The Directory encouraged this French war effort across
Europe, though less as a democratic crusade against tyranny than
as a means of resolving the unemployment crisis in France. A large,
victorious French army lowered unemployment within France and guaranteed soldiers
a steady paycheck to buy the goods they needed to survive. The Directory
hoped that this increase in income would encourage an increase in
demand, reinvigorating the French economy.
Abuses by the Directory
Unfortunately, it was not long before the Directory began
to abuse its power. The results of the elections of 1795 were
worrisome to the Directory because a number of moderate royalists
won. Although these royalists didn’t exactly qualify as counterrevolutionaries,
their loyalty to the Directory was nevertheless suspect.
Then, in May 1796,
a group of Jacobins, led by prominent publisher Gracchus Babeuf,
met secretly to plan a coup in the hopes of reinstating the government
of the Constitution of 1793. Already
troubled by the 1795 election
results, the Directory squashed the coup plot, had the conspirators
arrested, and had Babeuf guillotined.
The Elections and Coup of 1797
As the elections of 1797 drew
near, the Directory noticed that significant royalist and neo-Jacobin
influences were leaking into the republic, which could have terrible
implications for the direction of the legislature. On the other
hand, the Directory had to obey the Constitution of 1795 and
its mandate for annual elections. It therefore allowed the elections
to proceed as scheduled.
However, on September 4, 1797,
after the elections did indeed produce decidedly pro-royal and pro-Jacobin
results, three members of the Directory orchestrated an overthrow
of the legislature, annulling the election results
and removing a majority of the new deputies from their seats. The
coup plotters also unseated two members of the Directory itself—former
military strategist Lazare Carnot being one of them—and
installed two new directors, further ensuring that the government
would remain staunch in its moderate stance.
Popular Discontent
This new Directory was powerfully conservative, initiating
strong new financial policies and cracking down on radicalism through executions
and other means. However, the coup and the Directory’s subsequent
abuses of power destroyed all of the government’s credibility and
further disillusioned the French populace. In the elections of 1798,
the left made gains, feeding on public anger about the coup and
the reinstatement of the military draft.
