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NAPOLEON'S ADDRESSES 
 
NAPOLEON'S ADDRESSES 
 
 SELECTIONS 
 
 FROM THE PROCLAMATIONS, SPEECHES 
 AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Edited by IDA M. TARBELL 
 
 ,^< <n%.-v. 
 
 boston' 
 joseph knight company 
 
 1897 
 
CoPyrigJtt, i8qb 
 By Joseph Knight Company 
 
 Colonial Press: 
 
 C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 
 Electrotyped by Geo. C. Scott & Sons 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The flash of Napoleon Bonaparte's sword 
 so blinded men in his lifetime, and, indeed, 
 long after, that they were unable to dis- 
 tinguish a second weapon in his hand. 
 
 .e clearer vision which time and study 
 jring have shown that he used words 
 almost as effectively as the sword, and that 
 throughout his career the address ably 
 supported the military manoeuvre. 
 
 The first complete demonstration of the 
 elaborate use made by Napoleon of the ad- 
 dress was the publication of the gigantic 
 work known as the " Correspondance de 
 Napoleon y Though the thirty-two pon- 
 derous volumes which form this magnus 
 opus appeared nearly forty years ago, it is 
 little known to general readers, its size and 
 cost confining it to special libraries, and its 
 documentary character repelling all but 
 special students. 
 
 Yet it is only in these volumes that 
 
 Napoleon's official life can be traced in de- 
 vil 
 
Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tail from Toulon to St. Helena. Every 
 document which he wrote relating to pub- 
 lic affairs is — if we may believe the 
 editors — printed in the collection. The 
 number is enormous. When the commis- 
 sion appointed to collect the material began 
 its labors, it found itself obliged to go 
 through ten thousand volumes pertaining 
 to Napoleon's life. The archives of Paris 
 yielded forty thousand different documents 
 of which he was the author, and the rulers 
 of Austria, Bavaria, Hesse, Russia, Sar- 
 dinia, and Wurtemberg sent contributions 
 from their royal records. 
 
 Across the pages of the great tomes file 
 the mighty procession of soldiers and gen- 
 erals, priests and cardinals, kings and 
 peoples who, in the twenty years in which 
 Napoleon was the preeminent figure of 
 Europe, fell captive to his charms or his 
 power. Here are the words by which he 
 fired starving armies to battle, bullied 
 obstinate powers to follow his plans, put 
 hope into despot-ridden people, told kings 
 their duties. 
 
 In these addresses one traces Napoleon's 
 daily thought, so far as he cared to reveal 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 it to others, watches the development of 
 his plans and follows the gradual enlarge- 
 ment of his power. Nowhere else is there 
 so fine an opportunity to observe the steady 
 unfolding of his ambition for world- 
 mastery, to see how he aspired to rule 
 France, then her neighbors, then Europe, 
 the Orient, America, the Isles of the sea. 
 An especially curious study in connection 
 with that of the evolution of his ambition 
 is that of the methods he followed to 
 enlist men in his stupendous undertakings. 
 Such a study is possible only in the ad- 
 dresses. 
 
 The spell he exercised over the army is 
 explained here, partially, at least. It was 
 the custom to post the addresses through- 
 out the ranks where each soldier could see 
 and read them. The men had been accus- 
 tomed at home to seeing all official com- 
 munications from the Government to the 
 people placed on the bill-boards, and so 
 read them from habit. But Napoleon's 
 bulletins, if they were posted in a familiar 
 way, had a new character. He addressed 
 the soldiers as if they were comrades, ex- 
 plaining the general situation of the army 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to them, exhorting them to new efforts and 
 promising them rich rewards. 
 
 After a battle he stated the results to 
 them, thus giving them a tacit recogni- 
 tion of their importance. The explanation 
 was one that all understood ; it was clear 
 and explicit, and bristled with figures. 
 Your common man grasps numbers. They 
 are the bullets of speech and sink in like 
 lead. When Napoleon rattled a volley of 
 numbers at them — " Soldiers, in fifteen 
 days you have gained six victories, taken 
 twenty - one stands of colors, fifty - five 
 pieces of cannon, and several fortresses, 
 and conquered the richest part of Pied- 
 mont. You have made fifteen hundred 
 prisoners, and killed or wounded ten thou- 
 sand men " — they understood, and glowed 
 with pride. 
 
 The phrases with which he praised, 
 condemned, exhorted them, were short, 
 terse, and unforgetable. " You will return 
 to your homes, and your countrymen will 
 say as they point you out, ' He belonged 
 to the Army of Italy.' " Not a man with 
 a spark of pride but remembered those 
 words and dreamed that he walked the 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 village street and heard the whisper follow- 
 ing him, *' He belonged to the Army of 
 Italy." " Soldiers, from the summit of 
 these pyramids forty centuries look down 
 upon you," he cried in Egypt. The splen- 
 did phrase voiced the awe of the army in 
 the shadow of the mysterious monuments, 
 and they charged their dark - faced foes as 
 if in the presence of all the heroes of the 
 past. 
 
 The perfect clearness and directness of 
 the addresses is their most striking liter- 
 ary quality. The classic pose affected by 
 writers in Napoleon's day he entirely 
 ignored. He wished those whom he ad- 
 dressed to understand his meaning. If he 
 spoke to the soldier it was to convince him 
 that certain facts were true and to persuade 
 him to adopt certain theories. To do this 
 he put what he wished believed and re- 
 peated in so clear a fashion that it could 
 not be mistaken. If both bombast and 
 bathos sometimes characterized his ad- 
 dresses to the army, it was never at the 
 expense of his meaning. 
 
 The same lucidity marked all his instruc- 
 tions to the Council of State when it was 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 preparing the Code of Laws. He would not 
 discuss the laws proposed, in technical and 
 equivocal language, but insisted on trans- 
 lating them into the plainest, most evident 
 terms. When it came to wording the laws, 
 he still declared that they should be kept 
 clear of all obscurities and ambiguities of 
 meaning, so that the most illiterate of the 
 people could comprehend them. 
 
 While all of Napoleon's addresses to the 
 army and to the people are imbued with a 
 spirit of comradeship, those to generals, 
 ambassadors, counselors of State, even to 
 the members of his family, are imperious 
 and inflexible in tone. The first impression 
 they produce is that the author knows his 
 own mind and is convinced of his ability to 
 carry out his own plans, that he has no 
 superstitious regard for titles, formalities, 
 even for ties of blood, that he is superior 
 to traditions, and will recognize the author- 
 ity of no man who does not prove himself 
 the stronger. From the beginning of his 
 career, the audacity of this presumption, 
 this confidence in himself, checked and 
 often stifled opposition. There was, in the 
 high tone of his communications, something 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 which compelled obedience, just as there 
 was something in his bearing which silenced 
 those who met him face to face. Augereau 
 went in to his first interview with Napoleon 
 sneering contemptuously at the idea of an 
 untried commander being sent to the Army 
 of Italy, but he backed out from his pres- 
 ence, pale with dismay. " His first glance 
 crushed me," he cried. In a similar way 
 a first address from Napoleon bewildered 
 and silenced critics and opponents. They 
 were baffled by his apparent candor, by 
 the serious way in which he took himself, 
 and by the complete mastery he had of all 
 the elements in a situation. There seemed 
 to be no fact which had escaped him, no 
 contingency he had not considered. A 
 reading of the addresses shows that much 
 of the impression of strength they produce 
 is due to the fact that the writer has full 
 knowledge of the business in hand. One 
 sees from the way in which he criticizes, 
 asks questions, and advises that he under- 
 stands his subject. Of course, it is in 
 military matters that it is particularly con- 
 spicuous. Here he knows everything, the 
 quality of cloth which ought to be used in 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a soldier's uniform, the way to make a can- 
 non, the kind of food which the horses 
 should receive. Not only did he know 
 what should be done, but he knew if it was 
 done. His communications to officers are 
 bewildering to a lay reader, because of the 
 intimate knowledge they show of each 
 man's actions, and the attention they give 
 to what seems unimportant details. It 
 is not difficult to understand and to share, 
 in reading them, the superstitious feeling 
 that many of Napoleon's associates had 
 that he was " not as other men," that he 
 had superhuman insight and faculties, else 
 how could he know all, foresee all, do all. 
 
