112 CARNOT. 



rough block of stone that covered the body of the first 

 Grenadier of France. 



I return thanks, Gentlemen, to M. de Savary, the ven- 

 erable old man, who, a witness of the touching scene near 

 Oberhausen, has allowed me to draw it from oblivion, and 

 thus to unite in one mutual sentiment, the admirable 

 army of Austerlitz with the admirable armies of the Re- 

 public. I am happy also, that names which are dear to 

 you, that the names of two of our old colleagues, that the 

 names of Latour d'Auvergne and of Carnot, happen to 

 occupy so noble a place in this patriotic reminiscence ! 



Great employments, like great heights, usually occasion 

 a vertigo in the heads of those who reach them suddenly. 

 This man thinks that by pageantry and prodigality he 

 ought to make people forget the years he has passed in 

 mediocrity and constraint. That man becomes disdainful 

 and insolent, harsh and churlish, and thus revenges him- 

 self on the unfortunate people who have now to solicit 

 him, for the disdain, the arrogance, the brutality that he 

 had to undergo when he had to solicit them. A crowd of 

 names of individuals suggest themselves to fill up this 

 sketch, in case any one should dispute its fidelity. Do 

 not suppose, however, that by passing over some mush- 

 rooms so lightly, I intend to constitute myself the advo- 

 cate of privilege ; I wish to prove, on the contrary, by 

 the example of Carnot, that minds of a certain tempera- 

 ment can resist contagion. 



Six months after the coup d'etat, on the 18th Fructi- 

 dor, Carnot is officially accused to the Council of the 

 Five Hundred of having had frequent and intimate com- 

 munications with Pichegru, at a time when that general, 

 a member of the Legislative Body, soiled his brilliant 

 military reputation by his intrigues. Carnot denies such 



