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by the laws; and that one is the brother of an emigrant:

CARNOT, REWBELL, REVIELLIERE LEPAUX, LETOURNEUR DE LA MANCHE, AND BARRAS.

The Luxembourg, appointed for their refidence, is now known by the name of le Palais Directorial. Its courts are filled with buifiers and gardes de corps; and the apartments appointed for giving audience are decorated th a fplendour unknown to any of the exifting monarchies of Europe. Under their aufpices, the king of the two Sicilies has acceded to a peace, which bereaves the coalition of another of their affociates; while their treaty of fenfive and defenfive with Spain, muft confiderably augment 'their maritime ftrength. Nor has the fortune of war been, on the whole, unfavourable to them-Corfica has been reftored without an effort, and Lombardy, by a feries of valorous atchievements, has, under their adminiftration, been fevered from the dominion of the houfe of Auftria.

In respect to domeftic regulation, their government is avowedly fuperior to that of the ancient committees; and their late meffage purporting it to be their intention, that even the flighteft veftige of military regimen fhall be effacedthat the conftitutional order fhall be uniform throughout the whole extent of the republic-and that the citizens fhall ap proximate to each other, by the cares of agriculture, the relations of commerce, and the love of the arts," befpeaks intentions pregnant with the happieft confequences.

Upon the whole, much room is left for hope, that a legislature, fairly and freely chofen by the nation, whofe image it reflects, must always operate as a conftitutional check on the ambition of individuals. All power is cumulative; authority neceffarily tends towards defpotifin; it is the friction it meets with in its progrefs that alone prevents an accelerated

movement.

The five directors of France poffefs a great share of knowledge, fagacity, energy, and even experience. In short, they are, in all points of government, at leaft equal, if not fuperior, to any other cabinet in Europe.

BARRAS.

'Paul Barras, is a native of the fouth of France. He was born in Provence, and his family, which is both ancient and noble, has hitherto been only a fource

of reproach to him. The young Vicomte (for he poffeffed a title anterior to the revolution) entered early into the military fervice, and followed the profeffion of arms, the usual, and indeed only calling of ancienne nobleffe. Having procured a commiffion in the regiment of Pondicherry, he remained for a confiderable in the rank of a fubaltern, having rifen no higher than a fous-lieutenant, or fecond lieutenant. It is well known, that under the old government, every regiment in the fervice was a feminary of dffipapation, and that play and gallantry occupied all the leifure moments of the young officers. This provençal, born with a warm temperament, like one of the most eminent characters in our own country, was unable to refift the allurements of feduction, and foon became as much addicted to gaming as his companions. This of courfe hurt his finances, and reduced him at times to the moft humiliating neceffity. Having repaired to Paris "to folicit promotion, the Marechal de Caftries, then minifter at war, refufed to gratify him, under pretext of his irregularities. This pretext indeed, would have excluded half the army, and the whole court, from the good graces of the fovereign! The truth is, that the lieutenant was deftitute of protection, and this, which at all times is a misfortune, was then litle less than a difgrace. At the period of the revolution, Barras was only twentyfeven years of age. He beheld his country about to be refcued from flavery, and faw with tranfport, that a new career was opened to his ambition. While his brother fided with the caft to which he appertained by birth, he took up arms in behalf of the people. They both ferved at Thionville; his brother is a Knight of Malta, and now ferves in the army of Condé. Recovered from the follies of youth, the pleafures of the table, and the fafcinations of play, he acted with a mafculine energy on all occafions, and as, during the monarchy, he had aped the vices of the courtier, fo on its overthrow, he practifed all the felf-denial, and all the virtues of a republican.

On being elected a member of the national convention, previously to which he was appointed juré à la baute cour nationale, Barras joined the mountain, and voted for the death of Louis XVI; the

*A juror of the High National Court.

