The accession of Napoleon Bonaparte to power in November 1799 (the "18 Brumaire coup") led to the employment of Daru as chief commissary to the Army of Reserve intended for Northern Italy, and commanded nominally by Louis Alexandre Berthier, but really by the First Consul.
Daru now returned, for a time, mainly to civil life, and entered the tribunate of the French Consulate, where he supported the principles of democracy.