of destruction. The Ma tional Convention is saved. General Bonaparte has the honor of suppressing the last mob of the French ReYolutionI
 Strange to note what the effect of all this was on the man himself He was i'll nowise jubilant. Indeed he had hesi- tated for half hour before accepting the place of general against the revolt ed Sections. In his report he covered up his own responsibilities the facts gave him opportunity to do-making it ap- pear, contrary to his won't, that not he, but others, had put down the mob He had acted only under orders of the Na- tienal Convention and General Barrasl Ever through life, moreover, he looked back with regret to this hour and event of his career, Doubtless, at bottom, he was Jaoobin himself; but he was an Imperial Jacobin Tho two elements in his character did not consist; the one was aG war With the other.
 Thus much only is certain, that Ma poleon would gladly have had his great triumph over the Parisian insurgents plotted from the record. No doubt he was at heart at one with insurrection; but he was also the friend of order.
 His success in restoring order in the capital may be said to have made Napo- leon famous Ho had already become an adviser of tho Committee of Public Safety. Indeed he held that relation be- fore his nanlo.was stricken from the list of generals in active service. Eleven days after tho suppression of the Sec tions, ho was made pfonisiondllB Gen eral of Division, and four days after wards the provisionally" was struck out, and he was appointed. commander of the Army of tho Interior, having IS it's central field of operations Paris lt- self.
 Destiny reserved for tho winter of l795 96 another capital fact in the life of her deyotee. Napoleon found Jose phine He first met her at the honso of Barras. She belonged to the Societe des sViotimes--s' Society of tho Victims.
 To enter this band of tho new elite Parisiennes, one must have lost recently a near relative by the guillotinel Jose phine had lost one--her husband. The Vicomte Alexandre de Beauharnais had married Marie Josophe Rose Tascher, the beautiful Creole of Martinique ih December of l779. She was then in hes seventeenth year. In l780 tho Vicomte came to America with Rochambeau. Afterwards he was a deputy in the States General, and was twice president of tho National Convention. He eom- manded, under Custine, at Mentz, ln l793, when that place was surrendered to the Germans. To surrender was death. He was haled to trial, con- demned and guillotined only five days before the collapseof the Terror. When l Robespierre fell, the Societe dos Vic times was formed. The light creatures | took wing like butterflies from the blood pools of tho Place de la Revolu- s;1., nI,axv ckiII xuoro ora1,n op thafr