Girondifts,

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Girondifts, however, confidered his violence as a mafk.-Having been fent on a miffion to the South, he acted with great energy at the fiege of Toulon; and, in conjunction with his colleague, Freron, elected Buonaparte, then a young officer of engineers, to prefide as general of artillery, a circumftance which reflects fome credit on their penetration. On his entering la Ville Affranchi, as it was then termed, he informed the convention "Qu'il n'avoit trouvé que les galériens qui fuffent patriotes."

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At three critical periods, Barras has been invested with almoft unlimited pow. ers, and on all thefe occafions has conducted himself with courage and fagacity. During the infurrection of the 27th of July, he led the forces of the convention against the municipality of Paris, then in a state of infurrection. He fuppreffed the counter-revolutionary commotions in / the fauxbourg de St. Antoine, on the oth of May; and on the 13th of Vendemia.re, which anfwers to our 5th of October, he fubdued the fections, who had organized themselves into an army, and marched against the legislature, headed by General Danican.

It is to the laft of thefe events he is indebted for his prefent elevation; and fuch was the eagerness of the national convention to include him in the directory, that an exprefs exception on the fcore of age was made, purely out of refpect to him, in the conftitutional code.

It is also not a little remarkable, that he occupied all his former important employments, and holds even his present situation, in exprefs oppofition to the de. cree of the 27th of Germinal, which excludes all the kindred of emigrants from places of truft.

Barras is now in the 34th year of his age. He is tall and handsome, and makes a fine appearance at public feftivals, when dreffed in his purple robe, furmounted by a fcarlet mantle, with his head enveloped in a feathered hat, adorned with the national colours. His complexion is rather of a yellow hue, a circumftance which has not efcaped the royalists:

Ce massacreur de rois, à face de saffran," &c.t

He is reprefented as rather able than

That he had only found the galley flaves Patriots.

+ This murderer of kings, with a face of faffron, &c.

MONTHLY MAG. No. X.

...

learned, and poffefling greater activity and exertion than knowledge and acquirements.

His choice of fubordinate officers, his military difpofitions, and his judicious arrangements on all great occafions, and more efpecially on the 13th of Vendemiair,when the convention, if not deferted, at least was not fupported, by General Menon to whom it had confided its defence, prove him, however, to be no common man.

The fix following lines, which are quoted rather for their malignity than their wit, were written by a general officer, whom he overcame on that occafion; and evince, at least, how much he is hated, notwithstanding his nobility, by the emigrants of every hue and defcription.

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PAUL DE BARRAS, PREMIER DU
NOM, ROI DE FRANCE, DE NA-
VARRE, & DE LOMBARDIE, DUC
DE BRABANT, COMTE DE NICE,
DUC DE SAVOY, PRINCE DE LIEGE,
ELECTEUR DE COLOGNE, &c. &c.
"Plus que Néron, MON VICOMTE eft defpote!
"Se pavanant fous fa rouge Capote,

"Ce Rot bourreau, pérore tur un ton
"Dont rit tout-bas le badaud dans fa craffe
"C'eft Arlequin, Pantalon, ou Paillaffe,

Contrefefant les airs d'Agamemnon,"

the directory; and it is to him, through Barras is at this moment prefident of the minifter of "interior relations", that our ambassador at Paris muft tranfmit his new powers, and apply for the decifion of France, relative to the im. portant question of peace or war.

CARNOT,

As well as Barras, is of illuftrious birth, being defcended from an ancient family, and, like the German nobility, might boaft of his feudal domains, his ancient fiefs, and the thirty-two quarterings of his armorial coat. But he poffeffes far different claims to the esteem and the refpect of a grateful country, all of which are included in the appellation of “la "Terreur des Autrichiens*."

To his early life, malice herfelf has nct affixed any other ftigma than that he owed the care of his infancy and education to the Prince de Condé. He has fince, however, been accused of counte nancing frong measures, hurtful perhaps to a few individuals, attached to the ancient fyftem, but generally beneficial to his native land, let it be recollected, however, that a treaty of partition had been figned by the coalefced powers; * "The terror of the Auftrians." 5 K

that

that the flag of England was then flying at Toulon, as that of Auftria had done formerly at Valenciennes ; and that every French patriot called out for mafculine and ftrenuous exertion. There was an evident neceffity, then (and that, too, a neceffity not of their own creating) for the committee of public fafety to exert, perhaps, a vigour beyond the laws.

