Editing French Directory (section)

== French society during the Directory ==
Despite wars and social turmoil, the population of France continued to grow during the Directory. It was 27,800,000 in 1796, before the Directory, and had grown to 27,900,000 by 1801. Annual population growth had dropped from 16 percent in 1785, before the Revolution, to zero in 1790; but it then rebounded to 36 percent in 1795, then down to 12 percent in 1800. Part of the drop in birth rate during the Directory is attributed to the simplification of divorce, and the change in inheritance laws, which granted equal shares to all descendants. The number of young men killed in the wars during the Directory numbered 235,000 between 1795 and 1799. The high birth rate before the Revolution – together with conscription from conquered and allied states<ref>Brun, Jean-François in: Revue historique des armées: Les unités étrangères dans les armées napoléoniennes: un élément de la stratégie globale du Grand Empire [http://rha.revues.org/6752]</ref> – allowed Napoleon to fill the ranks of his ''[[Grande Armée]]'' during the [[First French Empire|Empire]] between 1804 and 1815.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=272}}

By the time of the Directory, French society had been dramatically restructured. Nobles and clergy, the two classes which had held most of the power before the Revolution, had disappeared. An estimated one percent of the population, mostly nobles and priests, but also many members of the upper middle class who had supported the [[Kingdom of France|monarchy]], had emigrated. The number was even higher in border regions, such as [[Bas-Rhin]], where 4.5 percent of the population had left.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=272}}

=== Rich and poor ===
[[File:Boilly-Point-de-Convention-ca1797.jpg|thumb|Dress of upper-class Parisians in 1797 by [[Louis-Léopold Boilly]]]]
Under the Directory the middle and upper classes took a dominant position in Paris society, replacing the nobility. Enormous fortunes were made, often by providing supplies to the army or by speculation on real estate. Some parts of the middle and upper classes suffered: the abolition of the old professional guilds of lawyers and doctors brought the ruin of many members, who faced competition from anyone who wanted to use those titles. The merchants and shipowners in Bordeaux, Nantes, Marseille and other ports were ruined by the British naval blockade. Bankers took on a more prominent role, when investment was scarce.

Two new groups gained importance during the Directory. The number of government officials of all levels increased dramatically. The writer [[Louis-Sébastien Mercier]] in his ''Paris pendant la Révolution (1789–1798), ou Le nouveau Paris'', published in 1800, wrote: "There is no one who has not complained of the insolence, or the ignorance, of the multitude of government officials employed in the bureaus to sharpen their pens and to obstruct the course of affairs. New has the bureaucracy been carried to a point so so exaggerated, so costly, to exhausting."{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=276}}

Generals and other military officers also grew greatly in importance during the Directory and became a caste independent of the political structure. The Directory had abolished the Jacobin system of political commissioners who supervised and could overrule the military commanders. Generals like Bonaparte in Italy, Hoche in Germany and Pichegru in Alsace directed entire provinces according to their own ideas and wishes, with little interference from Paris. The soldiers of these generals were often more loyal to their generals than to the Directory, as the soldiers of Bonaparte showed during the 1799 coup d'état that ended the Directory.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=277}}

The working class and poor in Paris and other large cities suffered particularly from the high inflation during the first part of the Directory, which brought higher prices for bread, meat, wine, firewood and other basic commodities. In the last two years of the Directory, the problem was the opposite: with the suppression of the ''assignats'', the money became scarce, the economy slowed, and unemployment grew. The Directory distributed scarce food items, such as cooking oil, butter and eggs, to government employees and to members of the Councils. Before the Revolution, taking care of the poor had been the responsibility of the Church. During the Directory, the government, particularly in Paris and other large cities, was forced to take over this role. To feed the Parisians and prevent food riots, the government bought flour in the countryside at market prices with its silver coins, then gave it to the bakeries, which sold it at the traditional market price of four sous a pound, which was virtually nothing. The subsidies were reduced in the last years of the Directory, paying only for bread, but they were an enormous expense for the Directory. At the beginning, the government tried to provide the standard minimum of one pound of bread a day per person, but the shortage of money reduced the daily ration to sixty grams of bread a day. The government also tried giving rice as a substitute for bread, but the poor lacked firewood to cook it.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|pp=173–174}}

Under the Directory a system of public charity "was finally put in place with some success," with legislation passed in November 1796 establishing bureaux de bienfaisance in every commune. These were responsible for providing home relief. Funding for state hospitals was also increased, and legislation from December 1796 placed abandoned children under the state's care.<ref>The A to Z of the French Revolution By Paul R. Hanson, 2007, P.64</ref>

