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Societ des gaux: It was the attempts of the Directory to deal with
the economic crisis through the removal of the maximum and the
subsequent inflation and near-famine that gained a hearing for
Babeufs virulent attacks on the existing order. Babeuf gathered
around him a small circle of followers known as the Societ des
gaux. For a time the government, while keeping itself informed of his
7
activities, left him alone. It suited the Directory to let the agitation
continue, in order to deter the bourgeois from joining in any royalist
movement for the overthrow of the existing rgime. With the
development of the economic crisis, however, Babeuf's influence
increased. Issue 40 of the Tribun du peuple had great impact: Babeuf
praised the authors of the September Massacres and declared that a
more complete "2 September" was needed to annihilate the
government.
Since the 1795 Treaties, the Coalition comprised only Austria and
England.
The corporate spirit within the army was undergoing change. The
impression left by Year II was still profound, and hostility towards
aristocrats and priests, and hatred of the monarchy were still as
keenly felt as ever in the ranks. But the flame of revolutionary
enthusiasm was no longer being fed, and was diminishing. Though
they had been highly responsive to the epochal ideas advanced by
the men of Year II, the soldiers were unable to follow the meanderings
of the Directorial policy of the juste milieu, and could not adhere with
any enthusiasm to the middling ideals of the notables. As the gap
between the regime and the army opened ever wider, a new scorn for
civilians asserted itself, symbolized by the appearance in military
jargon of the derogatory term pequin or pekin to denote civilian.
National feeling, which had hitherto sustained the morale of the army,
was acquiring a new dimension. As there had been no systematic
replacement of manpower since the levee en masse of 1793, and as
conquest was taking the armies increasingly further afield, the
soldiers were gradually becoming distinct from the rest of the nation.
Because they were stationed abroad, soldiering had inevitably
become a job like any other, and this was consequently inclining the
troops more towards their generals. Dedication to the nation slowly
gave way to fidelity to a chief, the spirit of adventure and, before very
long, of plunder. In Year II, no effort had been spared to maintain and
strengthen links between the army and the people; from now on,
however, every endeavour was concentrated on making the soldier
forget that he was also a citizen.
From now on, the citizen in Bonaparte gave way to the adventurer,
ever watchful for an opening. It was as if his disgrace after Thermidor
had broken the continuity of his political evolution. Soon, he would
have no other guiding principle than his ambition. He endured a few
months of distress, but Vendmiaire put him back in the thick of
things. Napoleons part in the journe of 13 Vendmiaire (5 October
11
The conflict between the Directory and the Councils following the
royalist victory in the Germinal elections of Year V (March 1797) and
the apathy of public opinion threw the Directory - whose nature
precluded its calling on the people to save the Republic - at the mercy
of the generals.
strengthened the Right. The conflict between the Directory and the
Councils entered a crucial phase. In the absence of any constitutional
procedure on the matter, the crisis which the Germinal elections of
Year V had provoked between the Directory and the Councils could
only be resolved in one of two ways: either by having recourse to the
people along the lines of Year II, or else by calling on the army, as on
13 Vendmiaire. La Reveliere was firmly opposed to the former
solution, which indeed was precluded by the very nature of the
regime of notables. There remained the solution provided by the
army. Bonaparte and Hoche were sounded out, and agreed to
undertake the task.
The repressive measures against the migrs and priests were re-
implemented: migrs were allowed a fortnight to leave France, on
pain of death; their relatives were once more excluded from holding
public office, and even denied voting rights; those deported priests
who had returned to France were forced into exile, on pain of
deportation to Guiana; and all ministers of religion were compelled to
swear the oath of hatred of the monarchy and the 1793 Constitution.
The opposition press came in for some harsh treatment: 42
newspapers in all were suppressed. To complement this battery of
legislation, the Clubs were legalized and the Directorys powers were
augmented: it now had the right to purge the administrative and
judicial systems and also to proclaim a state of siege when it deemed
necessary.
themselves of the help of the army in this journe, they thereby lost
their political power.
