Editing French Directory (section)

=== Rise of the royalists and coup d'état (1797) ===
{{main|Coup of 18 Fructidor}}
The first elections held after the formation of the Directory were held in March and April 1797, in order to replace one-third of the members of the Councils. The elections were a crushing defeat for the old members of the Convention; 205 of the 216 were defeated. Only eleven former deputies from the Convention were reelected, several of whom were royalists.{{sfn|Soboul|1975|p=505}} The elections were a triumph for the royalists, particularly in the south and in the west; after the elections there were about 160 royalist deputies, divided between those who favored a return to an absolute monarchy, and those who wished a constitutional monarchy on the British model. The constitutional monarchists elected to the Council included [[Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours]], who later emigrated to the United States with his family, and whose son, [[Éleuthère Irénée du Pont]], founded the "E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company", now known as [[DuPont]]. In Paris and other large cities, the candidates of the left dominated. General [[Jean-Charles Pichegru]], a former Jacobin and ordinary soldier who had become one of the most successful generals of the Revolution, was elected president of the new Council of Five Hundred. [[François Barbé-Marbois]], a diplomat and future negotiator of the [[Louisiana Purchase|sale of Louisiana]] to the United States, was elected president of the Council of Ancients.

[[File:Pichegru.jpg|thumb|left|General [[Jean-Charles Pichegru]], president of the Council of Five Hundred, was accused of being a secret royalist]]
Royalism was not strictly legal, and deputies could not announce themselves as such, but royalist newspapers and pamphlets soon appeared, there were pro-monarchy demonstrations in theaters, and royalists wore identifying clothing items, such as black velvet collars, in show of mourning for the execution of Louis XVI. The parliamentary royalists demanded changes in the government fiscal policies, and a more tolerant position toward religion. During the Convention, churches had been closed and priests required to take an [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy|oath to the government]]. Priests who had refused to take the oath were expelled from the country, on pain of the death penalty if they returned. Under the Directory, many priests had quietly returned, and many churches around the country had re-opened and were discreetly holding services. When the Directory proposed moving the ashes of the celebrated mathematician and philosopher [[René Descartes]] to the ''[[Panthéon]]'', one deputy, [[Louis-Sébastien Mercier]], a former [[Girondin]] and opponent of the Jacobins, protested that the ideas of Descartes had inspired the [[Reign of Terror]] of the Revolution and destroyed religion in France. Descartes' ashes were not moved.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|p=212}} ''[[French emigration (1789–1815)|Émigrés]]'' who had left during the Revolution had been threatened by the Convention with the death penalty if they returned; now, under the Directory, they quietly began to return.{{sfn|Furet|1996|p=181}}

[[File:Charles Pierre Francois Augereau.jpg|thumb|General [[Pierre Augereau]], a close ally of Bonaparte, led the army that arrested the royalist leaders of the legislature (4 September 1797)]]
[[File:Augereau Coup d etat 18 Fructidor in Tuileries.jpg|thumb|The army arrests General Pichegru at the Tuileries Palace (4 September 1797)]]
Parallel with the parliamentary royalists, but not directly connected with them, a clandestine network of royalists existed, whose objective was to place [[Louis XVIII]], then in exile in [[Germany]], on the French throne. They were funded largely by Britain, through the offices of [[William Wickham (1761–1840)|William Wickham]], the British spymaster who had his headquarters in [[Switzerland]]. These networks were too divided and too closely watched by the police to have much effect on politics. However, Wickham did make one contact that proved to have a decisive effect on French politics: through an intermediary, he had held negotiations with General Pichegru, then commander of the Army of the Rhine.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=217}}

The Directory itself was divided. [[Lazare Carnot|Carnot]], [[Étienne-François Letourneur|Letourneur]] and [[Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux|La Révellière Lépeaux]] were not royalists, but favored a more moderate government, more tolerant of religion. Though Carnot himself had been a member of the [[Committee of Public Safety]], he declared that the Jacobins were ungovernable, that the Revolution could not go on forever, and that it was time to end it. A new member, [[François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy]], a diplomat, had joined the Directory; he was allied with Carnot. The royalists in the Councils immediately began to demand more power over the government and particularly over the finances, threatening the position of Barras.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|pp=218–219}}

Barras, the consummate intriguer, won La Révellière Lépeaux over to his side, and began planning the downfall of the royalists. From letters taken from a captured royalist agent, he was aware of the contacts that General Pichegru made with the British and that he had been in contact with the exiled Louis XVIII. He presented this information to Carnot, and Carnot agreed to support his action against the Councils. General [[Lazare Hoche|Hoche]], the new Minister of War, was directed to march the [[Army of Sambre-et-Meuse]] through Paris on its way to Brest, on the pretext that they would be embarked for a new expedition to Ireland. Hoche himself resigned as Minister of War on 22 July. General [[Pierre Augereau]], a close subordinate and ally of Bonaparte, and his troops arrived in Paris on 7 August, though it was a violation of the Constitution for soldiers to be within twelve leagues of the city without permission of the Councils. The royalist members of the Councils protested, but could do nothing to send them away.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=392}}

On 4 September 1797, with the army in place, the [[Coup of 18 Fructidor|''Coup d'état'' of 18 Fructidor, Year V]] was set in motion. General Augereau's soldiers arrested Pichegru, Barthélemy, and the leading royalist deputies of the Councils. The next day, the Directory annulled the elections of about two hundred deputies in 53 departments.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=393}} Sixty-five deputies were deported to [[Guiana]], 42 royalist newspapers were closed, and 65 journalists and editors were deported. Carnot and Barthélemy were removed from the Directory. Carnot went into exile in Switzerland; he later returned and became, for a time, Bonaparte's minister of war. [[François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy|Barthélemy]] and Pichegru both were sent to exile in [[French Guiana]] ([[Devil's Island]]). In June 1798, they both escaped, and went first to the United States and then to England. During the [[French Consulate|Consulate]], Pichegru returned secretly to Paris, where he was captured on 28 February 1804. He died in prison on 6 April 1804, either strangled or having committed suicide.