French Directory

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French Directory
Executive government of France
In office
November 2, 1795 November 10, 1799
Preceded by National Convention
French Consulate (with Napoleon
Succeeded by
Bonaparte as First Consul)

The Executive Directory (in French Directoire excutif), commonly known as the Directory (or
Directoire) held executive power in France from November 2, 1795 until November 10, 1799:
following the Convention and preceding the Consulate. Five Directors shared power. The period
of this regime, commonly referred to as the Directoire era, constitutes the last stage of the French
Revolution and precedes the coming of the Consulate, which, in turn, was followed by the First
Empire.

The directory system of government was also used in several French-dominated regions of Italy;
see Directory (political).

Contents
[hide]
1 Constitution of Year III
2 Unpopularity of the Directory
3 Military successes
4 18 Fructidor
5 1798
6 1799
7 End of the Directory
8 List of Directeurs
9 See also
10 Notes
11 External links

12 References

[edit] Constitution of Year III

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In its final shape, the constitution of the Directory period centered on a parliamentary system of
two houses: a Council of Five Hundred and a Council of Ancients, 250 in number. Members of
the Five Hundred needed to have reached at least thirty years of age, members of the Ancients at
least forty. The system of indirect election of the Convention period continued, but the
constitution abandoned universal suffrage. Electors needed a moderate qualification in the first
degree, a higher one in the second degree.

After the election of 750 people, they had the duty of choosing the Ancients from their own
number. A legislature had a period of three years, with one-third of the members renewed every
year. The Ancients held a suspensory veto, but no initiative in legislation.
The constitution specified the executive as consisting of five directors, chosen by the Ancients
out of a list elected by the Five Hundred. One director faced retirement each year. Ministers for
the various departments of State aided the directors. These ministers did not form a council and
had no general powers of government.

The system made provision for the stringent control of all local authorities by the central
government. Since the separation of powers still appeared axiomatic, the directors had no voice
in legislation or taxation, nor could directors or ministers sit in either house. The law guaranteed
freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of labour, but forbade armed assemblies
and even public meetings of political societies. Only individuals or public authorities could
tender petitions.

From the beginning, however, circumstances restricted the free play of the constitution. The
Convention had acquired so much unpopularity that, if its members had retired into private life,
they would have courted danger and risked the undoing of their work. Therefore a decree
required that two-thirds of the first legislature must come from among the members of the
Convention.

When the constitution went before the primary assemblies, most electors held aloof, 1,050,000
voting for and only 5,000 voting against it. On 23 September it officially became law. Then all
the parties which resented the limit upon freedom of election combined in Paris to rise in revolt.
The government entrusted its defense to Barras, but on 13 Vendmiaire (5 October 1795) the
young General Napolon Bonaparte quelled ill-equipped and ill-led Parisian insurgents with a
few thousand regular troops and of a powerful artillery. Further resistance seemed impossible.
The Convention dissolved itself on 26 October 1795.

After the selection of the Council of the Ancients by lot, it remained to name the directors. For its
own security the Left resolved that all five must be old members of the Convention and regicides.
The Ancients chose Rewbell, Barras, La Rvellire Lpeaux, Carnot and Le Tourneur.

Rewbell was an able, although unscrupulous, man of action; Barras a dissolute and shameless
adventurer; La Rvellire Lpeaux the chief of a new sect, the Theophilanthropists, and therefore
a bitter foe to other religions, especially the Roman Catholic. Severe integrity and memorable
public services raised Carnot far above his colleagues, but he was not a statesman and was
hampered by his past. Le Tourneur, a harmless insignificant person, admired and followed
Carnot.

The division in the legislature was reproduced in the Directory. Rewbell, Barras and La
Rvellire Lpeaux had a full measure of the Jacobin spirit; Carnot and Le Tourneur favoured a
more temperate policy.[1]

[edit] Unpopularity of the Directory

With the establishment of the Directory, the Revolution might seem closed. The nation only
desired rest and the healing of its many wounds. Those who wished to restore Louis XVIII of
France and the Ancien Rgime and those who would have renewed the Reign of Terror were
insignificant in number. The possibility of foreign interference had vanished with the failure of
the First Coalition. Nevertheless, the four years of the Directory were a time of arbitrary
government and chronic disquiet. The late atrocities had made confidence or goodwill between
parties impossible. The same instinct of self-preservation which had led the members of the
Convention to claim so large a part in the new legislature and the whole of 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 migrs, and some merciful discrimination toward the
migrs themselves. The directors baffled all such endeavours. On the other hand, the socialist
conspiracy of Babeuf was easily quelled. Little was done to improve the finances, and the
assignats continued to fall in value.