=== Crime and corruption ===
Economic problems led to a large increase in crime under The Directory, particularly in the countryside. Bands of the unemployed became beggars and turned to robbery, and brigands robbed travelers along the highways. Some of the brigands were former royalists turned highwaymen. They were later celebrated in the novel of [[Alexander Dumas]], ''Les Compagnons de Jéhu'' (''[[The Companions of Jehu]]''). The government did not have the money to hire more police, and the great majority of the army was occupied fighting in Italy, Switzerland and Egypt. The growing insecurity on the roads seriously harmed commerce in France. The problem of brigands and highwaymen was not seriously addressed until after a serious wave of crimes on the roads in the winter of 1797–98. The Councils passed a law calling for the death penalty for any robbery committed on the main highways or against a public vehicle, such as a coach, even if nothing was taken. If the crime was committed by more than one person, the robbers were tried by a military tribunal rather than a civilian court. The wave of highway robberies was finally stopped by Bonaparte and the Consulate, which employed special tribunals even swifter and more severe than the Directory tribunals.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|pp=449–450}}

Corruption was another serious problem, particularly with the businessmen who provided supplies to the army and government. In one case, the Chevalier enterprise received a contract to build three large warships and two frigates at [[Rochefort, Charente-Maritime|Rochefort]]; the company was paid in national property seized from the aristocracy and the Church, but it never constructed the ships, or even bought the materials.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|p=508}} Huge contracts for government supplies were passed from the furnishers to sub-contractors, who each paid the furnisher a fee. Sometimes contractors demanded to be paid for their services in advance in silver. They were paid, but never delivered the services, and then reimbursed the government with nearly-worthless assignats. The Directors themselves were accused of receiving money from contractors. The Minister of Finance of the Directory, [[Dominique-Vincent Ramel-Nogaret]], was offered 100,000 francs for a bribe to give a contract by a furnisher named Langlois. Ramel refused and turned Langlois over to the police; however, some ministers and Directors, like Barras, left the government with large fortunes. The Directory was unable to escape the accusations of widespread corruption.{{sfn|Lefebvre|1977|p=508}}

=== ''Muscadins'', ''Incroyables'' and ''Merveilleuses'' ===
[[File:Muscadins.jpg|thumb|''Les deux incroyables'': [[Muscadins]] or [[Incroyables]] wore extravagant costumes in reaction against the recent [[Reign of Terror]], by [[Carle Vernet]], c. 1797]]
Born in reaction against the strict codes of behavior established during the [[National Convention|Convention]] and the [[Reign of Terror]], the ''[[Muscadins]]'' were fashionable young men who carried canes and sometimes, in groups, attacked [[sans-culottes]]. Following soon afterwards, the Directory had its own fashion reflecting the new social behavior and carried out by young Parisians of both sexes, from middle and upper-class families, often survivors of the excesses of the Revolution, who had lost parents and family members to the guillotine. They were called ''[[Incroyables and Merveilleuses]]'' and dressed in extravagant costumes. The men, the ''Incroyables'', wore long hair to their shoulders, round hats with broad brims, short coats and silk culottes. Their female counterparts, the ''Merveilleuses'', wore flowing, high-breasted transparent dresses reminiscent of the Greco-Roman era. They frequented balls called ''[[Bals des victimes]]'' and spoke in their own particular accent and vocabulary, avoiding to pronounce the letter "R", as it was the first letter of the word "Revolution".{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=884}}

=== Marriage and divorce ===
During the Directory, almost all the structures and rules of Paris society had been swept away, but no new structures and rules had yet been created to replace them. The [[brothers Goncourt]] meticulously described the period on their ''Histoire de la société française pendant le Directoire''. Caste and rank mattered far less; all the old titles and forms of address had disappeared, along with old customs and social conventions. Men no longer took off their hats when talking to women, and people of different ranks spoke to each other as equals. Society no longer met in private, in the houses of the nobility, but in public, at balls, restaurants and public gardens. As the Goncourts said, "social anarchy" reigned in Paris: "everyone met with everyone." Government ministers could be seen walking or dining with actresses, bankers with courtesans.{{sfn|de Goncourt|1864|p=178}}
 
"Liaisons were easy", the Goncourts reported, "marriage less so." The old system of marriages arranged between families based on fortune, profession, and social condition was less common. Marriages were no longer controlled by the church, but by the new civil code, which described marriage as "nature in action." Marriage was seen as a temporary, not a permanent state. Children born outside of marriage were given equal status concerning inheritance and other legal matters as those born to married couples. Divorce was much simpler, and could be requested by either the husband or wife. In one period of fifteen months, 5,994 civil law divorces were granted in Paris, of which 3,886 were requested by the wife. Of 1,148 divorces granted on the grounds of "incompatibility of humor", 887 were requested by the wife. The new system also led to a large increase in the number of children born outside of marriage and not wanted; in 1795 four thousand unwanted children in the Department of the Seine were turned over to foundling hospitals.{{sfn|de Goncourt|1864|p=185}}

The breakdown of the old system of arranged marriages led to the creation of the first newspaper where men and women could advertise themselves for suitable spouses, called the ''Indicateur des marriages''. It also led to the establishment of the first marriage bureaus. A businessman named Liardot rented a large former mansion, brought in selected eligible young women as paying guests, and invited men seeking wives to meet them at balls, concerts and card games each given at the house each evening. The men were screened by their profession and education.{{sfn|de Goncourt|1864|p=185}}

