forbade the First Consul to command the armies in person, or to leave France.
In all constitutions there is inevitably some absurd provision.

Happy the constitutions that have but one! The First Consul found a means to evade this particular absurdity.
He established a camp at Dijon.

The army which occupied this camp was called the Army of the Reserves.

The force withdrawn from Brittany and the Vendee, some thirty thousand men in all, formed the nucleus of this army.

Twenty thousand conscripts were incorporated in it; General Berthier was appointed commander-in-chief.