Duller eyes than his had discerned that the constitutional conflict between the Directory and the Councils could not be peaceably adjusted.  The framers of the constitution had designed the slowly changing Directory as a check on the Councils, which were renewed to the extent of one-third every year; but, while seeking to put a regicide drag on the parliamentary coach, they had omitted to provide against a complete overturn.  The Councils could not legally override the Directory; neither could the Directory veto the decrees of the Councils, nor, by dissolving them, compel an appeal to the country.  This defect in the constitution had been clearly pointed out by Necker, and it now drew from Barras the lament: 

“Ah, if the constitution of the Year III., which offers so many sage precautions, had not neglected one of the most important; if it had foreseen that the two great powers of the State, engaged in heated debates, must end with open conflicts, when there is no high court of appeal to arrange them; if it had sufficiently armed the Directory with the right of dissolving the Chamber!"[85]

As it was, the knot had to be severed by the sword:  not, as yet, by Bonaparte’s trenchant blade:  he carefully drew back; but where as yet he feared to tread, Hoche rushed in.  This ardently republican general was inspired by a self-denying patriotism, that flinched not before odious duties.  While Bonaparte was culling laurels in Northern Italy, Hoche was undertaking the most necessary task of quelling the Vendean risings, and later on braved the fogs and storms of the Atlantic in the hope of rousing all Ireland in revolt.  His expedition to Bantry Bay in December, 1796, having miscarried, he was sent into the Rhineland.  The conclusion of peace by Bonaparte at Leoben again dashed his hopes, and he therefore received with joy the orders of the Directory that he should march a large part of his army to Brest for a second expedition to Ireland.  The Directory, however, intended to use those troops nearer home, and appointed him Minister of War (July 16th).  The choice was a good one; Hoche was active, able, and popular with the soldiery; but he had not yet reached the thirtieth year of his age, the limit required by the constitution.  On this technical defect the majority of the Councils at once fastened; and their complaints were redoubled when a large detachment of his troops came within the distance of the capital forbidden to the army.  The moderates could therefore accuse the triumvirs and Hoche of conspiracy against the laws; he speedily resigned the Ministry (July 22nd), and withdrew his troops into Champagne, and finally to the Rhineland.