The idea of rewarding merit in a civilian, as well as among the military caste which had hitherto almost entirely absorbed such honours, was certainly enlightened; and the names of the famous _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.