 Bonaparte thus spontaneously decided to return to France.During the prisoner exchange at Aboukir and notably via the "Gazette de Francfort" Sidney Smith had sent him, he was in communication with the British fleet, from which he had learned of events in France.As Bonaparte saw (and later mythologised) France was thrown back into retreat, its enemies had recaptured France's conquests, France was unhappy at its dictatorial government and was nostalgic for the glorious peace it had signed in the Treaty of Campo Formio – as Bonaparte saw it, this meant France needed him and would welcome him back.