No cold blooded act of private malice, no deliberate inftance of perfonal revenge, no private and petty animofity, actuated

or fullied his conduct. While Robefpierre was tampering with the jury, and impelling the public accufer to deeds'

at which human nature fhudders, Lindet and Carnot, unable to reprefs or even check the tyrant, were labouring day and night in their bureaus ; in procuring provifions for the armies; the other, in organizing their victories.

the one,

was

The royalifts, unable to deny his merits, have attempted to leffen them. Af ter claffing him with St. Juft, Collot d'Herbois, &c. they tell us, that the ground-work of his campaigns borrowed from the plans of the great cap tains of the age of Louis XIV. Now, as it is notorious that the papers of thefe celebrated commanders have been depofited near a century at the war office, how comes it about, that, during all the preceding wars, no one minifter was able to difcover one fignal victory, through the fpectacles of Condé and Turenne? "Enfant gaté du poltron Robespierre, "De lui d'abord tu reçu la lumière "Et bien piifant ton naturel félon, "Il t'accola le candide Couthon, "Le doux St. Juft, & l'ingénue Barrere, "Et ce Collot, des Lyonnais le père, "Et pour tout dire, enfin ce bon Billaud "Qu'injustement on appellait Maraud.

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"Dans cet égoût révolutionnaire, "Dans ce tripot, dit de falut public, "Il fut connu que ton minois d'afpic "Suffifait feul pour diriger la guerre : Lors des bureaux pillant tous les cartons, "Et fans génie, officier de génie, "Tu vins donner avec forfauterie "De fort beaux plans pour plans de ta façon, "Plans que jadis pour abréger ta peine "Avaient formés les Condé, les Turenne," &c.

It was in the fame ftyle of invective that Freron faid: " Qu'il avait l'efprit de Bar"rere, le cœur de Collot d'Herbois, & la "tête de Billaud*." On the other hand, the republicans have always exclaimed

"That he had the wit of Barrere, the heart of Collot d'Herbois, and the head of Billaud." 3

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on all trying occafions:
[For a
la confiance des patriotes+!"
character and farther particulars of Carnot,
fee page 308, vol. i. of the Monthly Ma-
gazine.]

REVEILLIERE LEPAUX,

Or, as he was termed before the revolu tion, La Reveiliiere de l'Epaux, was born at Angers, where he poffeffed fome landed property. On his being returned a member of the National Affembly, he attached himself to the Gironde, and having been bred to the bar (for he was one

of those whom Mr. Burke withes to ftigmatize under the appellation of vil lage lawyers) he had acquired habits of bufinefs and refearch at an early period of life, and was very ferviceable to his colleagues. Notwithstanding he voted for the death of the king, Reveilliere Lepaux was profcribed by Robefpierre, and included in the lift of perfons out-lawed. Driven from Paris, and forced to wander about from department to department, endangering the head of every perfon who gave him an afylum, he was, neverthe lefs, fortunate enough to furvive the ftorm, and was the only one of his party that was elected into the directory.

To an irreproachable character, he unites a tafte for letters, and for science, and he is faid to have attained confiderable eminence in botanical purfuits. After the conteft with the fections, the heads of the victorious party wished to adjourn the conftitution, under the ufual pretext of fate neceffity, but he opposed this fatal plan with a manly firmness, and even threatened to denounce the authors of thofe crimes which, in la Vendée, and other parts of the commonwealth, had fullied the name of a republican, and brought an odium on liberty.

The health of Reveilliere is precarious; this circumftance is, indeed, evident from his countenance, which exhibits a fickly hue; and it is faid by his friends, that as he was prevailed upon by the critical fituation of public affairs alone to encounter the fatigues of office, fo he pants for peace, in order to enjoy domeftic tranquillity and rural retirement, amidft his plants and his books.