 Napoleon's attitude towards his family 
 was as imperious as that towards officers 
 and statesmen. Unquestionably he had a 
 warm affection for his mother and brothers 
 and sisters, and even when a mere boy he 
 always thought of them ; yet when money 
 and power came to him he would do nothing 
 for them save on condition that they obey 
 absolutely his will ; when he became Em- 
 peror this determination was firmer than 
 ever. His refusal to acknowledge Jerome 
 Bonaparte's marriage with Miss Paterson 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 is a familiar example of this. His letters 
 to Louis, as King of Holland, to Joseph, as 
 King of Spain, to Jerome, as King of West- 
 phalia, are marked by an amazing absolu- 
 tism. " All feelings of State yield to State 
 reasons," he sent word to Joseph. *' I recog- 
 nize as relatives only those who serve me. 
 My fortune is not attached to the name of 
 Bonaparte, but to that of Napoleon." As 
 a rule, however, his letters to his family 
 are as conspicuous for their common sense 
 as for their despotism. 
 
 When he reached the point in his career 
 where first as consul and then as Emperor 
 he must direct the framing of a new code 
 of laws for France, must organize schools, 
 beautify the capitol, revive industries, his 
 addresses to the councils and officials 
 charged with the duties, show the same 
 knowledge of the principles involved and 
 the same attention to details which distin- 
 guish his military writings. 
 
 All of the extraordinary stories of 
 Napoleon's capacity for work, of his teem- 
 ing brain, his incessant invention, which 
 one finds in the memoirs of his secretaries 
 and associates, are fully justified by his ad- 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dresses. Take one of the days when he 
 was at the height of his power and note 
 the marvellous range over which his 
 thoughts run. He gives direction for the 
 mobilization of troops and the fortification 
 of a town ; inquires of Cambaceres or 
 Portalis the meaning of a law they have 
 under consideration for the new Code, asks 
 them why such a law is necessary, if it ex- 
 isted under Louis XIV., why it should not 
 be worded in this way instead of that ; 'he 
 remembers a general who is compromising 
 himself in a love affair, and counsels him 
 at least to be discreet ; he scolds Josephine 
 for extravagance ; orders a monument to 
 the last general killed on the field of 
 battle ; selects the names to be given to 
 certain new streets and bridges of Paris. 
 
 To the end of his career his addresses 
 show the same vigor and range. Even 
 those sent to the inhabitants and author- 
 ities of Elbe are as fertile in schemes for 
 improving the island as those addressed 
 to the French people ; they show, too, the 
 same attention to detail. At Elbe he even 
 dictated, with ceremonious regard for the 
 forms which become the ruler of a king- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XVll 
 
 dom, the kind of bread to be fed his 
 hunting-dogs. 
 
 A study of these addresses shows that 
 he never lost his exuberance of imagina- 
 tion. However tragic his losses, he re- 
 bounded at once, and on the very day that 
 he dictated his last address to the French 
 army, June 25, 181 5, he wrote his librarian 
 to send him all the books on the United 
 States which were to be obtained. He 
 wanted to study up the country which he 
 had already chosen for his future home. 
 
 Even at St. Helena, sick and irritated as 
 he was, his rnind was never quiet. He 
 dictated in the five and a half years he 
 lived on the island most of the matter in 
 the journals of O'Meara, Las Cases, and 
 Montholon, his essays on Caesar, Turenne, 
 and Frederick, his commentaries and sev- 
 eral less important works, — a respectable 
 literary output, certainly, for five and a 
 half years, and an excellent reply to the 
 old charge that the fallen Emperor passed 
 his imprisonment sulking. 
 
 It is because the addresses of Napoleon 
 are so characteristic of the man, because 
 they reveal so clearly his ambitions, his 
 
XVlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 methods, his genius and his faults, that this 
 
 selection from them is offered to the public. 
 
 It is a sketch of Napoleon by himself ; an 
 
 incomplete sketch, to be sure, but one in 
 
 which every bold, sharp line is by his own 
 
 hand. 
 
 IDA M. TARBELL. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction vii 
 
 Biographical Sketch .... xxiii 
 Part I. The Campaign in Italy . . -27 
 
 Address to the Army at the Beginning of the Campaign, 
 
 March, 1796. 
 Proclamation to the Army, May, 1796. 
 Letter to " The Directory," May n, 1796. 
 Letter to " The Directory, May 14, 1796. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers on Entering Milan, May 
 
 15, 1796. 
 Proclamation to the Troops on Entering Brescia, May 
 
 28, 1796. 
 Address to Soldiers During the Siege of Mantua, Nov. 
 
 6, 1796. 
 Address to the Troops on the Conclusion of the First 
 
 Italian Campaign, March, 1797. 
 Address to the Genoese, 1797. 
 
 Extract from a Letter to the Directory, April, 1797. 
 Address to Soldiers after the Signing of the Treaty of 
 
 Campo Formio, October, 1797. 
 Proclamation to the Cisalpine Republic, Nov. 17, 1797. 
 Proclamation on Leaving the Troops at Rastadt, No- 
 vember, 1797. 
 Address to the Citizens after the Signing of the Treaty 
 
 of Campo Formio, Dec. 10, 1787. 
 
 Part II. The Egyptian Expedition . . 49 
 
 Proclamation to the Troops on Entering Toulon, May 
 
 9. 1798. 
 Address to the Military Commissioners, May i6, 1798. 
 Proclamation to the Troops on Embarking for Egypt, 
 
 June, 1798. 
 Proclamation to the Egyptians, July, 1798. 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Letter to "The Directory," July 24, 1798. 
 
 Order Respecting the Government of Egypt, July 27, 
 
 1798. 
 Letter to Tippoo Saib, Jan. 25, 1799. 
 Proclamation to the Army on the Abandoning of the 
 
 Siege of Acre, May, 1799. 
 Proclamation to the Army on His Departure for France, 
 
 August, 1799. 
 
 Part III. Napoleon, First Consul . . 67 
 
 Proclamation to the French People, Nov. lo, 1799. 
 Proclamation to the Army of the East, November, 1799. 
 Proclamation to the French before the Second Italian 
 
 Campaign. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers before the Battle of 
 
 Marengo, June, 1800. 
 Letter to the Emperor of Austria, on the Field of 
 
 Marengo, June, 1800. 
 Order to Seize all English in France, Announced in 
 
 the Monitezir, May, 1803. 
 
 Part IV. Napoleon, Emperor of France . 77 
 
 Letter to the Pope, 1804. 
 