[edit] Military successes

However, the Directory was sustained by the military successes of 1796. Hoche again suppressed
the Revolt in the Vende. 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 1796, ceding Nice
and Savoy to the French 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 1796, 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 French 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, the
United Kingdom 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 Le Tourneur to retire, and he was succeeded by
Barthlemy, an eminent diplomatist, who allied himself with Carnot. The political disabilities
imposed upon the relatives of migrs 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.

[edit] 18 Fructidor
Barras, Rewbell, and La Rvellire-Lpeaux then sought help from the armies. Although
Royalists formed but a petty fraction of the majority, they accused that fraction of seeking to
restore monarchy and to undo the work of the Revolution. Hoche, then in command of the Army
of Sambre-et-Meuse, visited Paris and sent troops. Bonaparte sent General Augereau, who
executed the coup d'tat of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797).

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 Barthlemy, were
deported to Cayenne. Carnot made good his escape. The two vacant places in the Directory were
filled by Merlin of Douai and Nicolas-Louis Franois de Neufchteau. Then the government
frankly returned to Jacobin methods. The law against the relatives of migrs was reenacted, and
military tribunals were established to condemn migrs who should return to France.

The nonjuring priests were again persecuted. Many hundreds were either sent to Cayenne or
imprisoned in the hulks of R and Olron. La Rvellire Lpeaux 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 dcadi 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 naturalisation 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.

[edit] 1798
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. However, 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 Floral, annulling or perverting the elections in thirty departments and excluding
forty-eight deputies by name. Even this coup d'tat 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 Franois of Neufchteau and the choice of Treilhard as his
successor (15 May 1798) 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 Rastatt to regulate the future of Germany. That it should be brought to a successful
conclusion was of the utmost import for France. However, 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, the Directors sent Brune to invade Switzerland and remodel its
constitution. In revenge for the murder of General Duphot (28 December 1797), they sent
Berthier to invade the Papal States and erect the Roman Republic. They also occupied and
virtually annexed Piedmont. In all these countries, they organised such an effective pillage that
the French became universally hated.

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 held
responsible and some eight thousand were condemned to deportation en masse, although the
much 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, Horatio Nelson's victory of Aboukir (1 August 1798), which gave the
British full command of the Mediterranean and isolated Bonaparte in Egypt, was the signal for a
second coalition. Naples, Austria, Russia and Turkey joined Great Britain against France.
Ferdinand IV of Naples, rashly taking the offensive before his allies were ready, was defeated and
forced to seek a refuge in Sicily.

[edit] 1799
In January 1799, the French occupied Naples and set up the Parthenopaean 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 Sieys, who had kept aloof from office and retained
not only his immeasurable self-conceit but the respect of the public.

Sieys felt that the Directory had bankrupted its own reputation, and he intended to do far more
than merely serve as a member of a board. He hoped to concentrate power in his own hands, to
bridle the Jacobins, and to remodel the constitution. With the help of Barras, he proceeded to rid
himself of the other directors. An irregularity having emerged in Treilhard's election, he retired,
and Gohier took his place (30 Prairial, 18 June 1799). Merlin of Douai and La Rvellire
Lpeaux were driven to resign in June 1799; Moulin and Ducos replaced them. The three new
directors so lacked significance that they could give no trouble, but for the same reason they
could give little service.

Such a government proved ill-fitted to cope with the dangers then gathering round France. The
directors resolved on a French offensive in Germany. The French crossed the Rhine early in
March, but Archduke Charles of Austria defeated them at Stockach on 25 March 1799. The
congress at Rastatt, which had sat for fifteen months without doing anything, broke up in April,
and Austrian hussars murdered the French envoys. In Italy, the allies took the offensive with an
army partly Austrian, partly Russian, under the command of the Russian field marshal (future
generalissimo) Suvorov. After defeating Moreau at Cassano d'Adda on 27 April 1799, he
occupied Milan and Turin. The puppet republics established by the French in Italy collapsed, and
Suvorov defeated the French army on the Trebbia as it retreated from Naples.

