ent in his stead to the west. Moreover, there was likewise a
chance for realizing those dreams of achieving glory in the Orient
which had haunted him from childhood. At this moment there was a
serious tension in the politics of eastern Europe, and the French saw
an opportunity to strike Austria on the other side by an alliance with
Turkey. The latter country was of course entirely unprepared for war,
and asked for the appointment of a French commission to reconstruct
its gun-foundries and to improve its artillery service. Buonaparte,
having learned the fact, had immediately prepared two memorials, one
on the Turkish artillery, and another on the means of strengthening
Turkish power against the encroachments of European monarchies. These
he sent up with an application that he should be appointed head of the
commission, inclosing also laudatory certificates of his uncommon
ability from Doulcet and from Debry, a newly made friend.

But the vista of an Eastern career temporarily vanished. The new
constitution, adopted, as already stated, on August twenty-second,
could not become operative until after the elections. On August
thirty-first Buonaparte's plan for the conduct of the coming Italian
campaign was read by the Convention committee, found satisfactory, and
adopted. It remains in many respects the greatest of all Napoleon's
military papers, its only fault being that no genius inferior to his
own could carry it out. At intervals some strategic authority revives
the charge that this plan was bodily appropriated from the writings of
Maillebois, the French general who led his army to disaster in Italy
during 1746. There is sufficient evidence that Buonaparte read
Maillebois, and any reader may see the resemblances of the two plans.
But the differences, at first sight insignificant, are as vital as the
differences of character in the two men. Like the many other charges
of plagiarism brought against Napoleon by pedants, this one overlooks
the difference between mediocrity and genius in the use of materials.
It is not at all likely that the superiors of Buonaparte were ignorant
of the best books concerning the invasion of Italy or of their almost
contemporary history. They brought no charges of plagiarism for the
excellent reason that there is none, and they were impressed by the
suggestions of their general. It is even possible that Buonaparte
formed his plan before reading Maillebois. Volney declared he had
heard it read a