Barras

Barras, Paul Francois Jean Nicolas, Comte de, was born in Provence in 1755, of a good family, entered the army and served at the defence of Pondicherry. On his return home he led an irregular life, adopted revolutionary views, and took part in the capture of the Bastille (1789). He was sent to the Convention in 1792 as representative of the Var, and at once acted with the Montagnards. Sent as commissioner to the siege of Toulon, he there recognised the abilities of Bonaparte, then a captain of artillery. In 1794 he was entrusted with the military control of Paris, and put an end to the career of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror. On the 13th Vendemiaire, 1795, with Bonaparte's help he crushed the reactionaries, and on the establishment of the Directory he formed with Rewbell and La Reveillere the Triumvirate that, in 1797, rendered itself supreme by the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor. The triumph was short-lived, for on the 18th Brumaire, 1799, Bonaparte swept away the Directory, just as Barras was conspiring for the return of the Bourbons, and he had to fly to Brussels. He returned at the Restoration, and died, quite forgotten, at Chaillot in 1829. His private character was dissolute, and his public conduct venal and corrupt.