 Address to the Troops on Presenting the Colors, Dec. 3, 
 
 1804. 
 Letter to the King of England, Jan. 2, 1805. 
 Conversation with Decier Regarding the Marriage of 
 
 Jerome Bonaparte, May 6, 1805. 
 Letter to Jerome Bonaparte, May 6, 1805. 
 Address to the Senate, 1805. 
 Proclamation to the Troops on the Commencement of 
 
 the War of the Third Coalition, September, 1805. 
 Address to the Austrians, after the Fall of Ulm, Oc- 
 tober, 1805. 
 Address to the Troops after the War of the Third 
 
 Coalition, October, 1805. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers before the Battle of 
 
 Austerlitz, Dec. i, 1805. 
 Proclamation after the Battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 3, 1805. 
 Address to the Soldiers on the Signing of Peace with 
 
 Austria, Dec. 26, 1S05. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers, February, 1806. 
 Address to the vSenate on Annexation of the Cisalpine 
 
 Republic, 1806. 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 To the Legislative Body before the Battle of Jena, 
 
 October, iSo6. 
 Address to the Captive Officers after the Battle of Jena, 
 
 Oct. 15, 1806. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers before Entering Warsaw, 
 
 Jan. I, 1807. 
 To the King of Prussia, Entreating Peace after the 
 
 Battle of Eyiau, February, 1807. 
 Address to the Army on Its Return to Winter Quarters 
 
 on the Vistula, 1807. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers after the Battle of Fried- 
 land, June 24, 1S07. 
 Letter to Champagny, Nov. 15, 1807. 
 Proclamation to the Spaniards on the Abdication of 
 
 Charles IV., June 2, 1808. 
 Address to the Legislative Body before Lea\ang Paris 
 
 for the Spanish Campaign, 1808. 
 Letter to the Empei'or of Austria, October, 1808. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers during the March for 
 
 Spain, 1S08. 
 Summons to M. de Morla to Surrender Madrid, Dec. 3, 
 
 1808. 
 Proclamation to the Spanish People, December, 1808. 
 Letter to the American Minister, Armstrong, 1809. 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers before the Battle of Eck- 
 
 muhl, April, 1809. 
 Proclamation to the Troops at Ratisbon, April, 1809. 
 Address to the Troops on Entering Vienna, May, 1809. 
 Proclamation to the Hungarians, 1S09. 
 
 Part V. The Fall of Napoleon . .119 
 
 Address to the Troops on the Beginning of the Russian 
 
 Campaign, May, 1812. 
 Address to the Troops before the Battle of Borodino, 
 
 Sept. 7, 1812. 
 Letter to Alexander I., Emperor of Russia, Sept. 20, 
 
 l8l2. 
 
 Discourse at the Opening of the Legislative Body, Feb. 
 
 14, 1813. 
 Address to the Legislative Body, December, 1813. 
 Address to the Guard, April 2, 18 14. 
 Speech of Abdication, April 2, 1814. 
 Farewell to the Old Guard, April 20, 1814. 
 Proclamation to the French People on His Return from 
 
 Elba, March 5, 18 15. 
 
XXU CONTENTS. 
 
 Napoleon's Proclamation to the Army on His Return 
 
 from Elba, March 5, 18 15. 
 Proclamation on the Anniversary of the Battles of 
 
 Marengo and Friedland, June 14, 1815. 
 Proclamation to the Belgians, June 17, 1815. 
 Napoleon's Proclamation to the French People on His 
 
 Second Abdication, June 22, 18 15. 
 Bonaparte's Protest, Written on Board the Bellerophon, 
 
 Aug. 4, 1815. 
 
 Napoleon's Will 145 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, 
 Corsica, on August 15, 1769, the fourth child 
 of Charles Bonaparte and Laetitia Romolino. 
 He was educated in France at the Royal Mili- 
 tary Schools of Brienne and of Paris, and 
 when sixteen years old was appointed. second 
 lieutenant in a French artillery regiment. 
 From November, 1785, to May, 1792, he was 
 alternately with his regiment and on leaves 
 of absence in Corsica. Sympathizing with 
 the French Revolution, he attempted to aid 
 the Revolutionary party in Corsica against the 
 party of the Corsican patriot, Paoli, but was 
 defeated, and obliged with his family to fly 
 to France. In October, 1793, he was given 
 command of the artillery at the siege of 
 Toulon, and distinguished himself in the cap- 
 ture of the town. After a year and a half of 
 military service in the south, he returned to 
 Paris, and on the 13 th Vendemiaii-e (October 
 5), 1795, he commanded the troops of the 
 Convention against the sections. This led 
 to his being appointed, in 1796, commander-in- 
 chief of the Army of Italy. He went to his 
 
XXIV NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 post in March, 1796, and after a series of 
 successful battles drove the Austrians into 
 Mantua. Four attempts to relieve the city 
 were made by the enemy, but failed, and in 
 February, 1797, Wurmser, the Austrian gen- 
 eral, surrendered. Bonaparte then drove the 
 rest of the Austrian force from Italy, and in 
 October, 1797, signed the treaty of Campo 
 Formio. 
 
 In May, 1798, he undertook the conquest 
 of Egypt. He succeeded in entering the 
 country and taking possession of Cairo and 
 Alexandria, but on August i, at the Battle of 
 the Nile, the French fleet was destroyed by 
 the English under Nelson. A disastrous ex- 
 pedition into Syria occupied the spring of 
 1799. On returning to Egypt, Bonaparte 
 received news of political disturbances in 
 France, and leaving the army under Kle'ber 
 he went to Paris, where, by the coup if etaf of 
 the 1 8th and 19th Bnwiaire (November 9 and 
 10) he became First Consul. During Bona- 
 parte's absence in Egypt, war had again 
 broken out between France and Austria, and 
 the First Consul hurried against the enemy. 
 The Battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800, 
 again drove the Austrians from Italy, and 
 February, 1801, peace was concluded. A 
 treaty with England followed in March, 1802. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXV 
 
 Napoleon now took hold of the reorganization 
 of P^rance with great energy, but in May, 1803, 
 war again broke out between France and Eng- 
 land, and the First Consul made elaborate 
 preparations to invade England. While pre- 
 paring for invasion he was crowned Emperor 
 of the French on December 2, 1804. Before 
 the plan against England could be carried out, 
 Russia and Austria began hostilities, but the 
 alliance was broken by the victory won by 
 Napoleon at Austerlitz on December 2, 1805, 
 and peace was signed at Presburg. The next 
 year, 1806, there was war with Prussia and 
 Russia. Napoleon won the Battle of Jena, 
 October 14, entered Berlin, October 25, and 
 issued the Berlin Decrees declaring a conti- 
 nental blockade against England on Novem- 
 ber 21. On February 8, 1807, he fought with 
 the Russians the doubtful Battle of Eylau, and 
 on June 14, the decisive Battle of Friedland. 
 The Peace of Tilsit followed, on July 7. In 
 1808 Napoleon attempted to take possession 
 of Spain, but before the conquest was com- 
 plete Austria declared war. The campaign 
 of Wagram in the spring and summer of 1809 
 subdued the Austrians. In December of 
 1809, Napoleon divorced Josephine, by whom 
 he had ceased to hope to have an heir to the 
 throne, and in April, 1810, he married the 
 
