<P> On 16 October 1797, the Council of Five Hundred considered a new law which banned political activities by nobles, who were to be considered as foreigners, and had to apply for naturalization in order to take part in politics . A certain number, listed by names, were to be banned permanently from political activity, were to have their property confiscated, and were to be required to leave immediately . The law called for certain exemptions for those in the government and military (Director Barras and General Bonaparte were both from minor noble families). In the end, resistance to the law was so great that it was not adopted . </P> <P> The Jacobin - dominated councils also demanded the deportation of priests who refused to take an oath to the government, and an oath declaring their hatred of royalty and anarchy . 267 priests were deported to the French penal colony of Cayenne in French Guiana, of whom 111 survived and returned to France . 920 were sent to a prison colony on the Île de Ré, and 120, a large part of them Belgians, to another colony on the Île d'Oléron . The new government continued the anti-religious policy of the Convention . Several churches, including the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris and the church of Saint - Sulpice, were converted Theophilanthropic temples, a new religion based on the belief in the existence of God and the immortality of the human spirit . Religious observations were forbidden on Sunday; they were allowed only on the last day of the 10 - day week (décade) of the French Republican Calendar . Other churches remained closed, and were forbidden to ring their bells, although many religious services took place in secret in private homes . The National Guard was mobilized to search rural areas and forests for priests and nobles in hiding . As during the Reign of Terror, lists were prepared of suspects, who would be arrested in the event of attempted uprisings . </P> <P> The new Jacobin - dominated Directory and government also targeted the press . Newspaper publishers were required to submit copies of their publications to the police for official approval . On 17 December 1797, seventeen Paris newspapers were closed by order of the Directory . The Directory also imposed a substantial tax on all newspapers or magazines distributed by mail, although Jacobin publications, as well as scientific and art publications, were excluded . Books critical of the Jacobins were censored; Louis - Marie Prudhomme's six - volume Histoire générale et impartiale des erreurs, des fautes et des crimes commis pendant la Révolution française ("General and impartial history of the errors, faults and crimes committed during the French Revolution") was seized . by the police . The Directory also authorized the opening and reading of letters coming from outside of France . </P> <P> Despite all these security measures, there was a great increase in brigandage and robbery in the French countryside; travelers were frequently stopped on roads and robbed; the robberies were often blamed on royalist bands . On 18 January 1798, the Councils passed a new law against highwaymen and bandits . calling for them to be tried by military tribunals, and authorizing the death penalty for robbery or attempted robbery on the roads of France . </P>

When did the new government began to function