He never to my knowledge betrayed his party or broke his word. . . . He sincerely loved liberty and was so proud of the honor of France and so attached to the interests of the Republic, that he was sometimes harsh and unjust with regard to other nations. At home he was the best of husbands and of fathers." Barras on more than one occasion speaks of Reubell in equally strong terms of praise, but perhaps the most remarkable testimony that the vainglorious nobleman gives to the merits of the Alsatian lawyer is contained in the following words: "It was Reubell who was the soul of the Directory. It was he who from the very first day had made it adopt the vigorous course which had obtained for us so many results at home and abroad - results which had won us the respect of Europe." (Memoirs, Vol. III., p. 399.)

It was often alleged by contemporaries, and has since been generally accepted by historians, that the government of the Directory shamefully neglected the interests of the soldiers, who under the command of Bonaparte had conquered Italy, and was responsible alike for the excesses of the armies in 1798 and for the loss of Italy in 1799. It need hardly be said that both La RevellièreLépeaux and Barras endeavor in their memoirs to clear themselves from these accusations. The former even goes to the length of directing some hundreds of pages of correspondence with himself on Italian affairs to be printed in the pièces justificatives subjoined to his memoirs. But it is made perfectly evident throughout that La Revellière-Lépeaux was entirely hoodwinked by the civilian commissioners whom the Directory despatched to Italy in the wake of the conquering armies. Very different evidence on this subject is given by the memoirs of Baron Thiébault. This distinguished officer, whose tales of war and glory are, in brilliancy of style and vivid interest, second only to the famous memoirs of Marbot, devotes the greater part of his second volume to his adventures and experiences in Italy. Thiébault was on the spot; he had good reason to remember accurately the campaigns in Italy in which he won his way to the higher ranks of the military service; and his record bears internal evidence of its truthfulness. Thiébault states and repeats in convincing language that the disgraceful pillage and peculation which marked the conduct of the French in Italy in 1798 was due to these very civilian commissioners whom La Revellière-Lépeaux praises as models of probity and disinterested fidelity to duty. Thiébault further takes the side of Championnet, the conqueror of Naples, as against Macdonald, who supplanted him in command, while La RevellièreLépeaux takes a diametrically opposite view of the conduct of the

two generals. Perhaps no part of Thiébault's memoirs is of such historical value as the volume in which he deals with his experiences in Italy during the government of the Directory. There has streamed forth from the great publishing houses of Paris, ever since the startling success of Marbot's memoirs, a flood of recollections of old soldiers who took part in the wars of Napoleon, but in most cases they held very subordinate ranks in the days of the Directory, and deal at much greater length with the events of the Empire. Thiébault, however, goes into minute details about the French armies of the former epoch and proves conclusively that however well the Directors might have intended to maintain discipline and good order, those qualities were conspicuously lacking among the troops that conquered Italy. The story of the insubordinate conduct shown towards Masséna at Rome, the bitter jealousies of rival generals, the favoritism which promoted the incompetent, and the want of discipline among the rank and file are sketched by Thiébault in masterly style. It is necessary to supplement the account of the triumphs and defeats of the French armies between 1795 and 1799, given from the government point of view in the pages of the Directors, by such honest narratives from the point of view of the soldiers themselves as that given in the second volume of the memoirs of General Paul Thiébault.

Different in style and character to the memoirs of Thiébault, who was a man of letters and the son of a man of letters, are the rough notes thrown together by General Roch Godart, the son of a cooper at Arras, whom the events of the Revolution had placed in command of the 79th Regiment. These rough notes have been most carefully edited by M. J. B. Antoine, and the three chapters dealing with the period of the Directory confirm the narrative of Thiébault with regard to the campaign of 1798 in Italy, and the attitude of the army towards the Directors. The most interesting page of Godart's memoirs, however, deals in simple fashion with the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire. The 79th played a most important part at that time, but its worthy colonel goes into no elaborate details. He had arrived in Paris with his soldiers about a month before the coup d'état, and he writes: "The Deputy Aréna and his partisans wished to frustrate the projects of our general-in-chief. They caused many offers of money and promotion to be made to me, which I spurned. I had no desire to implicate myself in any political movement; I regarded only my general's commands, and I had further no reason to betray the general-in-chief Bonaparte, in whom I had the greatest confidence." (Mémoires, p. 75.)