Financial reform:
The whole tax system was recast to balance the budget by ensuring
more regular and more sizeable tax returns. But the deficit remained,
and deflation made credit much dearer, and the drop in prices also
inhibited economic recovery. There was still very little metal currency
in circulation. Foreign trade, too, was crippled. The weakness of the
15
The Egyptian expeditionary force set sail on 30 Floreal Year VI (19 May
179 8 ). By 6 June, the fleet was at Malta, which fell without a shot
being fired. Escaping from Nelson, the French managed to reach
Alexandria, which they took by assault on 2 July. The army marched
directly on Cairo. Egypt was theoretically ruled by beys, who were in
fact under the sway of the Mamelukes, who exploited the country for
their own profit. On 21 July, the Mameluke cavalry was smashed to
pieces at the foot of the Pyramids against the French infantry, drawn
up in squares. Bonaparte did not have the cavalry, however, to offer
pursuit. On 23 July, he entered Cairo. On I August 1798, however, the
English fleet under Nelson surprised Brueys French fleet riding at
anchor near Aboukir, and annihilated it, only two vessels escaping. At
a single blow, England was mistress of the seas, and Bonaparte was
imprisoned in his conquest.
The Egyptian affair drew Turkey and Russia closer to England. Turkey
declared war on France on 9 September 1798. In Russia, the half-mad
16
Paul I had succeeded Catherine II. Full of hatred for the revolution, he
welcomed the pretender Louis XVIII and installed him at Mitau; more
importantly, he resumed expansionist policies towards the
Mediterranean. The struggle with France allowed him to come to an
agreement with Turkey which, in a treaty, 23 December 1798, opened
its ports and the Straits to Russia. A Russian fleet penetrated into the
Mediterranean and seized the Ionian Islands. Then, on 29 December
1798, an alliance was signed between England, Naples and Russia;
the latter undertook to intervene against France in Italy (Segunda
Coalicin).
The Year VII elections and the journe of 30 Prairial Year VII
(18 June 1799)
The parliamentary journe of 30 Prairial Year VII (18 June 1799) was a
revenge of the Councils against the Directory.
17
The atmosphere in which the Year VII elections took place was
unfavourable to the Directory, even before the military defeats had
occurred. A general discontent was growing, which sprang from
economic stagnation, an increase in the tax-burden and the
introduction of conscription. The Belgian departments rebelled in
November 1798, and Chouannerie restarted, even though the western
departments had been specifically exempted from the new call-up.
Once again, in its circular of 23 Pluviase (11 February 1799), the
Directory denounced the double danger of royalism and anarchy. The
Directory had recourse to its usual methods of bringing pressure to
bear on the elections: the sending out of special commissioners into
the departments, dismissals of officials, the organization of
secessionary assemblies, as for example in the Sarthe. The current of
opposition was so strong, however, that 121 of the 187 official
government candidates were defeated none the less. This did not
overthrow the majority in the Councils, where despite the
strengthening of the Jacobin minority, the Thermidorian bourgeoisie
still held sway. It was this bourgeoisie which, in the crisis begun by the
military defeats of spring 1799, was ultimately to have the final word.
The wishes of the Councils dictated who the new figures in the
government should be. The ministers as well as the Directory
underwent changes. General Bernadotte became War Minister,
Cambaceres Minister of Justice, while Joseph Fouch was installed in
the Police Ministry and Robert Lindet, the former member of the great
Committee of Public Safety, took over Finances. This latter nomination
was particularly revealing: declared republicans (the neo-Jacobin left
wing) were returning to power. It was at this moment that the
victories of the Coalition imperiled the Republic.
A swing to the left and a national crisis thus coincided once again on
18 June 1799. Though united against the Fructidorians, the victors of
Prairial were split, and for two months, neo-Jacobins held the upper
hand over the Thermidorian bourgeoisie, and forced through their
public safety policies. The bulk of these neo-Jacobins were former
deputies in the Convention who had been defeated in the Year V
elections by the royalists, who had been excluded in Floreal Year VI by
the Fructidorians, and who thus returned quite naturally to the
methods of Year II, which were again justified by the dangers
threatening the nation. Press freedom was reestablished on 14
Thermidor (I August 1799), and Jacobin newspapers reappeared.