xxvi napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Austrian Princess, Marie Louise. The next 
 year a son, the King of Rome, was born to 
 them. The alliance between France and 
 Russia was broken in 1812, and Napoleon 
 invaded Russia. The campaign ended in a 
 frightful retreat, the army being practically 
 destroyed. Napoleon hastened to Paris, and 
 by the spring of 18 13 had a new force in the 
 field. After successful battles at Liitzen, 
 Bautzen, and Dresden, he was routed com- 
 pletely at Leipsic in October. The allies 
 invaded France in January, 18 14, and a three 
 months' campaign compelled Paris to capitu- 
 late, and Napoleon to abdicate. The treaty 
 with the allies gave the Emperor the island of 
 Elbe for life, and hither he went at once, but 
 in February, 18 15, he left the island for 
 France, and was greeted joyfully by the French 
 army and nation. Louis XVIII. was obliged 
 to fly from the country, and Napoleon was 
 restored to the throne. The allies immedi- 
 ately attacked him, and at Waterloo, on June 
 18, 18 1 5, he was defeated. He again resigned 
 the throne, and on July 15 surrendered to the 
 English, who sent him a captive to St. Helena, 
 where he died on May 5, 182 1. Napoleon 
 was buried on the island, but in 1840 his 
 remains were removed to France, and placed 
 in the Invalides. 
 
NAPOLEON'S ADDRESSES. 
 
 SELECTIONS OF THE SPEECHES AND LETTERS OF 
 NAPOLEON FROM I796 UNTIL HIS DEATH. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY 
 
 Address to the Ai'my at the Begm?iing of the 
 Campaign^ March, lygd. 
 
 " Soldiers, you are naked and ill - fed ! 
 Government owes you much and can give 
 you nothing. The patience and courage you 
 have shown in the midst of these rocks are 
 admirable ; but they gain you no renown ; no 
 glory results to you from your endurance. It 
 is my design to lead you into the most fertile 
 plains of the world. Rich provinces and great 
 cities will be in your power ; there you will 
 find honor, glory, and wealth. Soldiers of 
 Italy ! will you be wanting in courage or 
 perseverance ? " 
 
28 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Proclamation to the Army, May, I7g6. 
 
 " Soldiers : You have in fifteen days gained 
 six victories, taken twenty-one stand of colors, 
 fifty -five pieces of cannon, and several for- 
 tresses, and overrun the richest part of Pied- 
 mont ; you have made 15,000 prisoners, and 
 killed or wounded upwards of 10,000 men. 
 Hitherto you have been fighting for barren 
 rocks, made memorable by your valor, though 
 useless to your country, but your exploits 
 now equal those of the Armies of Holland 
 and the Rhine. You were utterly destitute, 
 and you have supplied all your wants. You 
 have gained battles without cannon, passed 
 rivers without bridges, performed forced 
 marches without shoes, and bivouacked with- 
 out strong liquors, and often without bread. 
 None but Republican phalanxes, the soldiers 
 of liberty, could have endured what you have 
 done ; thanks to you, soldiers, for your per- 
 severance ! Your grateful country owes its 
 safety to you ; and if the taking of Toulon 
 was an earnest of the immortal campaign of 
 1794, your present victories foretell one more 
 glorious. The two armies which lately at- 
 tacked you in full confidence, now fly before 
 you in consternation ; the perverse men- who 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 29 
 
 laughed at your distress, and inwardly rejoiced 
 at the triumph of your enemies, are now con- 
 founded and trembling. But, soldiers, you 
 have yet done nothing, for there still remains 
 much to do. Neither Turin nor Milan are 
 yours ; the ashes of the conquerors of Tar- 
 quin are still trodden underfoot by the assas- 
 sins of Basseville. It is said that there are 
 some among you whose courage is shaken, 
 and who would prefer returning to the sum- 
 mits of the Alps and Apennines. No, I can- 
 not believe it. The victors of Montenotte, 
 Millesimo, Dego, and Mondovi are eager to 
 extend the glory of the French name ! " 
 
30 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 Letter to " The Directory." 
 
 " Headquarters, Lodi, ) 
 " May II, 1796. ) 
 
 "" Citizen Directors : — I thought that the 
 passage of the Po would be the most auda- 
 cious performance of the campaign, the Battle 
 of Millesimo the liveliest encounter, but I 
 have yet to give you an account of the Battle 
 of Lodi. 
 
 " At three o'clock on the morning of the 
 2 1 St, we pitched our headquarters at Casal. At 
 nine o'clock, our vanguard encountered the 
 enemy defending the approaches to Lodi. I 
 immediately ordered all the cavalry to mount 
 with four pieces of light artillery which had 
 just arrived, drawn by the carriage horses of 
 the lords of Plaisance. 
 
 " The division of General Augereau, which 
 had camped over night at Borghetto, and that 
 of General Massena, which slept at Casal, 
 were put in motion. Meantime, our van- 
 guard had overturned all the posts of the 
 enemy, and seized one of their cannon. We 
 pursued the enemy into Lodi, they having 
 already crossed the Adda by the bridge. 
 Beaulieu with all his army was drawn up in 
 battle array. Thirty set cannon defended the 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 3 1 
 
 passage of the bridge. I formed all my artil- 
 lery into a battery. The cannonading was 
 very lively for several hours. 
 
 " As soon as the army arrived it formed into 
 a close colmnn with the second battalion of 
 rifles at its head, followed by all the battalions 
 of grenadiers. On the run, with cries of Vive 
 la Republique^ they appeared on the bridge, 
 which is over six hundred feet long. The 
 enemy kept up a terrible fire. The head of 
 the column almost seemed to waver. A 
 moment's hesitation and all would have been 
 lost. The Generals Berthier, Massena, Cer- 
 voni, Dallemagne, the Brigadier-General Lan- 
 nes, and Battalion - Commander Dupas felt 
 this, and, rushing to the front, decided the fate 
 of the day. 
 
 "This redoubtable column overrode all op- 
 position, breaking Beaulieu's order of battle, 
 capturing all his artillery, and sowing on all 
 sides seeds of terror, flight, and death. In 
 the twinkling of an eye the enemy's army was 
 dispersed. The Generals Rusca, Augereau, 
 and Beyrand crossed as soon as their divi- 
 sions arrived, and completed the victory. 
 The cavalry crossed the Adda at a ford ; but 
 the ford proving extremely bad, there was 
 much delay, which prevented an engage- 
 ment. 
 
32 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 " The enemy's cavalry tried charging our 
 troops, in order to protect the retreat of their 
 infantry, but our men were hard to frighten. 
 
 " Nightfall and the extreme fatigue of the 
 troops, many of whom had made more than 
 ten leagues during the day, forced us to forego 
 the pleasure of pursuit. 
 
 " The enemy lost twenty pieces of cannon, 
 and from two to three thousand killed, 
 wounded or prisoners. We lost but 150 men, 
 dead and wounded. 
 
 " Citizen Latour, General Massena's captain 
 aide-de-camp, received several sabre cuts. I 
 want the place of battalion commander for 
 this brave officer. 
 
 " Citizen Marmont, my aide-de-camp briga- 
 dier-general, had a horse shot under him. 
 
 "Citizen Lemarois, my captain aide-de-camp, 
 had his clothes riddled by balls. The courage 
 of this young officer is equal to his activity. 
 
