62] ANNUAL- REGISTER, 
to support it. The directory were 
deeply connected with the general 
officers, of whom they were con- 
stitutionally invested with the ap- 
pointment. Through these it was 
secure of the army, and felt.no dis- 
guietude at the attempts of the 
opposition, sure of erushing them, 
should it become Becealy to em- 
ploy force. 
Buonaparte, the favourite of the 
republican part of the French na- 
tion, had openly declared his deter- 
mination to abide by the republic. 
On the fourteenth of July, the an- 
niversary day of the revolution, he 
thence took occasion to inform his 
army, that counter-revolutionary 
designs were in agitation, and to 
exhort them to remain true to the 
cause for which they had shed so 
much of their blood. His address 
produced its intended effect, by 
preparing the officers and soldiers, 
under his command, to second him 
in all the measures he might propose 
for the service of his party. 
The securing of a man, who was 
the terror of his enemies, and the 
admiration of all Europe, placed the 
directory at once above all appre- 
hensions, ‘They now assumed a 
firmer tone, and resolyed to exert 
all the powers they possessed, in de- 
stroying, at one stroke, the hopes 
of all their enemies. The first 
step which they took, on this criti- 
cal emergency, was to dismiss the 
present ministers, andappoint others 
im their room, in whose fidelity they 
could better confide. This was not 
done without occasioning violent 
‘complaints from opposition. ‘The 
right of the directory to act in this 
manner could not constitutionally be 
controverted; but they were called 
upon, by a formal notice,'to lay an 
{ 
\ 
1797. 
account of the state of the nation 
before the two councils. 
The corduct of the directory met 
with the fullest approbation of all 
the armies. The various eddresses 
from each of these were calculated 
to inspire government with the 
highest confidence, and opposition | 
with the most serious apprehensions, 
The firstvdivisions that led the way 
were those of Joubert and Massena, 
belonging to the ary of Italy: in 
the address of Joubert, severe notice 
was taken of the strictures, - passed 
in the council of five hundred, on 
the conduct of Buonaparte ; andthe 
priesthood, to use the words of the 
address, was accused of heating the. 
heads, and sharpening the daggers, 
of the enemies to the republic. 
‘The address of Massena’s division 
was penned with still more asperity: 
«*The constitution violated, em» 
grants returning, priests, rebels to 
the laws protected, republicans mur-: | 
dered.” Such was the picture it 
drew of France. It threatencd cons - 
spirators against the republic with 
extermination, telling: them, that, _ 
the swords which had destroyed the 
armies of kings were still in the 
hands of their conquerors, and that 
the road to Paris would not present 
more obstacles than that to Vienna. 
The divisions, commanded by 
generals Augereau, Bernardotte, 
and Vignolle, forming _ also pare 
of the army in Italy, followed the 
examples of the former; and ex- 
pressed no less zeal for the direetory, 
and enmity to the royalists. 
In addition to these military ad-— 
dresses to the directory the ministers — 
newly appointed by them were not. 
wanting in their endeavours to serve 
the republican cause. Schreerer, the 
new minister of war, a veteran of= 
ficer 
v- 
