[Footnote 3339: One officer may be counted to every 50 men in the infantry; in the cavalry 1 officer to every 25 or 30 men,--This ratio of one officer to every fifty men indicates that, among the 1,700,000 men who perished between 1804 and 1815, there were 24,000 officers, which gives about 3,000 vacancies per annum, to which must be added the vacancies due to the wounded, disabled and and retired. It must be noted, moreover, that the death or retirement of an officer above the grade of second-lieutenant makes several vacancies, vacancies which are more numerous the higher the rank. When a captain is killed there are three promotions and so on.] [Footnote 3340: "The Revolution" III., 335. (Laff. II. p. 250)--Already, in 1795, the need of competent and specialized men was so great that the government sought, even among royalists, for financial and diplomatic heads of these services; it made offers to M. Dufresne and to M. de Rayneval.--Ib. 406.--(Cf. "Mémoires" by Gaudin, Miot de Melito and Mollien.)] [Footnote 3341: Words of Bouquier, reporter of the law on education (session of the Convention, Frimaire 22, year II).] [Footnote 3342: The reader is recommended to do as I have done and consult biographies on point, also the souvenirs of his grandparents. (H.A.Taine.)] [Footnote 3343: Thibaudeau, "Mémoires sur la Consulat," p.88. (Exposition of motives by Roederer to the corps Législatif, Floréal 25, year X.) "After all, it is the creation of a new currency of quite different value from that which issues from the public treasury, a currency of unchangeable worth and of an inexhaustible mine, since it lies in French honor; a currency which can solely reward actions regarded as above any recompense."] [Footnote 3344: Thibaudeau, ibid., 83. (Address by the First Consul to the council of State, Floréal 14, year X.)--Also "Mémorial": "Old and corrupt nations are not governed the same as young and virtuous ones; sacrifices have to be made to interest, to enjoyments, to vanity. This is the secret of the return to monarchical forms, to titles. crosses, ribbons, harmless baubles suited to exciting the respect of the multitude while at the same time enforcing self-respect."] [Footnote 3345: "La Légion d'honneur," by M. Mazas, passim. Details on the nomination ceremonials. "The veritable date was July 15th, as the 14th was Sunday. Augereau and about sixty officers, "bad fellows" who disliked the mass, refused to go into the chapel and remained outside in the court."] [Footnote 3346: Several generals, Lecourbe, Souham, etc., were excluded as being too republican or suspect and hostile. Lemercier, Ducis, Delille, and Lafayette refused. Admiral Truguet, through pique and discontent, had at first declined the grade of grand-officer, but finally changed his mind and became at first commander and then grand-officer.]