Editing French Directory (section)

=== Directory takes charge ===
Between 12 and 21 October 1795, immediately after the suppression of royalist uprising in Paris, the elections for the new Councils decreed by the new Constitution took place. 379 members of the old Convention, for the most part moderate republicans, were elected to the new legislature. To assure that the Directory did not abandon the Revolution entirely, the Council required that all of the members of the Directory be former members of the Convention and [[regicides]], those who had voted for the execution of [[Louis XVI]].

Due to the rules established by the Convention, a majority of members of the new legislature, 381 of 741 deputies, had served in the Convention and were ardent republicans, but a large part of the new deputies elected were royalists, 118 versus 11 from the left. The members of the upper house, the Council of Ancients, were chosen by lot from among all of the deputies.

On 31 October 1795, the Council of Ancients chose the first Directory from a list of candidates submitted by the Council of Five Hundred. One person elected, the [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès|Abbé Sieyès]], refused to take the position, saying it didn't suit his interests or personality. A new member, [[Lazare Carnot]], was elected in his place.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|pp=204–206}}

The members elected to the Directory were the following:
* [[Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras]], a member of a minor noble family from [[Provence]], Barras had been a revolutionary envoy to [[Toulon]], where he met the young Bonaparte, and arranged his promotion to captain. Barras had been removed from the [[Committee of Public Safety]] by Robespierre. Fearing for his life, Barras had helped organize the downfall of Robespierre. An expert at political intrigue, Barras became the dominant figure in the Directory. His leading opponent in the Directory, Carnot, described him as "without faith and without morals... in politics, without character and without resolution... He has all the tastes of an opulent prince, generous, magnificent and dissipated."{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=564}}
* [[Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux]] was a fierce republican and anti-Catholic, who had proposed to execute Louis XVI after the [[flight to Varennes]]. He promoted the establishment of a new religion, [[theophilanthropy]], to replace Christianity.
* [[Jean-François Rewbell]] had an expertise in foreign relations, and was a close ally of Paul Barras. He was a firm moderate republican who had voted for the death of the king but had also opposed Robespierre and the extreme Jacobins. He was an opponent of the Catholic church and a proponent of individual liberties.
* [[Étienne-François Le Tourneur]] was a former captain of engineers, and a specialist in military and naval affairs. He was a close ally within the Directory of Carnot.
* [[Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot]] took the place of Abbé Sieyés, who was elected by the Ancients but refused the position. Carnot was an army captain at the beginning of the Revolution, and when elected to the Convention became a member of the commission of military affairs, as well as a vocal opponent of Robespierre. He was an energetic and efficient manager, who restructured the French military and helped it achieve its first successes, earning him the title of "The Organizer of the Victory". Napoleon, who later made Carnot his [[Minister of War (France)|Minister of War]], described him as "a hard worker, sincere in everything, but without intrigues, and easy to fool."{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=624}}

The following day, the members of the new government took over their offices in the [[Luxembourg Palace]], which had previously been occupied by the Committee of Public Safety. Nothing had been prepared, and the rooms had no furniture: they managed to find firewood to heat the room, and a table in order to work. Each member took charge of a particular sector: Rewbell diplomacy; Carnot and Le Tourneur military affairs, La Révellière-Lépeaux religion and public instruction, and Barras internal affairs.

The Council of Ancients was attributed the building at the Tuileries Palace formerly occupied by the Convention, while the Council of Five Hundred deliberated in the ''[[Salle du Manège]]'', the former riding school west of the palace in the [[Tuileries Garden]]. One of the early decisions of the new parliament was to designate uniforms for both houses: the Five Hundred wore long white robes with a blue belt, a scarlet cloak and a hat of blue [[velour]], while members of the Ancients wore a robe of blue-violet, a scarlet sash, a white mantle, and a violet hat.
{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=206}}

==== Gallery ====
<gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Paul Barras.jpg|[[Paul Barras]] (here in the ceremonial dress of a Director) was a master of political intrigue
File:La Révellière-Lépeaux Directeur.JPG|[[Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux]]
File:Jean-François Reubell.JPG|[[Jean-François Rewbell]]
File:Étienne-François Le Tourneur - Directeur.jpg|[[Étienne-François Le Tourneur]]
File:Portrait Lazare Carnot.jpg|[[Lazare Carnot]], a brilliant organizer and mathematician but poor intriguer, was the enemy of Barras
</gallery>