Towards the King of Sardinia the new Directory was equally imperious.  The throne of Turin was now occupied by Charles Emmanuel IV.  He succeeded to a troublous heritage.  Threatened by democratic republics at Milan and Genoa, and still more by the effervescence of his own subjects, he strove to gain an offensive and defensive alliance with France, as the sole safeguard against revolution.  To this end he offered 10,000 Piedmontese for service with Bonaparte, and even secretly covenanted to cede the island of Sardinia to France.  But these offers could not divert Barras and his colleagues from their revolutionary policy.  They spurned the alliance with the House of Savoy, and, despite the remonstrances of Bonaparte, they fomented civil discords in Piedmont such as endangered his communications with France.  Indeed, the Directory after Fructidor was deeply imbued with fear of their commander in Italy.  To increase his difficulties was now their paramount desire; and under the pretext of extending liberty in Italy, they instructed Talleyrand to insist on the inclusion of Venice and Friuli in the Cisalpine Republic.  Austria must be content with Trieste, Istria, and Dalmatia, must renounce all interest in the fate of the Ionian Isles, and find in Germany all compensation for her losses in Italy.  Such was the ultimatum of the Directory (September 16th).  But a loophole of escape was left to Bonaparte; the conduct of these negotiations was confided solely to him, and he had already decided their general tenor by giving his provisional assent to the acquisition by Austria of the east bank of the Adige and the city of Venice.  From these terms he was disinclined to diverge.  He was weary of “this old Europe”:  his gaze was directed towards Corfu, Malta, and Egypt; and when he received the official ultimatum, he saw that the Directory desired a renewal of the war under conditions highly embarrassing for him.  “Yes:  I see clearly that they are preparing defeats for me,” he exclaimed to his aide-de-camp Lavalette.  They angered him still more when, on the death of Hoche, they intrusted their Rhenish forces, numbering 120,000 men, to the command of Augereau, and sent to the Army of Italy an officer bearing a manifesto written by Augereau concerning Fructidor, which set forth the anxiety felt by the Directors concerning Bonaparte’s political views.  At this Bonaparte fired up and again offered his resignation (September 25th): 

“No power on earth shall, after this horrible and most unexpected act of ingratitude by the Government, make me continue to serve it.  My health imperiously demands calm and repose....  My recompense is in my conscience and in the opinion of posterity.  Believe me, that at any time of danger, I shall be the first to defend the Constitution of the Year III.”

The resignation was of course declined, in terms most flattering to Bonaparte; and the Directors prepared to ratify the treaty with Sardinia.