ause he restored to the people their fields and their church,
their institutions somewhat modified and improved, but still their old
institutions. No man less gigantic in moral stature would have dared
thus to defy the petty atheistic fanaticism of the Directory. France
had secured enlightened legislation which was not enforced, religious
liberty which could not be practised because of ill will in the
government, civil liberty which was a mere sham because of internal
violence, political liberty which was a chimera before hostile
foreigners. Hence it seemed to the administration that one evil must
cure another. Intestine disturbances, they naively believed, could be
kept under some measure of control only by an aggressive foreign
policy which should deceive the insurgent elements as to the resources
of the government. Thus far, by hook or by crook, the armies, so far
as they had been clothed and paid and fed at all, had been fed and
paid and clothed by the administration at Paris. If the armies should
still march and fight, the nation would be impressed by the strength
of the Directory.

[Footnote 65: See the author's French Revolution and
Religious Reform.]

The Directory was by no means a homogeneous body. It is doubtful
whether Barras was a sincere republican, or sincere in anything except
in his effort to keep himself afloat on the tide of the times. It has
been believed by many that he hoped for the restoration of monarchy
through disgust of the nation with such intolerable disorders as they
would soon associate with the name of republic. His friendship for
General Bonaparte was a mixed quantity; for while he undoubtedly
wished to secure for the state in any future crisis the support of so
able a man, he had at the same time used him as a sort of social
scapegoat. His own strength lay in several facts: he had been Danton's
follower; he had been an officer, and was appointed for that reason
commanding general against the Paris sections; he had been shrewd
enough to choose Bonaparte as his agent so that he enjoyed the
prestige of Bonaparte's success; and in the new society of the capital
he was magnificent, extravagant, and licentious, the only
representative in the Directory of the newly aroused passion for life
and pleasure, his colleagues being severe, unostentatious, and
economical democrats.

Barras's main support in the government was Rewbell, a vigorous
Alsatian and a bluff demo