 " If called upon to name all the soldiers who 
 distinguished themselves on that extraordinary 
 day, I should be obliged to name all the 
 riflemen and grenadiers of the vanguard, and 
 nearly all the officers of the staff. But I must 
 not forget the intrepid Berthier, who was, in 
 one day, gunner, cavalier, and grenadier. 
 Brigadier -General Sugny, commandnig the 
 artillery, conducted himself creditably. 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 33 
 
 " Beaulieu fled with the remains of his army. 
 Already Normandy may be considered as 
 belonging to the Republic. At this moment 
 Beaulieu is passing through the Venetian 
 States, many of whose cities have closed their 
 doors upon him. 
 
 " I hope soon to send you the keys of Milan 
 and Pavia. 
 
 " Although, since the beginning of the 
 campaign, we have had some pretty hot en- 
 counters, which tlie army of the French 
 Republic Jiave met witli audacity, not one 
 of them has approached the terrible passage 
 of the bridge at Lodi. 
 
 " If we have lost but few^ men it is due to 
 promptness of execution, and to the sudden 
 effect produced upon the opposing army by 
 the size and formidable fire of our intrepid 
 column." 
 
34 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Letter to " The Directory. ^^ 
 
 " Headquarters, Lodi. | 
 "May 14, 1796. \ 
 
 " Citizen Directors : — I think it most impol- 
 itic to divide the ItaUan army into two sec- 
 tions ; it is equally contrary to the interests of 
 the Republic to put two generals in command. 
 
 " The expedition against Livourne, Rome, 
 and Naples is a small affair ; it can be ac- 
 complished by arranging the divisions in 
 echelon in such a manner as to enable them, 
 by a retrograde march, to appear in force 
 against the Austrians, and threaten to hem 
 them in at the slightest movement on their part. 
 
 " For this it is not only necessary to have one 
 general, but he should have nothing to hinder 
 him in his march or in his operations. I have 
 conducted the campaign without consulting 
 any one. I should have accomplished nothing 
 worth the trouble had I been obliged to 
 reconcile my ideas with those of another. I 
 have gained some advantages over very supe- 
 rior forces while in an almost destitute con- 
 dition ; because I was persuaded of your 
 entire confidence in me, mv moves were as 
 prompt as my thoughts. 
 
 " If you fetter me on all sides ; if it is nee- 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 35 
 
 essary for me to confer with the commis- 
 sioners of the Government regarding each 
 step ; if they have the right to change my 
 movements, to send me troops or withdraw 
 them at their will, then look for no good. 
 
 " If you reduce your power by dividing your 
 forces, if you break the unity of the military 
 outline in Italy, with grief I tell you, you will 
 have lost the most favorable occasion for 
 bringing Italy to terms. 
 
 " In the present condition of the affairs of 
 the Republic in Italy, it is indispensable for 
 you to have a general in whom you have 
 entire confidence. If it is not I, I make no 
 complaint, I shall only strive to redouble my 
 zeal in order to merit your esteem in the past 
 that you may confide to me. Every one has 
 his own manner of conducting a war. Gen- 
 eral Keelerman has had more experience and 
 will do better than I, but together we would 
 make a dire failure. 
 
 " I cannot render our country any essential 
 service unless invested with your absolute and 
 entire confidence. It requires much courage 
 on my part to write you in this w^ay, I could 
 so easily be accused of pride and ambition. 
 But I owe the expression of all my opinions 
 on the subject to one whose many tokens of 
 esteem I shall never forget." 
 
36 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers on Entering Milan^ 
 May Z5, 1796. 
 
 " Soldiers : You have rushed Uke a torrent 
 from the top of the Apennmes ; you have 
 overthrown and scattered all that opposed your 
 march. Piedmont, delivered from Austrian 
 tyranny, indulges her natural sentiments of 
 peace and friendship towards France. Milan 
 is yours, and the Republican flag waves 
 throughout Lombardy. The Dukes of Parma 
 and Modena owe their political existence to 
 your generosity alone. The army which so 
 proudly threatened you can find no barrier to 
 protect it against your courage ; neither the 
 Po, the Ticino, nor the Adda could stop you 
 for a single day. These vaunted bulwarks of 
 Italy opposed you in vain ; you passed them 
 as rapidly as the Apennines. These great 
 successes have filled the heart of your coun- 
 try with joy. Your representatives have or- 
 dered a festival to commemorate your victo- 
 ries, which has been held in every district of 
 the Republic. There your fathers, your moth- 
 ers, your wives, sisters, and mistresses rejoiced 
 in your good fortune, and proudly boasted of 
 belonging to you. Yes, soldiers, you have 
 done much, — but remains there nothing more 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 37 
 
 to do ? Shall it be said of us that we knew 
 how to conquer, but not how to make use of 
 victory ? Shall posterity reproach us with 
 having found Capau in Lombardy ? But I 
 see you already hasten to arms. An effemi- 
 nate repose is tedious to you ; the days which 
 are lost to glory are lost to your happiness. 
 Well, then, let us set forth ! We have still 
 forced marches to make, enemies to subdue, 
 laurels to gather, injuries to revenge. Let 
 those who have sharpened the daggers of civil 
 war in France, who have basely murdered our 
 ministers, and burnt our ships at Toulon, 
 tremble ! The hour of vengeance has struck ; 
 but let the people of all countries be free 
 from apprehension ; we are the friends of the 
 people everywhere, and those great men whom 
 we have taken for our models. To restore 
 the capitol, to replace the statues of the heroes 
 who rendered it illustrious, to rouse the Roman 
 people, stupefied by several ages of slavery, — 
 such will be the fruit of our victories ; they 
 will form an era for posterity ; you will have 
 the immortal glory of changing the face of 
 the finest part of Europe. The French people, 
 free and respected by the whole world, will 
 give to Europe a glorious peace, which will 
 indemnify them for the sacrifices of every 
 kind which for the last six years they have 
 
38 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 been making. You will then return to your 
 homes and your country. Men will say as 
 they point you out, ' He belonged to the army 
 of Italy y 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 39 
 
 Proclamation to the T?-oops 07i Entering B?'escia, 
 May 28, I7g6. 
 
 " It is to deliver the finest country in Eu- 
 rope from the iron yoke of the proud House 
 of Austria, that the French army lias braved 
 the most formidable obstacles. Victory, siding 
 with justice, has crowned its eiforts with suc- 
 cess, the wreck of the enemy's army has 
 retreated behind the Mincio. In order to 
 pursue them, the French army enters the ter- 
 ritory of the Republic of Venice ; but it will 
 not forget that the two Republics are united 
 by ancient friendship. Religion, government, 
 and customs shall be respected. Let the peo- 
 ple be free from apprehension, the severest 
 discipline will be kept up ; whatever the army 
 is supplied with shall be punctually paid for in 
 money. The general-in-chief invites the offi- 
 cers of the Republic of Venice, the magis- 
 trates, and priests to make known his senti- 
 ments to the people, in order that the friend- 
 ship which has so long subsisted between the 
 two nations may be cemented by confidence. 
 Faithful in the path of honor as in that of 
 victory, the French soldier is terrible only to 
 the enemies of his liberty and his Govern- 
 ment." 
 
40 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Address to Soldiers During the Siege of 
 Mantua^ Nov. 6, lygd. 
 
