174 THE CENTENARY OF THE ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE. 
viously, but in order to maintain tbe older existing schools of applied 
science, Monge and Prieur, were obliged, by order of the Directory, to 
prepare a new organisation which should work in harmony with them. 
This organisation, which was approved on the 26th March, 1796, made 
the Polytechnic School the nursery of the other establishments. 
By reason of the general estimation in which the school was held, 
and by the consideration which the Parisian people ever exhibited 
towards them, the young Polytechnicians, who were fully sensible of 
their position and influence, became forced to take a prominent part in 
the exciting events of the day, which succeeded one another rapidly 
during the earlier portion of the school's existence. And, in fact, 
they have always taken part in the popular manifestations which marked 
this epoch. The Convention could not have had more zealous defenders 
than these young and patriotic cadets. If by chance some few were 
led to enrol themselves in the train of the “ jeunesse dome 33 of Freron, 
if some others now and then got mixed up with the gay “ muscadine/' 3 
yet the large majority was ever faithful to the Convention and to the 
civic oath which they had signed :— a I swear to be wholly loyal to the 
Republic, and to swear an eternal hatred to Royalty." Whenever the 
noise of the gatherings in the street reached them it was difficult to 
restrain them. 
On the evening of the l er G-erminal when the crowd raised, under 
their windows, a cry of “ Can you coolly go on with your drawings 
when your comrades are having their throats cut V 3 the cadets rose in 
a body and sallied out to join the armed force. 
The school was always invited to all the national fetes, to all 
the ceremonies. It always had its acknowledged place reserved, 
and in all processions marched immediately after the authorities; yet, 
nevertheless, its attachment to the Republic was sometimes mistrusted. 
Some deputies at last accused certain of the cadets of being con¬ 
taminated with incivism; upon which the Directory issued, one day, 
a decree as follows :■—“ Proceedings will be taken forthwith for 
the purging of the students of the Ecole Poly technique by the ex¬ 
clusion of those who have given signs of possessing anti-Republican 
sentiments." Several times Prieur was obliged to speak in favour 
of the school in order to protect it. Nevertheless, its high position 
seemed fairly assured, when, all of a sudden, the Committee of 
Fortifications attacked its privileges, alleging that these privileges 
were the means of excluding many young men of merit from the 
public services, and that they acted as a restraint on emulation. 
The Directory yielded; the Council of the Five Hundred found itself 
in disagreement with the Council of Ancients; Monge and Prieur 
came again to the rescue, addressing speech upon speech, pleading in 
its behalf, and the school knew not what would happen, when the 18th 
Brumaire took place putting a final end to the discussions of the two 
assemblies. The First Consul decided in favour of Monge, and on the 
(25th Frimaire An. VIII.) 16th December, 1799, Bonaparte re-organised 
the school by a law which has remained the sole law of organisation of 
the Ecole Polytechnique. Later, various governments have modified 
it by decrees and ordinances, but no legislator has since interfered in 
