NICOLAS, Count de ( 1755-1329 ) . A distinguished character of the French Revolution. He was born in Provence, and in his youth served as a lieutenant against the British in India. He eagerly joined the Revolutionary party. but was not, as is generally but erroneously stated, a member of the States-General in 1789. He was actively concerned in the storming of the Bas tile and the Tuileries, and was appointed ad ministrator of the Department of Var, and afterwards of the county of Nice. In the Con vention lie voted for the execution of the King. without delay or appeal, and on May 31, 1793, declared against the Girondists. The siege of Toulon. and the triumph of the Revolutionary party in the south of France, were in a great measure owing to his activity and energy; and after the victory lie was deeply concerned in all the bloody measures that were adopted. Vet he was hated by Robespierre and the Terrorists one of the less-decided Revolutionists: and their overthrow was accomplished mainly by him, the Convention appointing him comman der-in-chief. and virtually investing him with a dictatorship for the time. While holding this high office, in which he acted with great de cision and vigor, and on the same day on which Robespierre fell (9 Thermidor, July 27, 1794), lie paid a visit to the Temple and provided for the better treatment of the King's son. He hastened also to the Palais de Justice, and sus pended the order for the execution of a large number of persons who had been condemned to death. On subsequent occasions, as president of the Convention, he acted with decision both against the intrigues of the Royalists and the ex cesses of the .Ineobins; and on 13th Vend(smiaire (October 5. 1795). being again appointed com mander-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 November.
1795, Darras was nominated one of the five members, and in this capacity he procured the of Bonaparte as commander-in-chief of the army in Italy. It was he who arranged the marriage of Bonaparte with the widow Beauharnais. On 18th Fructidor (see FRUCTI DOI: FRANCE) , September 4. 1797, when the Royalist intrigues were crushed by Napoleon, he was again invested with the dictatorship. llis 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 the 30th Prairial (.June 18, 1799), Sieyes- and he had the whole executive power in their hands: and while Barras 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 (November 9. 17)9), which replaced the Directory by the Consulate. Not withstanding the favors he had formerly con ferred on Bonaparte, he was now, perhaps un avoidably, an object of suspicion to him; was compelled to remove from the neighborhood of Paris; resided in Brussels. then in Marseilles; was banished to Rome. and then sent to "Mont pellier, being kept under constant surveillance of the police, and actually found to have been engaged in conspiracies for the restoration of the Bourbons. After the Restoration he re turned to Paris and purchased an estate in the neighborhood, where he died. After remain ing inaccessible for nearly seventy years, his memoirs were published in Paris and New York, 1895-96. They are of the first importance in throwing light on the history of the Revolution.