heir master. At
St. Helena the prisoner, recalling with bitterness the ingratitude of
his beneficiaries, declared that he took the unfortunate step in order
to reconcile France with the rest of Europe. He was by that time aware
that though the Legion of Honor was, and would continue to be, an
institution dear to the French heart, this one was not so, and needed
an apology; for his imperial nobility had never been taken seriously
or kindly by the people, who could not draw the nice distinction
between a feudal and an imperial aristocracy. Even in the first steps
of his enterprise he was made to feel the need of caution, and it was
by statute, after all, not by decree, that the whole matter was
finally regulated. So curious is popular fickleness that an Emperor
who could boldly tyrannize in almost any other direction felt that he
dared not take the risk of constituting himself a fountain of honor,
such as legitimate monarchs were.

The system was for the world outside like some fairy wonder completed
overnight, since the duchies had been ready the year before. The
Italian titles were the most honorable and the most highly endowed.
They were either at once or later given as follows: Soult, Duke of
Dalmatia; Mortier, Duke of Treviso; Savary, Duke of Rovigo; Bessieres,
Duke of Istria; Duroc, Duke of Friuli; Victor, Duke of Belluno;
Moncey, Duke of Conegliano; Clarke, Duke of Feltre; Massena, Duke of
Rivoli; Lannes Duke of Montebello; Marmont, Duke of Ragusa; Oudinot,
Duke of Reggio; Macdonald, Duke of Taranto; Augereau, Duke of
Castiglione; Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo. In Germany there were
created three similar duchies--Auerstaedt for Davout, Elchingen for
Ney, and Dantzic for Lefebvre. Berthier was made Prince of Neufchatel.
So much for the military officials. In civil life there were
corresponding distinctions: Cambaceres, Duke of Parma; Maret, Duke of
Bassano; Lebrun, Duke of Piacenza; Fouche, Duke of Otranto;
Champagny, Duke of Cadore. The members of the senate, the councilors
of state, the presiding officers of the legislature, and the
archbishops were all created counts. Each one of these titles was,
like the others, richly endowed with land from the public domains in
Poland, Germany, and Italy. But the distinction bestowed on the
soldiers was marked in the difference between the accompanying gifts
to them and those to civilians. The only portion of the great force
which had returned to France was the guard, wh