 " Soldiers : I am not satisfied with you ; you 
 have shown neither bravery, discipline, nor 
 perseverance ; no position could rally you ; 
 you abandoned yourselves to a panic-terror ; 
 you suffered yourselves to be driven from 
 situations where a handful of brave men 
 might have stopped an army. Soldiers of 
 the 39th and 85 th, you are not French sol- 
 diers. Quartermaster -general, let it be in- 
 scribed on their colors, ' jyiey no lo7iger form 
 part of the Army of Italy I ' " 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 41 
 
 Address to the Troops on the Conchismi of 
 the First Italian Campaign., March, i7Qy. 
 
 " Soldiers : The campaign just ended has 
 given you imperishable renown. You ha\'e 
 been victorious in fourteen pitched battles 
 and seventy actions. You have taken more 
 than a hundred thousand prisoners, five hun- 
 dred field -pieces, two thousand heavy guns, 
 and four pontoon trains. You have main- 
 tained the army during the whole campaign. 
 In addition to this, you have sent six millions 
 of dollars to the public treasury, and have 
 enriched the National Museum with three 
 hundred masterpieces of the arts of ancient 
 and modern Italy, which it has required thirty 
 centuries to produce. You have conquered 
 the finest countries in Europe. The French 
 flag waves for the first time upon the Adriatic 
 opposite to Macedon, the native country of 
 Alexander. Still higher destinies await you. 
 I know that you will not prove unworthy of 
 them. Of all the foes that conspired to stifle 
 the Republic in its birth, the Austrian Em- 
 peror alone remains before you. To obtain 
 peace we must seek it in the heart of his 
 hereditary State. You will there find a brave 
 people, whose religion and customs you will 
 
42 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 respect, and whose prosperity you will hold 
 sacred. Remember that it is liberty you 
 carry to the brave Hungarian nation." 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 43 
 
 Addj'ess to the Genoese, ^797- 
 
 " I will respond, citizens, to the confidence 
 you have reposed in me. It is not enough 
 that you refrain from hostility to religion. 
 You should do nothing which can cause in- 
 quietude to tender consciences. To exclude 
 the nobles from any public office, is an act of 
 extreme injustice. You thus repeat the wrong 
 which you condemn in them. Why are you 
 people of Genoa so changed ? Their first 
 impulses of fraternal kindness have been 
 succeeded by terror and fear. Remember 
 that the priests were the first who rallied 
 around the tree of liberty. They first told 
 you that the morality of the gospel is demo- 
 cratic. Men have taken advantage of the 
 faults, perhaps of the crimes of individual 
 priests, to unite against Christianity. You 
 have proscribed without discrimination. 
 When a State becomes accustomed to con- 
 demn without hearing, to applaud a discourse 
 because it is impassioned ; when exaggeration 
 and madness are called virtue, moderation 
 and equity designated as crimes, that State is 
 near its ruin. Believe me, I shall consider 
 that one of the happiest moments of my life 
 in which I hear that the people of Genoa are, 
 united among themselves and live happily. " 
 
44 ' NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Extract from a Letter to the Directory^ 
 April, lygy. 
 
 " From these different posts we shall com- 
 mand the Mediterranean, we shall keep an 
 eye on the Ottoman Empire, which is crum- 
 bling to pieces, and we shall have it in our 
 power to render the dominion of the ocean 
 almost useless to the English. They have 
 possession of the Cape of Good Hope. We 
 can do without it. Let us occupy Egypt. We 
 shall be in the direct road for India. It will 
 be easy for us to found there one of the finest 
 colonies in the world. // is in Egypt that 7ve 
 must attack Ejigland^ 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 45 
 
 Address to Soldiers after the Signing of the 
 Treaty of Campo Forinio^ October, i797- 
 
 " Soldiers : I set out to-morrow for Germany. 
 Separated from the army, I shall sigh for the 
 moment of my rejoining it, and brave fresh 
 dangers. Whatever post Government may 
 assign to the soldiers of the Army of Italy, 
 they will always be the worthy supporters of 
 liberty and of the glory of the French name. 
 Soldiers, when you talk of the Princes you 
 have conquered, of the nations you have set 
 free, and the battles you have fought in two 
 campaigns, say : /;/ the next two ive shall do 
 still more ! " 
 
46 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Proclamation to the Cisalpine Republic, Nov. 
 17, 1797. 
 
 " We have given you liberty. Take care 
 you preserve it. To be worthy of your destiny 
 make only discreet and honorable laws, and 
 cause them to be executed with energy. 
 Favor the diffusion of knowledge, and respect 
 religion. Compose your battalions not of 
 disreputable men, but with citizens imbued 
 with the principles of the Republic, and 
 closely linked with the prosperity. You have 
 need to impress yourselves with the feelings 
 of your strength, and with the dignity which 
 befits the free man. Divided and bowed 
 by ages of tyranny, you could not alone 
 have achieved your independence. In a few 
 years, if true to yourselves, no nation will be 
 strong enough to wrest liberty from you. Till 
 then the great nation will protect you." 
 
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 47 
 
 Proclamation on Leaving the Troops at Rastadt^ 
 November^ lygy. 
 
 " Soldiers : I leave you to - morrow. In 
 separating myself from the army I am con- 
 soled with the thought that I shall soon meet 
 you again, and engage with you in new enter- 
 prises. Soldiers, when conversing among 
 yourselves of the kings you have vanquished, 
 of the people upon whom you have conferred 
 liberty, of the victories you have won in two 
 campaigns, say, ' In the next two we will 
 accomplish still more.' " 
 
48 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Address to the Citizens after the Stgiiing of the 
 Treaty of Campo Formio^ Dec. 10, 17 8y. 
 
 " Citizens : The French people, in order to 
 be free, had kings to combat. To obtain a 
 constitution founded on reason it had the 
 prejudices of eighteen centuries to overcome. 
 Priestcraft, feudalism, despotism, have suc- 
 cessively, for two thousand years, governed 
 Europe. From the peace you have just con- 
 cluded dates the era of representative govern- 
 ments. You have succeeded in organizing the 
 great nation, whose vast territory is circum- 
 scribed only because nature herself has fixed 
 its limits. You have done more. The two 
 finest countries in Europe, formerly as re- 
 nowned for the arts, the sciences, and the 
 illustrious men, whose cradle they were, see 
 with the greatest hopes genius and freedom 
 issuing from the tomb of their ancestors. I 
 have the honor to deliver to you the treaty 
 signed at Campo Formio, and ratified by the 
 Emperor. Peace secures the liberty, the 
 prosperity, and the glory of the Republic. As 
 soon as the happiness of France is secured by 
 the best organic laws, the whole of Europe 
 will be free." 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 
 
 Proclamation to the Troops on Entering Toulon^ 
 May g, lygS. 
 
 " Soldiers : You are one of the wings of the 
 Army of England. You have made war in 
 mountains, plains, and cities. It remains to 
 make it on the ocean. The Roman legions, 
 whom you have often imitated, but never yet 
 equaled, combated Carthage, by turns, on the 
 seas and on the plains of Zama. Victory 
 never deserted their standards, because they 
 never ceased to be brave, patient, and united. 
 Soldiers, the eyes of Europe are upon you. 
 You have great destinies to accomplish, 
 battles to fight, dangers and fatigues to over- 
 come. You are about to do more than you 
 have yet done, for the prosperity of your 
 country, the happiness of man, and for your 
 own glory." 
 
50 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Address to the Military Commissioners, 
 May i6, 1798. 
 
