Page:Napoleon (O'Connor 1896).djvu/34

18 Carrousel, and there, still as a looker-on, views at his ease all the occurrences of the day; finally the Château is forced, and he strolls through the Tuileries, looks in at the neighbouring cafes, and that is all. He is not disposed to take sides; he has no Jacobin or Royalist impulse. His features, even, are so calm as to provoke many hostile and distrustful remarks, 'as unknown and suspicious.' None of the political or social conditions which then exercised such control over men's minds have any hold on him. . . . On returning to Paris, after having knocked at several doors, he takes Barras for a patron Barras, the most brazen of the corrupt; Barras, who has overthrown and contrived the death of his two former protectors. Among the contending parties and fanaticisms which succeed each other, he keeps cool and free to dispose of himself as he pleases, indifferent to every cause, and caring only for his own interest. On the evening of the 12th of Vendémiaire, on leaving the Feydeau Theatre, and noticing the preparations of the Sections, he said to Junot: 'Ah, if the Sections would only let me lead them! I would guarantee to place them in the Tuileries in two hours, and have all those rascals of the Convention turned out!' Five hours later, denounced by Barras and the Convention, he takes 'three minutes' to make up his mind, and instead of 'blowing up the representatives,' he shoots down