Barras, PAUL - JEAN - FRANÇOIS - NICOLAS,

Barras, PAUL - JEAN - FRANÇOIS - NICOLAS, COMTE DE, a prominent figure in the French Revolution, was born June 30, 1755, at Fos-Emphoux in Var, of one of its oldest noble families. In his youth he served against the English in India, but soon returning home, plunged into a life of reckless dissipation at Paris. But he soon found novel impulses in the fever of revolution. A member of the Jacobin Club from the outset, he represented Var in the National Convention, voted for the execution of the king without delay, and had a share in the downfall of the Girondists. He conducted the siege of Toulon, and suppressed, not without great cruelty, the revolt in the south of France. Hated by Robespierre as not decided enough, he attached himself to his opponents, and played the chief part in the tyrant's downfall, being appointed by the terrified Convention virtual dictator for the time. In this capacity he crushed the intrigues of the Terrorists with decision and vigour, and his humanity was said to have saved the reaction from being bloodier than it was. On subsequent occasions he acted with decision both against the intrigues of the Royalists and the excesses of the Jacobins; and on 13th Vendémiaire (5th October) 1795, being again appointed commander-in-chief by the Convention, he called his young friend Bonaparte to his aid, who crushed the insurgent sections, and assured his own future with the historical 'whiff of grape-shot.' The Directory being appointed in November 1795, Barras was nominated one of the five members. On 18th Fructidor (4th September) 1797, he was again made dictator, whereupon he removed his opponents, whom he accused of royalism, from both councils. From this time he guided the state almost alone, until his covetousness and love of pleasure had rendered him so unpopular that Bonaparte, with the help of Sièyes, was able to overthrow him easily on the 18th Brumaire (November 9) 1799. Compelled to remove from the neighbourhood of Paris, he resided in Brussels, then in Marseilles, but was banished to Rome, and thence sent to Montpellier, being kept under constant surveillance of the police, who actually found him to have been engaged in conspiracies for the bringing back of the Bourbons. After the Restoration he returned to Paris, and purchased an estate near the city with part of the great fortune he had acquired in the Revolution. He died 29th January 1829. See his Memoirs, edit. by Dury (trans. 1895).