The Directory at first disapproved of the expedition against Malta, which Bonaparte had proposed long before the treaty of Campo-Formio was signed.  The expedition was decided to be impossible, for Malta had observed strict neutrality, and had on several occasions even assisted our ships and seamen.  Thus we had no pretext for going to war with her.  It was said, too, that the legislative body would certainly not look with a favourable eye on such a measure.  This opinion, which, however, did not last long, vexed Bonaparte.  It was one of the disappointments which made him give a rough welcome to Bottot, Barras’ agent, at the commencement of October 1797.

In the course of an animated conversation he said to Bottot, shrugging his shoulders, “Mon Dieu!  Malta is for sale!” Sometime after he himself was told that “great importance was attached to the acquisition of Malta, and that he must not suffer it to escape.”  At the latter end of September 1797 Talleyrand, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote to him that the Directory authorized him to give the necessary orders to Admiral Brueys for taking Malta.  He sent Bonaparte some letters for the island, because Bonaparte had said it was necessary to prepare the public mind for the event.

Bonaparte exerted himself night and day in the execution of his projects.  I never saw him so active.  He made himself acquainted with the abilities of the respective generals, and the force of all the army corps.  Orders and instructions succeeded each other with extraordinary rapidity.  If he wanted an order of the Directory he ran to the Luxembourg to get it signed by one of the Directors.  Merlin de Douai was generally the person who did him this service, for he was the most constant at his post.  Lagarde, the Secretary-General, did not countersign any document relative to this expedition, Bonaparte not wishing him to be informed of the business.  He transmitted to Toulon the money taken at Berne, which the Directory had placed at his disposal.  It amounted to something above 3,000,000 francs.  In those times of disorder and negligence the finances were very badly managed.  The revenues were anticipated and squandered away, so that the treasury never possessed so large a sum as that just mentioned.

It was determined that Bonaparte should undertake an expedition of an unusual character to the East.  I must confess that two things cheered me in this very painful interval; my friendship and admiration for the talents of the conqueror of Italy, and the pleasing hope of traversing those ancient regions, the historical and religious accounts of which had engaged the attention of my youth.