94 CARNOT. 



for his endeavour to render the means of defence as 

 efficacious as the means of attack, which were due to the 

 genius of Vauban. 



PUBLICATION OF THE TREATISE ON THE DEFENCE OF 



FORTRESSES. 



Napoleon was greatly irritated in 1809, at the slight 

 resistance that several fortified places made to the attacks 

 of the enemy ; and therefore he caused Carnot to be asked, 

 towards the end of that year, to write a special code of 

 instructions on this important branch of the military art, 

 from which the governors of citadels might learn the re- 

 sponsibility of their functions, and the full extent of their 

 duty. In this mission Carnot saw a fresh opportunity of 

 rendering himself useful to his country, and did not hesi- 

 tate to accept it, although his health then occasioned some 

 serious inquietude. 



In the eyes of the Emperor, perhaps working fast was 

 more esteemed than working well. On this occasion, 

 however, his hopes did not go so far as to imagine that 

 the composition of a considerable work that might re- 

 quire ten or twelve large plates, and in which some well- 

 selected historical examples should accompany and sup- 

 port the precepts, could be executed in less than a year. 

 Well, Gentlemen, four months scarcely elapsed from the 

 moment that Carnot knew Napoleon's desire, to the pub- 

 lication of the celebrated Treatise on the Defence of 

 Fortresses. 



the difficulty of transporting ammunition, or the train being borrowed 

 from ships, or its being incomplete ; but the advantage is allowed by 

 all writers, though only as a part of the system. Carnot's principal 

 novelty was the theory of making it take the place of every thing else; 

 and that theory has been ably demolished by the practical arguments 

 of Sir Howard Douglas. Translator. 



