On the 4th of May 1801 he brought forward, for the first time officially, in the Council of State the question of the establishment of the Legion of Honour, which on the 19th May 1802 was proclaimed a law of the State.  The opposition to this measure was very great, and all the power of the First Consul, the force of his arguments, and the immense influence of his position, could procure him no more than 14 votes out of 24.  The same feeling was displayed at the Tribunate; where the measure only passed by a vote of 56 to 38.  The balance was about the same in the Legislative Body, where the votes were 166 to 110.  It follows, then, that out of the 394 voters in those three separate bodies a majority only of 78 was obtained.  Surprised at so feeble a majority, the First Consul said in the evening, “Ah!  I see very clearly the prejudices are still too strong.  You were right; I should have waited.  It was not a thing of such urgency.  But then, it must be owned, the speakers for the measure defended it badly.  The strong minority has not judged me fairly.”—­ “Be calm,” rejoined I:  “without doubt it would have been better to wait; but the thing is done, and you will soon find that the taste for these distinctions is not near gone by.  It is a taste which helongs to the nature of man.  You may expect some extraordinary circumstances from this creation—­you will soon see them.”

In April 1802 the First Consul left no stone unturned to get himself declared Consul for life.  It is perhaps at this epoch of his career that he most brought into play those principles of duplicity and dissimulation which are commonly called Machiavellian.  Never were trickery, falsehood, cunning, and affected moderation put into play with more talent or success.

In the month of March hereditary succession and a dynasty were in everybody’s mouths.  Lucien was the most violent propagator of these ideas, and he pursued his vocation of apostle with constancy and address.  It has already been mentioned that, by his brother’s confession; he published in 1800 a pamphlet enforcing the same ideas; which work Bonaparte afterwards condemned as a premature development of his projects.  M. de Talleyrand, whose ideas could not be otherwise than favourable to the monarchical form of government, was ready to enter into explanations with the Cabinets of Europe on the subject.  The words which now constantly resounded in every ear were “stability and order,” under cloak of which the downfall of the people’s right was to be concealed.  At the same time Bonaparte, with the view of disparaging the real friends of constitutional liberty, always called them ideologues,