Clubs reopened and proliferated. The Jacobin minority gave the lead
to the anxious majority in the Councils which, in order to face up to
the situation, agreed to put everything into the war-effort, both by
increasing manpower in the annies, and by raising extra financial
resources, and even by countenancing methods which smacked of
Year II. Conscription was enforced in full. The law of 10 Messidor Year
VII (28 June 1799), introduced by Jourdan, called up the full
complement of potential recruits. On 14 Messidor (2 July), military
substitution was suppressed. A forced loan of 100 million livres on
well-to-do citizens had been provisionally adopted by the Councils on
10 Messidor, to cover the expenses arising from conscription. The Law
of Hostages, whose aim, according to a deputy in the Five-Hundred,
was to check the course of the banditry and Chouannerie which are
manifesting themselves in the departments of the Midi and the West,
was passed on 24 Messidor (12 July). If a public official, a soldier or a
purchaser of national lands had been murdered, the Directory was to
decree the deportation of four hostages. For each assassination,
hostages were held jointly responsible and liable to pay in damages a
fine of 5,000 francs plus indemnities of 6,000 francs for the victims
widow and 3,000 francs for each of his children. The Law of Hostages
provoked opposition from all those who had some grievance against
19
the Revolution, at the same time that the forced loan was throwing
into opposition all those whom the Law of Hostages was aimed at
protecting.
In the spring of Year VII, elections would be held again, and if they
produced a royalist or a Jacobin victory, the stability of the
government could be brought into question again. The Constitution of
Year III lay at the heart of the debate: not its property-franchise basis,
but rather its liberalism, its balance of powers, and the annual
renewal of one-third of the members of the Councils. The Directory
had resolved the problem after Fructidor by setting up a disguised
dictatorship. Since annual elections made everything uncertain, the
aim now was to make them less frequent. The point was, therefore, to
reconcile the principle of national sovereignty with the requirements
of a strong and stable executive power.
The ease with which the Brumaire coup succeeded is very largely due
to its social dimension: it would not have carried had it not satisfied
the requirements of the dominant elements of the new society. The
Thermidorians had consecrated, and the Directory safeguarded, the
social preponderance and the political power of the conservative
bourgeoisie. The recrudescence of Jacobinism in Year VII seemed to
endanger the privileges of the propertied classes. Social fear
reappeared, and provided constitutional revisionism with a powerful
cohesive agent. The landowning peasantry and the commercial
bourgeoisie were especially important elements in the new union of
the propertied classes. Both the product of the Revolution, each in its
own way favoured the establishment of calm and social stability.
peasantry formed the social base for first the Con sular and then the
Imperial periods. The core of the notables was recruited from their
ranks.
19 marzo 1798: Napoleon parte para Egipto con 350 barcos y 30.000
hombres
Este perodo est marcado por los Cien Das, del 20 de marzo al 22 de
junio 1815, durante los cuales Napolen volvi al poder. Este
interludio distingue a la primera restauracin de la segunda
restauracin. Esta fue seguida por la monarqua de Julio 1830 a 1848,
tambin limitado por la nueva Charte de 1830, bajo el reinado de
Louis-Philippe, procedente de la rama ms joven de los Borbones (los
Orlans).
Por otra parte, al final del ao 1815 est marcado por una serie de
leyes represivas, entre octubre 1815 y julio de 1816, las que,
sumadas a la depuracin del aparato judicial, se conocen como el
"segundo terror blanco": esta legislacin represiva incluye la Ley de
Seguridad General de 29 de octubre 1815, que suspende las
libertades civiles y permite encarcelar sin juicio, as como una ley
sobre los escritos sediciosos, el 9 de noviembre 1815, y por ltimo, el
27 de diciembre 1815, la restitucin de los tribunales prebostales que
fallaban en materia de delitos polticos, sin un jurado o apelacin.
Estas medidas aprobadas por la Cmara slo fueron implementadas
por un tiempo, ya que Luis XVIII hizo prevalecer a partir de entonces
su poltica de conciliacin. Muy controvertidas desde el punto de vista
legal, condujeron sin embargo a 250 condenas.