_savants_ Laplace, Monge, Berthollet, Lagrange, Chaptal, and of
jurists such as Treilhard and Tronchet, imparted lustre to what would
otherwise have been a very commonplace institution. Bonaparte desired
to call out all the faculties of the nation; and when Dumas proposed
that the order should be limited to soldiers, the First Consul
replied in a brilliant and convincing harangue:

"To do great things nowadays it is not enough to be a man of five
feet ten inches. If strength and bravery made the general, every
soldier might claim the command. The general who does great things
is he who also possesses civil qualities. The soldier knows no law
but force, sees nothing but it, and measures everything by it. The
civilian, on the other hand, only looks to the general welfare. The
characteristic of the soldier is to wish to do everything
despotically: that of the civilian is to submit everything to
discussion, truth, and reason. The superiority thus unquestionably
belongs to the civilian."

In these noble words we can discern the secret of Bonaparte's
supremacy both in politics and in warfare. Uniting in his own person
the ablest qualities of the statesman and the warrior, he naturally
desired that his new order of merit should quicken the vitality of
France in every direction, knowing full well that the results would
speedily be felt in the army itself. When admitted to its ranks, the
new member swore:

"To devote himself to the service of the Republic, to the
maintenance of the integrity of its territory, the defence of its
government, laws, and of the property which they have consecrated;
to fight by all methods authorized by justice, reason, and law,