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. : 