"Carnot, thou haft the confidence of the patriots." LETOURNEUR

1796.]

Varieties.-Literary Notices, &c.

LETOURNEUR DE LA MANCHE,

Little diftinguished himself, either before or fince the prefent conteft, as an officer, notwithstanding he is faid to have entered, at an early period of life, into a corps that has produced more great men than any other. Although an officer of engineers, he had, however, the merit of hiding with the people, who paid, in preference to the executive power, which only employed him; a diftinction fufficiently plain and obvious, indeed, but which, notwithstanding that, is not always felt, even in this country. He was the nephew of M. de Caux, lieutenant-general, and commandant du génie at Cherburg; when employed on the celebrated works of that port, he was much applauded for his peculiar conftruction of a magazine for powder.

Letourneur, abandoning the profeffion of a foldier, became a legiflator, and fided fometimes with the mountain, and fometimes with the plain; but as he countenanced energetic measures, he was always confidered as appertaining to the former party.

He has the character of a cool, referved, and ambitious man; but, to his honour, neither his public nor private character have been fullied with any of the exceffes of the revolution; and this, when every thing is fairly and liberally confidered, is, of itself, no fmall matter of praife. He is reported to have loft confiderable property in America, in confequence of the war with Great-Britain; and, if we believe fome, it was he who

805

planned the late expedition under Richery, against Newfoundland.

REWBELL,

Like Lepaux, was bred to the bar, and practifed with great fuccefs as an advocate, at Strafburgh. Born in Alface, and fpeaking German from his cradle, feve ral of the princes of the empire, who held fiefs, and claimed feudal fervices in France, employed him as their agent. Having been deputed from his native province to the Conftituent Affembly, he conducted himself fo as to unite confiderable talents with the reputation of a fteady and enlightened friend to liberty. He fupported the fame character in the Convention, and was fent on a miffion to Mayence, by the committee of public fafety. It was he who firft founded the court of Berlin, and revived the ancient jealoufy between the houfes of Brandenbourg and Auftria. It was he alfo, who, in conjunction with the Abbé Sieyes, concluded the treaty with Holland, and by ftriking off one enemy from the coalition, and adding a maritime state to the fcale of France, effentially altered the balance of power.

Rewbell, lofty, refolute, and intrepid by nature, poffeffes at the fame time a cool judgment. While energy was neceffary, he fupported the Jacobins ; but the moment that his native foil was purged of its invaders, he joined the middle party, and has contributed not a little to the establishment of the new conftitution, and a more permanent order of things.

VARIETIES,

LITERARY and PHILOSOPHICAL; including Notices of Works in Hand, Domeftic and Foreign.

EARLY in this month, the First Volume,

on the large paper, of Mr. WAKE FIELD's new edition of Lucretius, in quarto, with felect notes of former commentators, and those of Dr. Bentley, never before published, from the Doctor's copy, in the editor's poffeffion, will be delivered to fubfcribers. The text will be materially amended upon the authority of Mss. and the first editions; and the whole poem illuftrated and explained by copious annotations. The large pa. per copies will make three volumes; the common paper, two.

Mr. T. TAYLOR, the tranflator of feveral Greek authors, has lately tranflated Plato's Laws; and is proceeding with thofe Dialogues of Piato that have

not yet been tranflated; and to revise and correct feveral former translations of parts of Plato.

The different eftimation in which talents are held in Germany and England, may be cafily conjectured from the terms offered by Profeffor HELLWIG, of Brunswick, to any one of fufficient abilities in botany and natural hiftory, who is willing to ac company a friend of his on a botanical expedition for two years, through different parts of Europe. His travelling expences, including board and lodging, are to be paid. He is to be treated in the fame manner as the principal in this expedition; is to have 200 thalers, or 261 13s. 4d. a year: in cafe of giving com plete fatisfaction, his falary is to be in

5 K z

creased

creafed to 250 or even 300 thalers a year. In confideration of this munificent offer, and the great expences of the journey, it is made a condition, that all the productions of nature which the couple of travellers may collect on this expedition, fhall belong exclufively to the patron; but if the travelling companion fhould have a particular fondness for fome fpecimens, there is encouragement held out to him that his wifhes will be gratified. JEAURAT, of the Obfervatory at Paris, has lately invented and constructed a Diplantidian Telefcope, which forms two equal images of the object, the one upright and the other reverfed. This inftrument will prove highly useful to the practical aftronomer, by enabling him to obferve, with greater promptnefs and accuracy, the paffages of stars over the mcridian.

