106 CARNOT. 



illustrious citizen's name to be inserted in the list about 

 to be formed of the Generals of Division of the French 

 army. The Report recalled in appropriate terms, and 

 even with a degree of vivacity, all that our colleague had 

 done for the national glory and independence. The 

 Minister went, even in the name of justice, of esteem and 

 of friendship, to invoke the magnanimity of the Consuls ; 

 the magnanimity was at fault ; they did not answer the 

 Report, and the dismissed Minister remained in his old 

 rank. 



When it was requisite, in 1814, to send orders to the 

 new Governor of Antwerp, the clerks of the War-office, 

 in order to write the address, sought for the official titles 

 of Carnot in the Army-list, and were astounded at seeing 

 that the Emperor had, without considering it, placed a 

 chef de bataillon at the head of a crowd of old generals. 

 The service would evidently have suffered from such a 

 state of things ; the necessity of remedying it was at 

 once felt, and, in imitation of a certain ecclesiastical per- 

 sonage, who in the same day received the minor orders, 

 the major orders, priesthood, and episcopacy, our col- 

 league* in a few minutes, passed through the various 

 grades of lieutenant-colonel, colonel, brigadier-general, 

 and general of division. 



Yes, Gentlemen, Carnot had ambition ; but, as he said 

 himself, it was the ambition of the three hundred Spartans 

 going to defend Thermopylae ! 



The man who, in an all-powerful position, had never 

 thought of making himself the equal of those whose vast 

 operations he was directing, also disdained the gifts of 

 fortune. When he returned to private life, his small 

 patrimony was scarcely intact. How is it, with the most 

 simple tastes, with a strong antipathy for pageantry and 



