Proscribed at the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor (4th of September 1797) he escaped to Basel.
Concurrently with these undertakings, he steadily prepared to strengthen his position in the political life of France; and it will be well to notice the steps by which he ensured the defeat of the royalists in France and the propping up of the directorial system in the coup d'etat of Fructidor 1797.
Before dawn of September the 4th (is Fructidor) Augereau with 2000 soldiers marched against the Tuileries, where the councils were sitting, dispersed XIX.
In the sphere of European diplomacy, no less than in that of French politics, the results of the coup d'etat of Fructidor were momentous.
The moderation of his views brought him into opposition to the Directors after the coup d'etat of Fructidor (September 1797), and for a time he retired into private life.