Neither had the Directory any positive control over Bonaparte's departure or return.

It was merely the passive instrument of the General's wishes, which it converted into decrees, as the law required.

He was no more ordered to undertake the conquest of Egypt than he was instructed as to the plan of its execution.

Bonaparte organised the army of the East, raised money, and collected ships; and it was he who conceived the happy idea of joining to the expedition men distinguished in science and art, and whose labours have made known, in its present and past state, a country, the very name of which is never pronounced without exciting grand recollections.
Bonaparte's orders flew like lightning from Toulon to Civita Vecchia.
With admirable precision he appointed some forces to assemble before Malta, and others before Alexandria.

He dictated all these orders to me in his Cabinet.
In the position in which France stood with respect to Europe, after the treaty of Campo-Formio, the Directory, far from pressing or even facilitating this expedition, ought to have opposed it.