Joseph Lainé

In 1793 he was named administrator of the district of La Réole, returning to work as a lawyer under the French Directory.

61-2), Thomas B Macaulay, Biographical Glossary, by the editor states thus in addition to the above: "In 1813 he criticised Napoleon's failure to seek peace and his mismanagement of the economy, and this led to his dismissal.

The most skilful delineators of his character have remarked, that his reason has always been under the tyranny of an irritable, though a generous, temper; and of a vivid, though not an original, imagination, - that whatever is grand or pathetic readily subjugates his mind, - that thus the enthusiasm of loyalty and the enthusiasm of liberty actuate him alternately; that each of these feelings during the period of its dominion almost wholly excludes the other, - and that, like most of those whose opinions are determined not by argument but by taste and feeling, he is intolerant of contradiction, and considers it a crime in others to defend against him that which he had himself defended but a short time before, and which he will soon defend again.

Those who have thus represented him have allowed that he is emphatically an honest man; that he has atoned for his extraordinary inconsistency by a still more extraordinary disinterestedness; that even when placed in the most corrupting situations, and surrounded by the worst and basest allies, he has preserved an independent spirit, strict morals, simple manners, the most shining purity of personal honour, a noble contempt of offices, titles, and emoluments, and a true and fervent love of his country.

"While the power of Napoleon was at its height, M. Lainé had exerted himself to raise an opposition in the legislative body: his efforts had failed.