It is a fact little known in England, that the valuable collection of objects in natural history made by LABILLARDIERE, in the South Seas, was lately taken by our cruizers, and brought into an English port. On the reprefentation, however, of the Directory, the English Government, greatly to the honour of its liberality, inftantly restored the fame; and in September, an English veffel, folely freighted with the collection, landed it at Havre-de-Grace. By the French literary journals, it appears, that the whole confifted of about 4000 various plants, half of them new ones; a variety of feeds defigned for the Botanic Garden; 1500 infects; 300 fpecies of curious birds; a number of quadrupeds; fpecimens of wood, reptiles, and fifh, preferved in fpirits of wine; fpecimens in lithology; cleven bread-fruit trees, &c.; and many inftruments of the South Sea iflanders.

An abridged tranflation of the Agricultural Works of ARTHUR YOUNG is announced at Paris, to be made by LAMARCK, BENOIST, and BILLECOCQ; to which notes are to be added by PARMENTIER, DE LA LAUZE, and ARNOULD. The work is expected to extend to fifteen or eighteen volumes in oc

tavo.

The artists employed by the French Government to make collections for their Museum of Arts, have obtained fifteen pictures at Parma, twenty at Modena, twenty-five at Milan, forty at Bologna, and ten at Ferrara.

Mr. C. GOWER, of Oriel College, Ox. ford, has published the profpectus of an intended work on the Matter of Artificial Light. One of the useful objects

of this work is to direct the public attention to the beft materials pointed out by chemistry and philofophy, as fubftitutes for the ufe of wax and fpermaceti. Mr. DIBDIN is preparing for publication a Complete Hiftory of the English Stage.

M. PELTIER, of London, announces his intention to publish, in England, an edition of the celebrated work on Pafigraphy, invented and arranged by De MEMIEU and the ABBE SICARD. This curious work profeffes to teach the first elements of writing and printing, in any one particular language, fo as to be underftood in any other language, without the help of tranflation; fimilar in their effect to the Arabic figures, or to the notes in mufic.

An important political work is in great forwardness in London, under the title of "Plaid yer pour les Emigrés François ; par M. le Comte LALLY TOLENDAL.

By a decree of the French legislature, the new library in the national palace is eftablished, under the infpection of the archivifls of the republic, for the ufe of the members of the two houfes of legiflature. As this is at once the general place of refort for the deputies, and a centre of union for all foreign journals, and other periodical works, it is probably the most interesting place for political information in the world.

Three poetical works are at this time in the BRISTOL prefs:

1. A fecond edition of Mr. S. T. COLERIDGE's poems.

2. Poems on the death of Priscilla

Farmer, by her grandfon, Mr. CHARLES LLOYD.

3. A volume of Poems, by Mr. Ro. BERT SOUTHEY, author of Joan of Arc.

An enormous terrestrial globe, eight French feet in diameter, has been placed in the library of the Four Nations, at Paris, by BERGEVIN. Its external fubftance is of copper, which is covered with a hard and polished enamel, on which the names, &c. are engraved in ivory black; the colour of the fea is a very delicate fkyblue, and that of the land a light brown.

It is obvious, that a globe of thefe dimenfions is an object rather of curiofity than of utility.

The Provincial Adminiftration of Lombardy have offered a gold Medal, value 200 fequins, to the writer of the best Difcourfe on the following questionOf all poffible free governments which is the beft adapted to the genius and character of the Italians?

A depot

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