LEGION OF HONOUR, an order of merit in France, owes its origin to article S7 of the constitution of 1800, which provided that " national rccomnpenscs should be bestowed on the warriors who had performed brilliant services," and this principle WU organised to some extent by the joint consuls. Napoleon I., when consul for life, esta blished and endowed it early in the year 1802, notwithstanding some opposition from the legislative body, who, however, gave their sanc tion on the 19th of Nay. It was to be a recompense for military and civil services. The order consisted of five divisions : chevaliers, of whom the number was unlimited, officers, commanders, grand officers, and grand crosses.
The Legion of Honour, though it undoubtedly seemed a forerunner to that new nobility which Napoleon, in after years, collected around his imperial throne, soon became an institution in the highest degree important to his interests, and popular among the nation ; and has outlived the fortunes of its founder. Its benefits were appreciated by the Bourbons, who soon discovered that it was the most powerful means they could employ of increasing their popularity, and giving stability to their precarious position. The ordonnance of July 19, 1814, however, made some material changes. The right of members of the Legion to vote in the electoral was abolished ; the pensions were continued to the titularies in receipt of them, but only in proportion to the actual income of the body ; and future appointments were to convey no such right. On the return of Bona
parte in 1815, he ordered the payment of the arrears, and the restoration of the political privileges of the members. On his downfall the Legion of Honour again felt the resentment of the restored monarch. In Dec., 1816, the pensions of the legionaries were provisionally reduced one half ; but this measure was repealed by the legislative bodies in 1820. Under the two dynasties of Bourbons, the decoration was worn on the breast of an Arago, a Guizot, and a Thiess, with equal honour, and as much applause, as it had been on those of a Ney, a Massal, and a Lanes. It is to the credit of the French nation that, while no other people are perhaps so much under the influence of military renown, it would be difficult to mention the name of any other country where men of science and literature are more generally esteemed and rewarded. The revolution of 1848, and the elevation of Napoleon HI. to the empire, have changed nothing in the institution of the Legion of Honour, except by substituting the tricolor flag instead of those ornamented by fleurs-de-lis.