Memoirs of the life, exile, and conversations of the Emperor Napoleon. (Vol. II)

by comte de Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné Las Cases

“Be that as it may, after the 18th Fructidor, the enthusiasm of the army was at its height, and the triumph of Napoleon complete. But the Directory, notwithstanding its apparent gratitude, surrounded Napoleon from that moment with numerous agents, who watched his motions and endeavoured to penetrate his thoughts.

"The situation of Napoleon was one of extreme delicacy, although his conduct was so well regulated, and so admirable, that even at this period we can only form mere conjectures on the subject; but to the delicacy of his situation it is that we think we can trace the principal reasons which led to the conclusion of the peace at Campo Formio, to his refusal to remain at the Congress of Rastadt, and finally, to the undertaking of the expedition to Egypt.

“As it always happens in France, immediately after the 18th Fructidor, the party that had been overthrown disappeared on a sudden, and the majority of the Directory triumphed without moderation. It became every thing, and reduced the Councils to nothing.

“Napoleon then felt the necessity of peace, which, putting an end to the present state of affairs, would increase his popularity: he had every thing to fear from the prolongation of war; it might furnish those who should have suspected him ready pretexts for injuring him; or the intention might be to expose him in situations of difficulty, and unite the other generals against him.

“Two[“Two] of the generals, who enjoyed the greatest reputation at that time, manifested openly their sentiments with respect to the great affair of Fructidor: these were Moreau and Hoche.

“Moreau had declared himself positively against the Directory, and by a line of conduct at once pusillanimous and culpable, he failed in his duty and compromised his honour.

“Hoche was entirely in favour of the Directory, impelled by the impetuosity of his disposition, he marched part of his army upon Paris, and failed by acting with too much precipitation. His troops were countermanded by the influence of the Councils, and he himself was obliged to leave Paris, to avoid being arrested by order of these Councils. Hoche had therefore done nothing to contribute to the success of the 18th Fructidor; on the contrary he had injured the cause by excess of zeal. But he had shown himself a man entirely devoted to the Directory, and the majority of them could rely on him without reserve, although his imprudence had nearly been the cause of their ruin.

“That same majority of the Directory entertained doubts, on the contrary, with respect to Napoleon, who had been the cause of their triumph; they still thought it possible that the General of the army of Italy had calculated that the Directory would fall in the contest with the Councils, and that he might then rise upon its ruins.

“But how could the Directory reconcile that supposition with the acts of the General, who had done every thing to ensure its triumph? for it is evident that without the order of the day of Napoleon, and the address to his army, the Directory would have been undone.

“Some persons, well informed on the subject, seem to think that Napoleon had really not formed a due estimate of the influence which he exercised in France—that he had suffered himself to be misled by the libels and the newspapers in which he was attacked,—and that he had considered the measures which he adopted calculated not to ensure the complete triumph of the Directory, but to produce precisely the effect of rendering him the deliverer and the true support of the republic. The same persons add that when the officers whom Napoleon had at Paris, and letters from every part of France, had informed him that his proclamation had in one moment changed altogether the state of public feeling in the interior, then, and then only, he saw that he had done too much. We are the more ready to adopt this opinion as we cannot understand why Napoleon should have thought of preserving three Directors whom he did not care about. The only one he esteemed (Carnot) was of the opposite party, and we know that he felt indignant at the corruptness and the weakness of the others.