years to more ordinary institutions, and the spirit of French politics
had become that of aggrandizement in the name of liberty. The ruthless
application of the new principle of masses had been terribly costly, and
the disasters of 1799 reawakened in the mass of the people the old
dislike of war and service. Even before this it had been found necessary
to frame a new act, the famous law proposed by General Jourdan (1798).
With this the conscription for general service began. The legal term of
five years was so far exceeded that the service came to be looked upon
as a career, or servitude, for life; it was therefore both unavoidable
and profitable to admit substitutes. Even in 1806 one quarter of
Napoleon's conscripts failed to come up for duty. The _Grande Armee_
thus from its inception contained elements of doubtful value, and only
the tradition of victory and the 50% of veterans still serving aided the
genius of Napoleon to win the brilliant victories of 1805 and 1806. But
these veterans were gradually eliminated by bloodshed and service
exposure, and when, after the peace of Tilsit, "French" armies began to
be recruited from all sorts of nations, decay had set in. As early as
1806 the emperor had had to "anticipate" the conscription, that is, call
up the conscripts before their time, and by 1810 the percentage of
absentees in France had grown to about 80, the remainder being largely
those who lacked courage to oppose the authorities. Finally, the armies
of Napoleon became masses of men of all nations fighting even more
unwillingly than the armies of the old regime. Little success attended
the emperor's attempt to convert a "nation in arms" into a great
dynastic army. Considered as such, it had even fewer elements of
solidity than the standing armies of the 18th century, for it lacked the
discipline which had made the regiments of Frederick invincible. After
1812 it was attacked by huge armies of patriots which possessed
advantages of organization and skilful direction that the _levee en
masse_ of 1793 had lacked. Only the now fully developed genius and
magnificent tenacity of Napoleon staved off for a time the _debacle_
which was as inevitable as had been that of the old regime.