 " Bonaparte, Member of the National Insti- 
 tute, TO THE Military Commissioners of 
 the Ninth Division, established by the 
 
 LAW OF THE I9TH FrUCTIDOR. 
 
 " I have learned, citizens, with deep regret, 
 that an old man, between seventy and eighty 
 years of age, and some unfortunate women, 
 in a state of pregnancy, or surrounded by 
 children of tender age, have been shot on the 
 charge of emigration. 
 
 " Have the soldiers of liberty become exe- 
 cutioners ? Can the mercy which they have 
 exercised even in the fury of the battle be 
 extinct in their hearts ? 
 
 "The law of the 19th Fructidor was a 
 measure of public safety. Its object was to 
 reach conspirators, not women and aged men. 
 
 " I therefore exhort you, citizens, whenever 
 the law brings to your tribunals women or old 
 men, to declare that in the field of battle you 
 have respected the women and old men of 
 your enemies. 
 
 " The officer who signs a sentence against 
 a person incapable of bearing arms is a 
 coward." 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 5 1 
 
 Proclamation to the Troops on Embarking for 
 Egypt, June, lygS. 
 
 " Headquarters on board the Orient, | 
 " the 4th Messidor, year 6. J 
 
 " Bonaparte, Member of the National Insti- 
 tute, General-in-Chief. 
 
 " Soldiers : — You are about to undertake a 
 conquest the effects of which, on civilization 
 and commerce, are incalculable. The blow 
 you are about to give to England will be the 
 best aimed, the most sensibly felt, she can 
 receive until the time arrives when you can 
 give her her death-blow. 
 
 " We must make some fatiguing marches ; we 
 must fight several battles ; we shall succeed in 
 all we undertake. The destinies are with us. 
 The Mameluke beys, who favor exclusively 
 English commerce, whose extortions oppress 
 our merchants, and who tyrannize over the 
 unfortunate inhabitants of the Nile, a few 
 days after our arrival will no longer exist. 
 
 " The people amongst whom we are going to 
 live are Mahometans. The first article of 
 their faith is this : ' There is but one God 
 and Mahomet is His prophet.' Do not con- 
 tradict them, Behave to them as you be- 
 
52 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 haved to the Jews — to the Italians. Pay 
 respect to their muftis and their imaums, as 
 you did to the rabbis and the bishops. Ex- 
 tend to the ceremonies prescribed by the 
 Koran and the mosques the same toleration 
 which you showed to the synagogues, to the 
 religion of Moses and of Jesus Christ. 
 
 " The Roman legions protect all religions. 
 You will here find customs different from 
 those of Europe. You must accommodate 
 yourselves to them. The people amongst 
 whom we are about to mix differ from us in 
 the treatment of women ; but in all countries 
 he who violates is a monster. Pillage only 
 enriches a small number of men ; it dishonors 
 us ; it destroys our resources ; it converts 
 into enemies the people whom it is our inter- 
 est to have for friends. 
 
 " The first town we shall come to was built 
 by Alexander. At every step we shall meet 
 with grand recollections, worthy of exciting 
 the emulation of Frenchmen." 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 53 
 
 Proclamation to the Egyptians^ J^^b'-, ^79^- 
 
 " People of Egypt : You will be told by our 
 enemies, that I am come to destroy your 
 religion. Believe them not. Tell them that 
 I am come to restore your rights, punish your 
 usurpers, and raise the true worship of Ma- 
 homet. Tell them that I venerate, more 
 than I do the Mamelukes, God, His prophet, 
 and the Koran. Tell them that all men are 
 equal in the sight of God ; that wisdom, 
 talents, and virtue alone constitute the differ- 
 ence between them. And what are the 
 virtues which distinguish the Mamelukes, 
 that entitle them to appropriate all the enjoy- 
 ments of life to themselves ? If Egypt is 
 their farm, let them show their lease, from 
 God, by wdiich they hold it. Is there a fine 
 estate ? It belongs to the Mamelukes. Is 
 there a beautiful slave, a fine horse, a good 
 house ? All belong to the Mamelukes. But 
 God is just and merciful, and He hath or- 
 dained that the Empire of the Mamelukes 
 shall come to an end. Thrice happy those 
 who shall side with us ; they shall prosper in 
 their fortune and their rank. Happy they 
 who shall be neutral ; they will have time to 
 become acquainted with us, and will range 
 
54 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 themselves upon our side. But woe, threefold 
 woe, to those who shall arm for the Mame- 
 lukes and fight against us ! For them there 
 will be no hope ; they shall perish." 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 55 
 
 Letter to " The Directoiy.^'' 
 
 " Headquarters, Cairo, |^ 
 "6 Tliermidor, year 4. (24 July, 1798.) \ 
 
 " Citizen Directors : — On the morning of 
 the 2d Thermidor we caught sight of the 
 Pyramids. 
 
 "On the evening of the 2d, we were within 
 six leagues of Cairo, and I learned that the 
 twenty-three beys, with all their forces, were 
 intrenched at Embabeh, and that their in- 
 trenchments were armed by more than sixty 
 pieces of cannon. 
 
 " BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS. 
 
 "On the 3d, at dawn, we encountered their 
 vanguard, which we drove from village to 
 village. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon we 
 arrived before their intrenchments and found 
 ourselves in the presence of the enemy. 
 
 "I ordered the divisions of Generals Desaix 
 and Reynier to take up their position on the 
 right, between Gyseh and Embabeh, in such 
 a manner as to cut off the enemy's commu- 
 nication with upper Egypt, which is their 
 natural retreat. The position of the army 
 was the same as at Battle of Chobiakhyt. 
 
56 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 " No sooner had Mourad-Bey perceived Gen- 
 eral Desaix's movements, than he resolved 
 to charge him. He despatched one of his 
 bravest beys with a corps of picked men, 
 who, with lightning rapidity, charged the two 
 divisions. They were allowed to get within 
 fifty feet, then we greeted them with a shower 
 of balls and grape-shot which left many of 
 their number dead on the battle-field. They 
 dashed into the space formed by the two 
 divisions, where they were received by a 
 double fire which completed their defeat. 
 
 " I seized the opportunity and ordered Gen- 
 eral Bon's division, which was on the Nile, to 
 prepare for an attack on the enemy's intrench- 
 ments. I ordered General Menon's division, 
 which was commanded by General Vial, to 
 bear down between the corps that had just 
 charged us and the intrenchments, in such a 
 manner as to accomplish the triple end of, — 
 
 " Preventing this corps reentering their 
 intrenchments. 
 
 " Cutting off the retreat of those who occu- 
 pied them. 
 
 " And finally, if necessary, of attacking the 
 intrenchments on the left. 
 
 " Directly the generals. Vial and Bon, were 
 in position, they ordered the first and third 
 divisions of each battalion to draw up in col- 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 57 
 
 umns of attack, while the second and fourth 
 retained their former position, forming a 
 square battalion, now only three deep, while 
 they advanced to support the columns of 
 attack. 
 
 " General Bon's columns of attack, com- 
 manded by the brave General Rampon, threw 
 themselves upon the intrenchments with their 
 usual impetuosity, in spite of the fire from a 
 large quantity of artillery, when suddenly the 
 Mamelukes made a charge. They emerged 
 from their intrenchments on a full gallop, but 
 our columns had time to come to a halt, to 
 face all sides, and receive them on the points 
 of their bayonets, or by a shower of balls. 
 In an instant the field was strewn with the 
 enemy. 
 
