the Directory impelled them to keep their predominance. As
the majority of Frenchmen wanted to be rid of them, they could
achieve their purpose only by extraordinary means. They
habitually disregarded the terms of the constitution, and, when
the elections went against them, appealed to the sword. They
resolved to prolong the war as the best expedient for prolonging
their power. They were thus driven to rely upon the armies,
which also desired war and were becoming less and less civic in
temper. Other reasons influenced them in this direction. The
finances had been so thoroughly ruined that the government
could not have met its expenses without the plunder and the
tribute of foreign countries. If peace were made, the armies
would return home and the directors would have to face the
exasperation of the rank and file who had lost their livelihood,
as well as the ambition of generals who could in a moment brush
them aside. Barras and Rewbell were notoriously corrupt
themselves and screened corruption in others. The patronage
of the directors was ill bestowed, and the general maladministration
heightened their unpopularity.
The constitutional party in the legislature desired a toleration of the nonjuring clergy, the repeal of the laws against the relatives of the émigrés, and some merciful discrimination toward the émigrés themselves. The directors baffled all such endeavours. On the other hand, the socialist conspiracy Military triumphs under the Directory. Bonaparte. of Babeuf was easily quelled (see Babeuf, François N.). Little was done to improve the finances, and the assignats continued to fall in value. But the Directory was sustained by the military successes of the year 1796. Hoche again pacified La Vendée. Bonaparte’s victories in Italy more than compensated for the reverses of Jourdan and Moreau in Germany. The king of Sardinia made peace in May, ceding Nice and Savoy to the Republic and consenting to receive French garrisons in his Piedmontese fortresses. By the treaty of San Ildefonso, concluded in August, Spain became the ally of France. In October Naples made peace. In 1797 Bonaparte finished the conquest of northern Italy and forced Austria to make the treaty of Campo Formio (October), whereby the emperor ceded Lombardy and the Austrian Netherlands to the Republic in exchange for Venice and undertook to urge upon the Diet the surrender of the lands beyond the Rhine. Notwithstanding the victory of Cape St Vincent, England was brought into such extreme peril by the mutinies in the fleet that she offered to acknowledge the French conquest of the Netherlands and to restore the French colonies. The selfishness of the three directors threw away this golden opportunity. In March and April the election of a new third of the Councils had been held. It gave a majority to the constitutional party. Among the directors the lot fell on Letourneur to retire, and he was succeeded by Barthélemy, an eminent diplomatist, who allied himself with Carnot. The political disabilities imposed upon the relatives of émigrés were repealed. Priests who would declare their submission to the Republic were restored to their rights as citizens. It seemed likely that peace would be made and that moderate men would gain power.
Barras, Rewbell and La Révellière-Lépeaux then sought help
from the armies. Although Royalists formed but a petty
fraction of the majority, they raised the alarm that
it was seeking to restore monarchy and undo the work
of the Revolution. Hoche, then in command of the
Coup d’état
of the 18th Fructidor.
army of the Sambre and Meuse, visited Paris and sent
troops. Bonaparte sent General Augereau, who executed the
coup d’état of the 18th Fructidor (September 4). The councils
were purged, the elections in forty-nine departments were cancelled,
and many deputies and other men of note were arrested.
Some of them, including Barthélemy, were deported to Cayenne.
Carnot made good his escape. The two vacant places in the
Directory were filled by Merlin of Douai and François of Neufchâteau.
Then the government frankly returned to Jacobin
methods. The law against the relatives of émigrés was re-enacted,
and military tribunals were established to condemn
émigrés who should return to France. The nonjuring priests were
again persecuted. Many hundreds were either sent to Cayenne
or imprisoned in the hulks of Ré and Oleron. La Révellière Lépeaux
seized the opportunity to propagate his religion. Many churches
were turned into Theophilanthropic temples. The government
strained its power to secure the recognition of the décadi as the
day of public worship and the non-observance of Sunday.
Liberty of the press ceased. Newspapers were confiscated and
journalists were deported wholesale. It was proposed to banish
from France all members of the old noblesse. Although the
proposal was dropped, they were all declared to be foreigners
and were forced to obtain naturalization if they would enjoy
the rights of other citizens. A formal bankruptcy of the state, the
cancelling of two-thirds of the interest on the public debt,
crowned the misgovernment of this disastrous time.
In the spring of 1798 not only a new third of the legislature had to be chosen, but the places of the members expelled by the revolution of Fructidor had to be filled. The constitutional party had been rendered helpless, and the mass of the electors were indifferent. But among the Jacobins themselves there had arisen an extreme party hostile to the directors. With the support of many who were not Jacobins but detested the government, it bade fair to gain a majority. Before the new deputies could take their seats the directors forced through the councils the law of the 22nd Floréal (May 11), annulling or perverting the elections in thirty departments and excluding forty-eight deputies by name. Even this coup d’état did not secure harmony between the executive and the legislature. In the councils the directors were loudly charged with corruption and misgovernment. The retirement of François of Neufchâteau and the choice of Treilhard as his successor made no difference in the position of the Directory.
While France was thus inwardly convulsed, its rulers were doubly bound to husband the national strength and practise moderation towards other states. Since December 1797 a congress had been sitting at Rastadt to regulate the future of Germany. That it should be brought to a successful conclusion was of the utmost import for France. But the directors were driven by self-interest to new adventures abroad. Bonaparte was resolved not to sink into obscurity, and the directors were anxious to keep him as far as possible from Paris; they therefore sanctioned the expedition to Egypt which deprived the Republic of its best army and most renowned captain. Coveting the treasures of Bern, they sent Brune to invade Switzerland and remodel its constitution; in revenge for the murder of General Duphot, they sent Berthier to invade the papal states and erect the Roman Republic; they occupied and virtually annexed Piedmont. In all these countries they organized such an effective pillage that the French became universally hateful. As the armies were far below the strength required by the policy of unbounded conquest and rapine, the first permanent law of conscription was passed in the summer of 1798. The attempt to enforce it caused a revolt of the peasants in the Belgian departments. The priests were made responsible and some eight thousand were condemned in a mass to deportation, although much the greater part escaped by the goodwill of the people. Few soldiers were obtained by the conscription, for the government was as weak as it was tyrannical.
Under these circumstances Nelson’s victory of Aboukir (1st of August), which gave the British full command of the Mediterranean and secluded Bonaparte in Egypt, was the signal for a second coalition. Naples, Austria, Russia and Turkey joined Great Britain against France. Ferdinand The second coalition. of Naples, rashly taking the offensive before his allies were ready, was defeated and forced to seek a refuge in Sicily. In January 1799 the French occupied Naples and set up the Parthenopean republic. But the consequent dispersion of their weak forces only exposed them to greater peril. At home the Directory was in a most critical position. In the elections of April 1799 a large number of Jacobins gained seats. A little later Rewbell retired. It was imperative to fill his place with a man of ability and influence. The choice fell upon Sieyès, who had kept aloof from office and retained not only his immeasurable self-conceit but the respect of the public. Sieyès felt that
