against every attempt to re-establish the feudal _régime_ or to
reproduce the titles and qualities thereto belonging; and finally
to strive to the uttermost to maintain liberty and equality."

It is not surprising that the Tribunate, despite the recent purging of
its most independent members, judged liberty and equality to be
endangered by the method of defence now proposed. The members bitterly
criticised the scheme as a device of the counter-revolution; but, with
the timid inconsequence which was already sapping their virility, they
proceeded to pass by fifty-six votes to thirty-eight a measure of
which they had so accurately gauged the results. The new institution
was, indeed, admirably suited to consolidate Bonaparte's power.
Resting on the financial basis of the confiscated lands, it offered
some guarantee against the restoration of the old monarchy and feudal
nobility; while, by stimulating that love of distinction and
brilliance which is inherent in every gifted people, it quietly began
to graduate society and to group it around the Paladins of a new
Gaulish chivalry. The people had recently cast off the overlordship of
the old Frankish nobles, but admiration of merit (the ultimate source
of all titles of distinction) was only dormant even in the days of
Robespierre; and its insane repression during the Terror now begat a
corresponding enthusiasm for all commanding gifts. Of this inevitable
reaction Bonaparte now made skillful use. When Berlier, one of the
leading jurists of France, objected to the new order as leading France
back to aristocracy, and contemptuously said that crosses and ribbons
were the toys of monarchy, Bonaparte replied:

"Well: men are led by toys. I would not say that in a rostrum, but
in a council of wise men and statesmen one ought to speak one's
mind. I don't think that the French love liberty and equality: the