Though the First Consul was anxious to have his plan adopted; though he had, in fact, already begun to collect boats in the Rhine preparatory to crossing the river near Schaffhausen, yet Moreau persisted in his own views. Nevertheless, Bonaparte hoped to convince him. With this end in view, he explained the proposed manoeuvres and pointed out their advantages to General Dessoles, Moreau's chief of staff. Through this officer, who had an acute intellect and sound judgment, the First Consul hoped to change the views of Moreau himself. Though General Dessoles soon perceived that the plan of Bonaparte was superior to that of Moreau, nevertheless he advised the First Consul to allow Moreau to carry out his own ideas. "Your plan," said he to Bonaparte, "is grander, more decisive, and probably even surer; but it is not adapted to the genius of the man who is to execute it. You have a method of making war which is superior to all others; Moreau has his own,--inferior doubtless to yours, but still an excellent one. Leave him to himself; he will act well, slowly perhaps, but surely; and he will obtain as many results for you as are necessary for the success of your general combinations. If, on the contrary, you impose your ideas on him, you will disconcert him, you will wound his self-love, and obtain nothing from him by seeking to obtain too much." The First Consul appreciated the wisdom of these remarks, coming from such a man, and yielded the point. "You are right," said he to General Dessoles. "Moreau is not capable of grasping and executing the plan that I have conceived. Let him follow his own course; only let him push back Marshal Kray upon Ulm and Ratisbon, and afterwards move his right wing in time upon Switzerland. The plan which he does not understand, and dares not execute, I myself will carry out on another part of the theatre of war. What he dares not attempt on the Rhine, I will accomplish on the Alps."