On my replying in the affirmative, he requested me to draw up a note on the subject.

This I declined doing, telling him that twenty notes of the kind he required already existed; that I would take no further steps; and that I would henceforth await the decision in a state of perfect inaction.
General Bonaparte thought it quite inexplicable that the Directory should express dissatisfaction at the view he took of the events of the 18th Fructidor, as, without his aid, they would doubtless have been overcome.
He wrote a despatch, in which he repeated that his health and his spirits were affected--that he had need of some years' repose-that he could no longer endure the fatigue of riding; but that the prosperity and liberty of his country would always command his warmest interests.

In all this there was not a single word of truth.

The Directory thought as much, and declined to accept his resignation in the most flattering terms.
Bottot proposed to him, on the part of the Directory, to revolutionise Italy.

The General inquired whether the whole of Italy would be included in the plan.