Thus threatened with invasion on her German and Italian frontiers, France seemed disabled by
anarchy within. The finances stood in the last distress; the anti-religious policy of the government
kept many dpartements on the verge of revolt; and commerce almost ground to a halt due to the
decay of roads and the increase of bandits. The French lacked any real political freedom, yet also
lacked the ease or security which enlightened despotism can bestow. The Terrorists lifted their
heads in the Council of Five Hundred. A Law of Hostages, which was really a new Law of
Suspects, and a progressive income tax showed the temper of the majority. The Jacobin Club re-
opened and became once more the focus of disorder. The Jacobin press renewed the licence of
Hbert and Marat. Never since the outbreak of the Revolution had the public temper seemed so
gloomy.

In this extremity, Sieys chose as minister of police the old Terrorist Joseph Fouch, who best
understood how to deal with his brethren. Fouch closed the Jacobin Club and deported a number
of journalists. However, like his predecessors, Sieys felt that for the revolution which he
meditated, he must have the help of a soldier. As his man of action, he chose General Joubert, one
of the most distinguished among French officers. The Directory sent Joubert to restore the
fortunes of the war in Italy. At Novi, on 15 August 1799, he encountered Suvorov. He was killed
at the outset of the battle and his men suffered defeat.

After this disaster, the French held scarcely any territory south of the Alps save Genoa. The
Russian and Austrian governments then agreed to drive the enemy out of Switzerland and to
invade France from the east. At the same time, the joint forces of Great Britain and Russia
assailed the Netherlands. However, the narrow views and conflicting interests of the members of
the second coalition doomed it to failure like the first. Lack of co-ordination between Austrians
and Russians, and Andr Massna's victory at Zrich (25 - 26 September 1799) stalled the
invasion of Switzerland. In October, the British and the Russians had to evacuate the
Netherlands. All immediate danger to France ended, but the issue of war remained in suspense.
The Directors had felt forced to recall Bonaparte from Egypt. He anticipated their order and on 9
October 1799 landed at Frjus

[edit] End of the Directory

Main article: 18 Brumaire

The Directory and the French Revolution itself came to an end with the coup d'tat of 18
Brumaire (November 9, 1799) in which General Napolon Bonaparte overthrew the Directory
and replaced it with the Consulate.
In November 1799, France was suffering the effects of military reverses brought on by
Bonaparte's adventurism in the Middle East. The looming threat of opportunistic invasion by the
Second Coalition had provoked internal unrest, with Bonaparte stuck in Egypt. A return to
Jacobinism seemed possible.

The coup was first prepared by the Abb Sieys, then one of the five Directors. Bonaparte
returned from Egypt a hero to the public despite his reverses. Sieys believed he had found the
general indispensable to his coup. However, Bonaparte promptly began a coup within the coup.
Ultimately, the coup brought to power Bonaparte, not Sieys.

The plan was, through the use of troops conveniently arrayed around Paris, first to persuade the
Directors to resign, then to persuade the two Councils to appoint a pliant commission to draw up
a new constitution.

On the morning of 18 Brumaire, members of the Council of Ancients sympathetic to the coup
warned their colleagues of a Jacobin conspiracy and persuaded them to remove to Saint-Cloud,
west of Paris. Bonaparte was charged with the safety of the two Councils. Three directors,
including Sieys himself resigned, destroying quorum. However, the two Jacobin Directors,
Gohier and Moulin, refused to resign. Moulin escaped, Gohier was taken prisoner, and the two
Councils were not immediately intimidated and continued to meet.

By the following day, the deputies had worked out that they were facing an attempted coup rather
than being protected from a Jacobin rebellion. Faced with their recalcitrance, Bonaparte stormed
into the chambers accompanied by a small escort of grenadiers. He met with heckling in both
houses; he was first jostled, then outright assaulted. His brother Lucien, President of the Council,
called upon the grenadiers to defend their leader. Napoleon escaped, but only through the use of
military force. Ultimately, military force also dispersed the legislature.

The Consulate was declared, with Bonaparte, Sieys, and Roger Ducos as consuls.

The lack of reaction from the streets proved that the revolution was, indeed, over. In the words of
the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, "A shabby compound of brute force and imposture, the 18th
Brumaire was nevertheless condoned, nay applauded, by the French nation. Weary of revolution,
men sought no more than to be wisely and firmly governed." Resistance by Jacobin officeholders
in the provinces was quickly crushed, twenty Jacobin legislators were exiled, and others were
arrested.

Bonaparte completed his coup within a coup by the adoption of a constitution under which the
First Consul, a position he was sure to hold, had greater power than the other two.