Without doubt they would have been but for their own precipitation and the energy of Buonaparte.
But how came he to receive the military authority which was so potently to influence the course of events?
We left him in Fructidor disgraced: we find him in the middle of Vendemiaire leading part of the forces of the Convention.

This bewildering change was due to the pressing needs of the Republic, to his own signal abilities, and to the discerning eye of Barras, whose career claims a brief notice.
Paul Barras came of a Provencal family, and had an adventurous life both on land and in maritime expeditions.

Gifted with a robust frame, consummate self-assurance, and a ready tongue, he was well equipped for intrigues, both amorous and political, when the outbreak of the Revolution gave his thoughts a more serious turn.

Espousing the ultra-democratic side, he yet contrived to emerge unscathed from the schisms which were fatal to less dextrous trimmers.

He was present at the siege of Toulon, and has striven in his "Memoires" to disparage Buonaparte's services and exalt his own.