=== Amusement – ''Bals des victimes'', pleasure gardens, new restaurants and cafés ===
Although balls were not banned during the [[Reign of Terror]],<ref>Tissier, André, ''Les spectacles à Paris pendant la Révolution... de la proclamation de la République à la fin de la Convention nationale (21 septembre 1792 – 26 octobre 1795)'', publisher: Droz, 2002, pp. 363–369 and further [https://books.google.com/books?id=saeLdu3k14AC&q=bal&pg=PA27]</ref> after the death of Robespierre and the fall of the Jacobins, the city experienced a frenzy of dancing that lasted throughout the period of the French Directory. The Goncourt brothers reported that 640 balls took place in 1797 alone. Several former monasteries were turned into ballrooms, including the [[Professed House (Paris)|Noviciate of the Jesuits]], the ''Monastère des Carmes'' (turned into a prison where 191 members of the Catholic Church — bishops, priests, monks — were [[September Massacres|massacred on 2 September 1792]]), the ''Séminaire Saint-Sulpice'', and even in the former Saint-Sulpice cemetery. Some of the former palatial townhouses of the nobility were rented and used for ballrooms; the ''Hôtel de Longueville'' near the Louvre put on enormous spectacles, with three hundred couples dancing, in thirty circles of sixteen dancers each, the women in nearly transparent dresses, styled after Roman tunics. In the public balls, everyone danced with everyone; merchants, clerks, artisans and workers danced with shop women and seamstresses. In the more popular public balls, the ''cavaliers'' were charged 80 sous for admission, while women paid 12 sous. At more exclusive balls, admission was five livres.{{sfn|de Goncourt|1864|pp=145–146}} Aristocrats who had survived or returned from exile held their own balls in their houses in the [[Faubourg Saint-Germain]], where ''[[Bals des victimes]]'' ("Balls of the victims") were attended by invitees who had lost at least one parent to the guillotine.

The formal dancing of the minuet was replaced by a much more passionate new dance, the [[waltz]], which was introduced to Paris during this time from Germany. For summer evening entertainment, Parisians began to abandon the Tuileries Gardens and the gardens of the [[Palais-Royal]] and went to the new pleasure gardens which appeared in the neighborhood between the [[Boulevards of Paris|Grands boulevards]] and the Palais-Royal. The most famous was the [[Jardin de Tivoli, Paris|''Jardin de Tivoli'']], also known as ''Folie Boutin'' or ''Grand Tivoli'', located on [[rue Saint-Lazare]]. It had belonged to an aristocrat named Boutin, who was guillotined during the Reign of Terror. It was a vast garden covering 40 [[Arpent|''arpents'']] (ca. 20 hectares), and could hold as many as ten thousand persons. It had alleys filled with promenaders, greenhouses, illuminations, an orchestra, dancing, a café, and fireworks at night. Other new gardens competed by adding spectacles and pageants. The ''[[Jardin des Champs-Élysées]]'' offered a pageant of costumed soldiers on horseback performing elaborate maneuvers and firing weapons. The ''Mousseau'' (now ''[[Parc Monceau]]'') had performers dressed as [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]] dancing and fighting battles. The former ''[[Palais Berlitz|Pavillon de Hanovre]]'', which had been part of the [[Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duke of Richelieu|Duke of Richelieu]]'s residential complex, featured a terrace for dancing and dining decorated with Turkish tents, Chinese kiosks and lanterns.{{sfn|de Goncourt|1864|pp=213–234}}

Many new restaurants and cafés, usually close to the twenty-three theaters, appeared in and around the Palais-Royal and the new boulevards. A new café, the ''Tortoni'', specializing in ice creams, opened in 1795 at the corner of the [[boulevard des Italiens]] and ''rue Taitbout''. The new restaurants in the Palais-Royal were often run by the former chefs of archbishops and aristocrats who had gone into exile. The restaurant ''Méot'' offered a menu with over one hundred dishes. Beside the ''Méot'' and ''Beauvilliers'', under the arcades of the Palais-Royal were the restaurants and cafés such as ''Naudet'', ''Robert'', ''Véry'', ''Foy'', ''Huré'' <!-- there was a Hué at the Grand Palais (=end of 19th century)  -->, ''Berceau'', ''Lyrique'', ''Liberté conquise'', ''de Chartres'' (now ''[[Le Grand Véfour]]''), and ''du Sauvage'' <!-- can't find trace of any restaurant by the name of "restaurant du Sauvage" -->(the last owned by the former coachman of Robespierre). In the cellars of the Palais-Royal were more popular cafés, usually with music, smaller menus at more reasonable prices. One of those, the ''Postal'' <!-- can't find anything by that name -->, offered a menu for just 36 sous. Many of the cafés in the cellars had orchestras; the most famous was the ''Café des Aveugles'', with an orchestra of four blind musicians.{{sfn|de Goncourt|1864|pp=73–83}}

After the Reign of Terror had ended, dining hours for upper-class Parisians returned gradually to what they had been before the Revolution, with ''déjeuner'' at midday, dinner at 6 or 7 in the evening, and supper at 2 in the morning. When the theater performances ended at 10 PM, the spectators went to the nearby cafés on the boulevards.{{sfn|de Goncourt|1864|p=74}}