It may be stated in conclusion, as must have been made evi

dent in the preceding pages, that a great deal of additional light has, during the last year, been thrown upon the history of the Directory by the publication of such collections of memoirs as those of La Revellière-Lépeaux, Barras, Thiébault, and Godart. Although it has been insisted upon that personal recollections must always be examined with the greatest care, and treated only as illustrative and secondary material for history, yet the historical student cannot afford to neglect entirely any piece of new evidence laid before him, even if it be the garrulous and vainglorious gossip of two old men writing apologies for their political careers twenty years after those careers had closed, like Barras and La RevellièreLépeaux.

H. MORSE STEPHENS.

DOCUMENTS

[Under this head it is proposed to print in each issue a few documents of historical importance, hitherto unprinted. It is intended that the documents shall be printed with verbal and literal exactness, and that an exact statement be made of the present place of deposit of the document and, in the case of archives and libraries, of the volume and page or catalogue number by which the document is designated. Contributions of important documents, thus authenticated, will be welcomed.]

1. A Memorial of Lord Burghley on Peace with Spain, 1588.

THE following document shows Lord Burghley considering, long after the Armada had sailed from Lisbon and little more than a month before it appeared off the Lizard, the conditions of a peace with Spain. Philip the Second and Parma had long been luring Elizabeth with false hopes of peace and thus keeping her from making adequate preparations against the invasion upon. which Philip was all along fully determined. Elizabeth had at one time even allowed herself to play with the idea of betraying the Low Countries and making a separate peace with Spain. In that case she would have delivered to Philip the cautionary towns, Flushing, Brill, Ostend, and Sluys, and have secured her allies no terms in the all-important matter of religious toleration. It has been alleged that Burghley advised the Queen to commit this foul treachery, and it is certain that Philip was so convinced of this as to exclude the Lord Treasurer, in reality his most formidable enemy, from a list of Englishmen to be hanged after the conquest of the country. In this "memorial," however, Burghley appears in his true character as the great Protestant statesman, whose aim was ever to make England the chief bulwark of Europe against the reactionary policy of Philip the Second. He demands from Philip the ratification of the Pacification of Ghent, a treaty which marked the most propitious moment in the revolt of the Netherlands, and would, if observed, have prevented the rupture of North from South and given freedom of conscience to the whole country. Burghley also distinctly insists that the Queen keep her faith in regard to the towns.

If the King refused to make peace on the basis of the Pacification of Ghent, Burghley meant still to stand by his allies, encour

aging them to "have a strong navy on the Narrow Seas," and making England itself ready for war by land or sea. Not till Philip should grant toleration in the "Cause of Religion" would Burghley advocate a separate peace with Spain; but that once granted, he was determined to conclude peace even if the rebels still wished to continue the struggle. It is indeed remarkable that the foremost English statesman of his time should at this late date have thought peace with Spain within the range of possibility. W. F. TILTON.

[MSS. British Museum, Galba, D III, f. 189.]

A memoryall of sundry degrees of conditions to be considered of in the matter of the treaty of peace betwixte the Queenes Majestie and the Kinge of Spayne. 11 Junii 1588. Written by the Lo:

Tresorers owne hand.

The beste is for her majestie to have the peace concluded with these conditions followinge.

That betwixte her majestie and the K. of Spayne the former treaties, bothe for amytie and entercourse be renued with abolition of all thinges that hathe happened contrary to those treatyes since the begynneinge of her majesties Reigne.

That the States and people of the lowe Countries may enjoye the effecte of the pacification of Gaunte: And that the articles therein conteyned may be agreably to the tyme and other presente circumstances newlye established, whereby peace maye ensue generally in all the lowe Countries, and the strange forces be removed.

That the people nowe beinge in Holland, Zelande, and the other provynces with them unyted, which cannot without the offence of their consciences, receyve the Roman relligion, be permitted to have the exercise of the relligion which theye doe openly professe, in places convenyent within the same Provynces, the same permission to contynue for X yeares, and for longe tyme after those yeares as shalbe thoughte expedientte by the States generall of the whole Provynces.

That the States of the said Provynces nowe unyted may be permytted to leavy soe mutche money as by a contracte betwixte her majestie and the said States they are bounde to answere to her majestie, for her charges in aydeinge of them, and for the suerty where of her majestie hathe in her custodye the townes of Flusheinge and Briell, which uppon the paymentt of the sayd money she will redelyver.

quest.

If the Queene cannot have the conditions of the pacification of Gaunte granted for the united Provynces, what shall the Queene doe thearin.