[309] An Italian, by name Buonarotti, and of the same family with the great Michael Angelo, has recently published a full account of the conspiracy of Babœuf,--to this writer the curious reader is referred. "Les fruits sont à tous, la terre à personne," was his favourite text and that of his fellow-levellers, and the burden of their songs, which were to take place of Ca Ira, and La Carmagnole, was "Le Soleil luit pour tout le monde." On being arrested, Babœuf wrote to the Directory--"Whatever may be my fate, my name will be placed with those of Barnevet and Sidney; whether conducted to death or to banishment, I am certain of arriving at immortality!" He was condemned to the guillotine in May, 1797, but stabbed himself in his prison. [310] Montholon, tom. iv., p. 195. [311] A decree of the Directory, of the 25th January, 1797, fixed the current value of assignats at twenty sous for a hundred francs.--MONTGAILLARD, tom. v., p. 4. [312] "When Barras went out of the Directory, he had still a large fortune, and he did not attempt to conceal it. It was not, indeed, large enough to have contributed to the derangement of the finances, but the manner in which it had been acquired, by favouring the contractors, impaired the morality of the nation."--NAPOLEON, _Montholon_, tom. iv., p. 135. [313] Montholon, tom. iv., p. 200. [314] "La Reveillere-Lepaux was short, and his exterior was as unprepossessing as can well be imagined; in his person he was a true Esop. He wrote tolerably well, but his intelligence was confined, and he had neither habits of business, nor knowledge of mankind. The Jardin des Plantes and the Theophilanthropy, a new sect of which he had the folly to become the founder, occupied all his time. He was an honest man--poor when he became a member of the Directory, and poor when he left it."--NAPOLEON, _Las Cases_, tom. ii., p. 136. [315] "The new system of weights and measures will be a source of embarrassment and difficulties for several generations; and it is probable that the first learned commission employed to verify the measure of the meridian, will find it necessary to make some corrections. Thus are nations tormented about trifles!"--NAPOLEON, _Montholon_, tom. iv., p. 203. [316] "Letourneur de la Manche was born in Normandy. It is difficult to explain how he came to be appointed to the Directory; it can only be from one of those unaccountable caprices of which large assemblies so often give an example. He was a man of narrow capacity, little learning, and of a weak mind. He was, however, a man of strict probity, and left the Directory without any fortune."--NAPOLEON, _Las Cases_, tom. ii., p. 142.