BARRAS, PAim-Jr..-vx-Fnaxcors-Nicotas, Count de, a distinguished character of the French revolution, was b. at Foy, in Provence, 30th June, 1755. In his( youth he served as a lieutenant against the British in India, and after his rettfrn home, wasted. his property in Paris in dissipation. Ile eagerly joined the revolutionary party, and was a deputy of the' Tiers i ers E.at in the states-general in 1789. IIe was actively concerned in the storming of the Tuileries, was appointed administrator of the department of Var. and afterwards of the county of Nice. In the convention, he voted for the execution of the king without d-lay or appeal, and on the 31st May, 1793, declared against the Girondists. The siege of Toulon. and triuinpli of the revolutionary party in the s.. of France, were in a great measure owing to his activity and'energy; and after the victory. he was deeply concerned in .all the bloody measures. which were adopted. Yet he was hated by Robespierre and the Terrorists, as one of the less decided revolutionists; and their overthrow was accomplished mainly by him, the convention appointing him commander-in-chief, and virtually investing him with the directorship for the time. While holding this high °dice. in which he acted with great decision and vigor, and on the .same day on which Robespivre fell, he paid a visit to the Temple; and provided for .the better treatment of the kings son; he hastened also to the Palais dc Justice, and suspended the execution of n large number of persons who had been con demned to death. On subsequent occasions, he acted with decision both against the intrigues of the Royalists and the excesses of the JacobinS; and on lalt Vendemiaire (5th Oct., 1795), being again appointed commander-in-chief by the convention, he called his young friend Bonaparte to his aid, and crushed the sections with merciless discharges of artillery. The directory being appointed in Nov.,'1795, B. was nominated one of tha
five members. and in this capacity Ile procured the nomination of Bonaparte as com mander-in-chief of the army in Italy. - It was he who arranged the marriage of Bonaparte with the widow Beauharnais. On 18th Fructidor (see FIIIICTIDOR, and FRANCE), he was again invested with the dictatorship, and was again victorious. His authority now became preponderant in the directory, and he affected the pomp of a king, and began to give splendid entertainments in the palace of the Luxembourg. This continued for about two years, till the decline of the power of the directory. After 30th Prairial, Sieye_s and be had the whole executive power in their hands; and whilst 13. secretly negotiated, it is said, with the Bourbon princes, demanding a large reward for their restoration. Sieyes, in secret understanding, with Bonaparte, brought about the revolution of 18th Brumaire. Notwithstanding the favors he had formerly conferred on Bonaparte, he was now, perhaps unavoidably, an object of suspicion to him, was compelled to remove from the neighborhood of Parts, resided in Brussels, then in Marseilles, was banished to Rome, and thence sent to 31ontpellier, being kept under' constant surveillance of the police, and actually found to have been engaged in conspira cies for the restoration of the Bourbons. After the restoration, lie returned to Paris, and purchased an estate in the neighborhood of it, where he 'died on 20th Jan., 1820. He had acquired a considerable fortune in the revolution. His memoirs, which must be of historic importance, were seized by the government.