The sun., 1897-09-12

Of polished wit, possessed OF remark abo
gift OF literary EXPRESSION and OF tho elegant
manners OF the Ancicn Regime. Barerc ex.
pressed wish to intrust tho posthumous pub
hcation OF his memoirs to Carnot, who. on his
part, considered the acceptance OF the task
duty to history and to ono OF tho founders OF
French liberty upon whom calumny had been
poured with no uncertain hand. He declares
Barere to have been n man of undoubted cour-
age. Of rigid incorruptiblty and unselfsh do.
votion to the great lido VI OF the French revolu.
tion. Barere himself believed that his Memoirs
would justify him in tho eyes OF right.thinking
mon and Of the truo friends OF France. He did not
eIpeot justice from Englishmen. OF whom he
had been. at all times. the I'm placable enemy.
The editing OF tho Memoirs was completed by
Hippolyte Carnot and by NJ. David. tho friend
but no kinsman Of the famous painter. in lS43.
They have never before appeared in English.
Tho translation before us. which has been care
fully made by Mr.. De v. Payon.Payne. is pub
nshed In four volumes by II. s. Nichols, Lon
don. These volumes are treasury OF flrst-hand
Information relating to the French revolution.
and they contain many valuable data with
gard to preceding and subsequent regimes.
for Sarere was born in tho reign OF Louis XIV,
and died in the reign of Louis Philippe. We
may say. at once that the effect OF the Me-
moirs Is to cause the reader to talsc very much
the same view of Barere was taken by his
fellow townsmon OF Tarbes, who knew him
thoroughly, and yet showered upon him proofs
of esteem and confidence at nll periods of his
life. In 1889. for instance. they chose him
eDeputy to the utes.Gencral. Two years tier
they nominated him u member of the Supreme
Court OF Appeals. In 1902 they sent him to the
National Convention. In 1897. while he was in
hiding to avoid the execution OF a warrant OF
transportation against him, his department
nominated him a Deputy to branch OF tho
national legislature In 1905 end 1910 1t
made him member OF the legislative body. In
1915. during the Hundred Days. he again
represented it in Parliament. Finally. after
euother Punishment OF fifteen years. and
forty.fve years after his first election. his fel.
low countrymen returned him once more to the
Chamber Of Deputies and to the General Coun-
Gil of the Department of the Upper Pyrenees.
Such perseverance on the part of electors un.
doubtedly sheds honor on the object OF their
choice.
Barere insists in these Memoirs that his career
In the National Con vention has been caumniated
and that there has been other example in
France OF such revolving injustice. ingratitude
and oppression as he suffered at the hands of
his enemies from 1895 to 1915: "As the re-
ward for about six hundred reports. and
for twenty.seven months continual toll in the
midst OF storms, was prescribed on the 10Th of
Germinal, year III april Q. 1885, then trans.
ported to the Isle OF Oleron, shut up for three
months in the Castle OF Saintes, and for six
months in a prison. and sent TO die. first in the
wastes of Guiana and then on the wild shores OF
Madagascar" To prove how little he deserved
such treatment he appeals to the numberess
persons whose lives and liberties he preserved
In Paris and to the public opinion of his depart
ment ttLo Upper Pyrences). where through his
influence. not drop of blood split during
the whole revolution. He also recalls the con-
temporary testimony in his favor supplied by
the indexes OF the If0niteur. and quotes some ex.
tracts. For example, page 800: when the shops
of Paris were looted on Feb. %, l795, Barere
cried, AS long as / am one Of the peo-
war against those who violate the rights Of
property, who place pillage and theft In the scat
or public morality. and who cover these crimes
with the mask of patriotism" Page 323
~Barero compares the foundation OF the revo-
lutionary tribunal to the vindictive contrv-
encos OF the most evil despot. He advocates
trial by jury, and reads from the tribune pas
sage from the Catitine of Ssllust, describing the
danger Of tribunals in which Judge acts with
out jury" At another time Barere demands
tho punishment of the authors OF the September
massacren. which had. he said. a parallel only in
the bloodthirsty anarchy OF Charles Wis
reign. On pages 312. 3l3. he "dcmands the
penalty OF death for those who propose agrarian
laws for tho division OF property" In tho
spring Of 1894 he ordered tho disbanding of tho
revolutionary armies and the discontinuance of
the public or civic meals. On another occasion
he opposed the violation OF the rights and i'm.
munities OF the national representatives and he
did II alone. at the peril OF his life. As for the
atrocious speeches that have been attributed to
him. Barere disavows them in his Memoirs as he
had previously done in the tribune and when
no spoke In his defence in the Convention
81 never said" he writes. that money was
coined at the Place de la Revolution | defy
my calumniators to find these words in any
speech Of mine. The Moniteur attributes them
TO chairman of tho Finance Committee. As
for tho expression, only the dead do not re
turn the words have been wrcnchcd from their
original meaning. What said OF the calamitIes
OF war has been applied to the muss.cres of
tho Hevolution." This is the explanation that
Barere gives OF tho phrase Only the dead do
not return" 1t seems that Gen. Houchard, at
tho battle OF IIondschot,e. ha spared the liyes
OF some English soldiers whom he could have
externlinated on the Dunes, and that some time
after, at tho capture OF Valenciennes. these
samo soldiers subjected the French officers and
representatives TO the most outrageous insults
In reporting these acts OF ingratitude to the
National Convention. the orator OF the Com.
mittee OF Public Safety expressed his regret that
these barbarians had not been treated with tho
utmost severity compatible with the law of war.
VIC shall outline as succinctly as possible the
principal eyents in BaTGrc's life and then give
his opinions OF some o; his eminent contem.
poF"IieS' horlrAhd bhFcre was born at Tarbes