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,
against every attempt to re-establish the feudal _regime_ 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