Proclamation of the Directory to the French People
9 September, 1797

         The French people have entrusted the custody of their Constitutions primarily to the fidelity of the Legislative Body and the executive power.

         The integrity of such confidence has been threatened by a royalist plot, organized long since, woven with skill, and pursued with constancy. The Executive Directory has discovered the conspiracy; the guilty parties have been apprehended; the Legislative Body has promptly taken the measures which circumstances necessitated.

         Blood has not been shed; wisdom has governed force; valor and discipline have moderated the use thereof. National justice has been consecrated by the composure of the people. It was obvious to everyone that there was no desire to displace anything, but that there was a desire to return everything to its place.

         The Legislative Body and the Executive Directory have performed their duty.

         But the French people have also entrusted their fundamental charter to the fidelity of administrators and judges, to the enlightened vigilance of the fathers of families, to wives and mothers, to the virtuous affections of the young citizens, and finally to the courage characteristic of all Frenchmen.

         Administrators, judges, fathers of families, wives, mothers, young citizens, Frenchmen of every age and calling, have you fulfilled your oaths? Have you kept the trust imposed upon you?

         Frenchmen, open your eyes: perceive, for it is high time, the trap into which the friends of kings and the enemies of France wished to lure you.

         In order to put you back under the yoke which you have broken, in order to return you thereto in some way of your own accord, they had introduced into all your magistracies corrupt men, as skillful as they were perverse, and capable of directing against the liberty of the people the power which they had received to defend and strengthen it.

         In your courts they had prevaricating judges, abusing the independence which the Constitution had given them, and using their rights only to absolve or protect the enemies of the Patrie.

         Above all they had left nothing undine in order to turn France back to monarchical forms, and to subject institutions, festivals, manners, and customs to despotism. They were well aware that man is a creature of habit, and that by changing his habits he himself is changed.

         Monarchical forms doubtless suited the purpose of the conspirators admirably; it was important for them to remake the mass of the nation in the royal mold; but the indignant nation  spurns them. The republic has triumphed, and republican forms are to manifest and consolidate its triumph; this is to be the sign and fruit of victory.

         The republican spirit, republican morality, republican institutions and customs are to prevail today; but in order to embrace them, we must better understand them and begin by forming more exact conceptions of them.

         The republican spirit…is composed of all that is just equitable, good, and kind among men.

         Among a people animated with this divine spirit, justice presides over social relations; no one seeks to harm the interests of others; the equality of citizens induces them to help one another. If disputes arise, the right to judge them is not a lucrative trade which inspires a desire to perpetuate them; republican justice is the sister of peace.

         The sweetest, purest sentiments of nature…reign in the bosom of families and make of all blood ties bonds of fraternity, love, and happiness.

         The arts bring the wealth of their pleasures and the pomp of their masterpieces in homage to the public weal. Eloquence, poetry, and music unite to incite love of the Patrie in all hearts, and to exalt courage. Valor and genius are the children of liberty; the brush, the chisel, noble architecture, raise monuments thereto. The stage resounds with oracles of morality, sacred maxims of philosophy, great examples of virtue.

         The fine arts triumph especially in the national festivals…

         In a Republic, the writers and men of letters gain distinction from liberty, profess its maxims, set education and enlightenment against error, fanaticism, and falsehoods, lend the support of their talents to the reign of law, and add to its force the supplement of their genius. They seek the true principles of morality and liberty; they inspire them and propagate them; they teach the citizens to love one another more and to love their country better.

         It is there that public education must flourish;…Private instruction always accords with public instruction; the former prepares for and leads up to the latter. Both are supervised by the magistrates; and these magistrates, in turn, either by public reading of the acts of the government, or by their care in having enlightenment disseminated, or by their zeal in bringing about the celebration of the republican games and national festivals, above all, by the living example of their conduct and morals, these magistrates also are the teachers of the people.

         Finally, it is there that reign the most powerful force and the greatest motive power of praiseworthy actions and courageous traits, that sacred emulation which induces citizens to surpass themselves in vying with one another for private virtue and public usefulness. The universal law for the chief offices in the State is the first clause of the pact of equality. No distinction of birth or privilege, but merit alone is honored; an imperative incentive to raise men to conceive great thoughts and to attempt great deeds.

         French people, that is what you ought to be! Already you would be if you had become thoroughly imbued with the spirit of your Constitutional Act, if you had not listened to those who have defamed the republican spirit in order to re-establish the yoke of priests and kings.

         Ah! Stop believing them; hasten to leave the path which they had planned for you, and which could lead you only to your shame and ruin. You ought to be the model and arbiter of peoples; they wished, on the contrary, to have you become their disgrace. See also how they have deceived you! See whether the Republic is a reign of terrorism! The Republic has triumphed, and yet the blood of t he traitors has been spared. No, it is not blood which holds Republics together. For the despotism of a single individual, blood must be shed; but in order to establish equality, only laws are necessary.

         The Constitution is to be the rule of your morality and the guide of your life. Have your children so taught, and retain and practice yourselves the declaration of rights and duties; resume with eagerness the republican usages which will soon distinguish you among peoples, and which will make you forever the example for the free nations.

         Renounce servile abuses; use your calendar,…which, by an admirable stroke of republican destinies, reminds you that the sun recommences the year on the day that the Republic began.

         For your days of rest, constantly prefer those which the law indicates;…

         May the meeting places of trade, the fairs and the markets henceforth be in accord with the republican  era. All civil business must be regulated only by civil laws. Any usurpation in the domain of law must cease in the Republic.

         Bear the name of citizen with justifiable pride;…May that name be dear to you; never use any other, unless it is in scorn….

         May the national spirit tale form with you, and rise to the level of your noble destinies. Be the first free people, and my the title of French citizen be the most sublime of all titles.

         May taste and propriety determine your apparel; may pleasing simplicity never be banished therefrom; may youth avoid ostentation and affectation;…

         Guard against intemperance, for it is a vice of slaves; frugality is one of the virtues which distinguish a free people.

         Be human and compassionate; it is among free people that humanity, trampled under foot by despots, may breathe; the altar of mercy is in the heart of a free man.

         Remember the principles which your immortal Montesquieu attribute to the three governments; he assigns to despotism the foundation of terror; honor is the phantom which follows in the wake of kings; but the basis, the essence, of republics is virtue.

         French people! See in this word what your Constitution, your government, your country require of you today;…Be virtuous, love your Constitution, your government, and your Patrie, and you will be Republicans; and nothing will equal your glory and happiness.

         You must be devoted to your government, as the two supreme powers instituted by you are now devoted to each other.

         Be impressed by this great example.

         The royalist conspirators had disunited these powers; and by breaking that bond, that key to the vault of the social edifice, thy had almost succeeded in dissolving the Republic. Thanks to your destiny, the conspirators no longer exist, either in the Directory or in the two Councils. The Councils and the Directory proceed harmoniously, an the Republic is saved.

         Long live the Republic!