The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-02-26

Swift, swift WAS the work now necessary
TO be done The stitied, hut not extinct
Jacobinism Of Paris began Co below; and
mobs from the disaffected quarters OF the
city came ON unanimously TO assail the
Convention Hall and overthrow tho exist
ing government
Never has history shown more dra-
matte scene than that which now epsued
1t was the 9th of October. 1895. In the
peril of the hour the Convention drew to
itself the troops that were still faithful to
the established order. A commander was
necessary. BY hasty decree this danger
Gus honor was conferred on Paul Francois
Barras, president OF the Convention. He
was intrusted with the fearful responsible
lily of protecting the body and preserving
II possible, the half -ripe-but ripening-
fruits of six years of legislative toll and
travail. He 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 a
real commander who had the courage and
skill to extemporize, with all haste, divi-
sion of troops for the defense of the gov
eminent. 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
ed 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 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
a few hours guns were planted around the
Convention Hall, and at the nearby bridges
of the Seine, commanding all lines of APP
proach; and at the breeches stood grim
gunners with lighted matches.
Here, then, was business for life or
death. The instruction rolled itself in
great volumes along the streets. 1t might
be seen coming on like the sea. The Sec
ton Lepellctier 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 alleys through the insur-
gent mob. Observation-Disclosures blown
by hundreds to horrid DEATH They go
back before the hail of destruction. The
National Convention is saved. General
Bonaparte has the honor of suppressing
the last mob of the French Revolutions
Strange TO note what the effect of all
this was on the man himself. He was in
nowise jubilant. Indeed he had hositated
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 TO 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 a 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 Instruction; 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 Tuileries. Though no admirer
of the King-though himself at that time
Jacobin adventurer-he nevertheless
longed to see the mob blown away from
the ancient palace with blast from load
ed batteries-and said that he lcOutd do it
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
name 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 the
Interior, having as its central field of
operations Paris itself.
Destiny reserved for the winter of 1905
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 Societe des Victimes-
Society of the Victims" To enter this
band of the new elite Parisiennes, one
must have lost recently n near relative by
the guillotinel Josephine had lost one
her husband. The Vioomte Alexandra de
Beauharnais had married Marie Josephe
Rose Tasoher, the beautiful Creole Of
Martinique, in December of 1879. She
was then in her seventeenth year. In 1880
the Vicomte came to America with Ro-
chambeau. Afterwards he was a deputy
In the States General, and was twice pres
ident of the National Convention. He
commanded, under Custine, at Mentz, in
1898, when that place was surrendered 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, the Societe des Victimes was formed.
The light creatures took wing like butter
flies from the blood pools of the Place de
la Revolution. They ltill wore crepe on
their arms when they began to dance anew
In Greek sandals and ohignons and classic
al scarfs girdled at the waist. Napoleon
saw one of Them and admired and loved.
So he told Bourrienne, while pointing
out Josephine one evening at fashion
able cafe. There was swift courtship. A
story goes that Eugene Beauharnais went
to Napoleon to recover his father the vi
comte's sword, which had been taken at
the disarmament of the Sections. The
youth got the sword, kissed &c, won the