Directorship

Directorate; condition, office, or state of a director. Direc'tory, a . [Fr. directoire ; L. Lat. directura .] Containing directions or commands; directorial; instructing. n. A book containing directions for public worship, or religious services. - A book or register, containing an alphabetical list of the inhabitants of a city, with their places of abode, and other information for the use of citizens; as, the Philadelphia Directory . - A board of directors; a council of management of public affairs; as, the Directory of France. (French Hist.) The name given by the constitution of 1795 to the executive body of the French republic. It consisted of five persons, called direc tors, who were selected by the council of elders from a list of candidates presented by the Council of Five Hundred. One of these directors retired every year, and was succeeded by another elected on the same principle. To the Directory was intrusted the superintendence of the home and foreign departments, the finances and the army, and the appointment of the ministers of state.and other Fig. 830.-FRENCH COSTUMES, 1793-1797. public functionaries. Its policy was at first moderate and conciliatory; but after a short interval it had recourse to measures which produced wide-spread di atisfaction, and it was at length overthrown on the ascendency of Bonaparte, after an existence of four years. It exercised authority from Oct. 27, 1795, till Nov. 11, 1799. bursting asunder.