One of the secrets of Napoleon's success in war was the fact that he bestowed great care on all military matters. Whether his operations were simple or complex; whether his attention was called to the ration of a single soldier, or to the subsistence of a hundred thousand men; whether his mind was occupied with the trivial details of routine duty, or was evolving the grandest strategic conceptions, he was the same painstaking, orderly, careful man. "His plan," says Napier, referring to Napoleon's projects in the war with Spain, "embraced every probable chance of war, and even provided for the uncertain contingency of an English army landing upon his flanks at either end of the Pyrenean frontier. Neither his power nor his fortune nor the contempt he felt for the military power of the Spaniards made him remiss. The conqueror of Europe was as fearful of making false movements before an army of peasants as if Frederick the Great had been in his front." In the campaign of Marengo Bonaparte displayed excellent judgment in selecting his subordinates. However much he may have failed in this respect in his subsequent career, certainly at this time his success was due in great measure to the fact that he selected Masséna to command the Army of Italy, and Moreau to command the Army of the Rhine. Masséna was peculiarly fitted both by birth and character to perform the duty required of him. Born at Turbia near Nice, he was familiar with every foot of country bordering on the Gulf of Genoa. Moreover, he had fought in the same theatre of operations under Bonaparte in 1796-97. In action he was cool, clear-headed, obstinate, and brave. When the battle was at its height, and the struggle fierce and desperate, then his genius shone forth with great brilliancy. Probably no other soldier of France could have made such an heroic struggle at Genoa. Though he had some traits of character that stained his reputation and dimmed his glory, he was nevertheless a great soldier, perhaps the greatest of all those remarkable men who were afterwards made marshals of France. His characteristics were thus set forth by Napoleon at St. Helena:--