 " Our troops soon razed their intrenchments. 
 The Mamelukes fled, precipitating themselves 
 en masse upon their left, but General Vial was 
 ready for them. They were obliged to pass 
 within five feet of a battalion of our riflemen, 
 and the butchery was awful. A large number 
 threw themselves into the Nile and were 
 drowned. 
 
 " After the numerous combats and battles 
 that my troops have gained over superior 
 forces, I should not think of praising their 
 conduct and their sang-froid on this occasion, 
 
58 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 v/ere it not that this new method of warfare 
 has required, on their part, a patience which 
 contrasts with French impetuosity. Had they 
 given way to their ardor they could not have 
 gained the victory, which was obtainable only 
 by great coolness and patience. 
 
 " The Mamelukes' cavalry displayed great 
 bravery ; they defended their fortunes, and 
 upon every one of them our soldiers found 
 from three to five hundred louis. 
 
 " All the luxury of these people is in their 
 horses and their accoutrements ; their houses 
 are pitiable. 
 
 " It would be difficult to find a land more 
 fertile, and a people more miserable, more 
 ignorant, more abject. They prefer one of 
 our soldier's buttons to a six-franc piece. 
 
 " In the villages they do not even know the 
 sight of a pair of scissors. Their houses are 
 made of a little mud. Their sole furniture is 
 a mat of straw and two or three earthen pots. 
 They eat and burn very little as a general 
 thing. They do not know the use of mills ; 
 consequently, we frequently bivouacked on 
 stalks of wheat without being able to obtain 
 any flour. We live on vegetables and cattle. 
 The little grain they do use, they grind into 
 flour with stones, and in some of the large 
 villages they have mills turned by oxen. 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 59 
 
 " We are constantly annoyed by clouds of 
 Arabs ; they are the greatest robbers and 
 the greatest rascals on the face of the earth, 
 assassinating alike Turks and French, or any 
 one who falls in their way. 
 
 " Brigadier-General Mireur and several aides- 
 de-camp and oiificers of the staff have been 
 assassinated by these wretches. They lie in 
 ambush behind banks and ditches on their 
 excellent little horses, and woe to him who 
 ventures to wander a hundred feet from the 
 columns. 
 
 " By a fatality that I have often observed to 
 follow men whose last hour approaches. Gen- 
 eral Mireur went alone, in spite of the remon- 
 strances of the main -guard, to a little elevation 
 about two hundred feet from the camp. Be- 
 hind it were stationed three Bedouins who 
 murdered him. 
 
 " The Republic has met with a real loss. He 
 was one of the bravest generals I have ever 
 known. 
 
 " There is very little coin in this country, not 
 enough to pay the army. There is plenty of 
 wheat, rice, vegetables, and cattle. The Re- 
 public could not have a colony better suited 
 to its needs, nor of a richer soil. The climate 
 is very healthy, owing to the cool nights. 
 
 " In spite of fifteen days' march, and all kinds 
 
6o napoleon's addresses. 
 
 of fatigue, the absolute deprivation of wine, in 
 fact, of everything that could alleviate fatigue, 
 we have no one on the sick list. The soldiers 
 have found a great resource in the posteques^ 
 a kind of watermelon that is very abundant 
 here." 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 6 1 
 
 Order Respecting the Govenimeiit of Egypt, 
 July 27, lygS. 
 
 " Headquarters, Cairo, ) 
 " 9th Thermidol, year 6. \ 
 
 "Bonaparte, Member of the National Insti- 
 tute, General-in-Chief, Orders: 
 
 " Article I. There shall be in each province 
 of Egypt a divan, composed of seven individ- 
 uals, whose duty it will be to superintend the 
 interests of the province ; to communicate to 
 me any complaints that may be made ; to pre- 
 vent warfare among the different villages ; to 
 apprehend and punish criminals (for which 
 purpose they may demand assistance from the 
 French commandant) ; and to take every 
 opportunity of enlightening the people. 
 
 " Art. II. There shall be in each province 
 an aga of the Janizaries, maintaining constant 
 communication with the French commandant. 
 He shall have with him a company of sixty 
 armed natives, whom he may take wherever 
 he pleases, for the maintenance of good order, 
 subordination, and tranquillity. 
 
 " Art. III. There shall be in each province 
 an intendant, whose business will be to levy 
 the Miri, the feddan, and the other contri- 
 
62 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 butions which formerly belonged to the 
 Mamelukes, but which now belong to the 
 French Republic. The intendants shall have 
 as many agents as may be necessary. 
 
 " Art. IV. The said intendant shall have a 
 French agent to correspond with the Finance 
 Department, and to execute all the orders he 
 may receive." 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 63 
 
 Letter to Tippoo Sail\ Jan. 25, ijgg. 
 
 " You are, of course, already informed of my 
 arrival on the banks of the Red Sea, with a 
 numerous and invincible army. Eager to 
 deliver you from the iron yoke of England, 
 I hasten to request that you will send me, by 
 the way of Muscate or Mocha, an account of the 
 political situation in which you are. I also 
 wish that you would send to Suez, or Grand 
 Cairo, some able man, in your confidence, with 
 whom I may confer." 
 
64 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Pj'oclamation to the Army^ on the Abandoning of 
 the Siege of Acre, May, 17 gg. 
 
 " Soldiers : You have traversed the desert 
 which separates Asia from Africa, with the 
 rapidity of an Arab force. The army, which 
 was on its march to invade Egypt, is destroyed. 
 You have taken its general, its field-artillery, 
 camels, and baggage. You have captured all 
 the fortified posts, which secure the wells of 
 the desert. You have dispersed, at Mount 
 Tabor, those swarms of brigands, collected 
 from all parts of Asia, hoping to share the 
 plunder of Egypt. The thirty ships, which 
 twelve days since you saw enter the port 
 of Acre, were destined for an attack upon 
 Alexandria. But you compelled them to 
 hasten to the relief of Acre. Several of their 
 standards will contribute to adorn your trium- 
 phal entry into Egypt. After having main- 
 tained the war with a handful of men, during 
 three months, in the heart of Syria, taken 
 forty pieces of cannon, fifty stands of colors, 
 six thousand prisoners, and captured or de- 
 stroyed the fortifications of Gaza, Jaffa, and 
 Acre, we prepare to return to Egypt, where, 
 by a threatened invasion, our presence is 
 imperiously demanded. A few days longer 
 
THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 65 
 
 might give you the hope of taking the Pacha 
 in his palace. But at this season the palace 
 of Acre is not worth the loss of three days, 
 nor the loss of those brave soldiers who 
 would consequently fall, and who are necessary 
 for more essential services. Soldiers, we 
 have yet a toilsome and a perilous task to 
 perform. After having by this campaign 
 secured ourselves from attacks from the east- 
 ward, it will perhaps be necessary to repel the 
 efforts which may be made from the west." 
 
66 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Proclamation to the Ariny on his Departure for 
 France^ August^ lygg. 
 
 " The news from Europe has determined me 
 to proceed to France. I leave the command 
 of the army to General Kleber. The army 
 shall hear from me forthwith ; at present I can 
 say no more. It costs me much pain to quit 
 troops to whom I am so strongly attached. 
 But my absence will be but temporary, and 
 the general I leave in command has the 
 confidence of the Government as well as 
 mine." 
 
PART III. 
 
 NAPOLEON, FIRST CONSUL. 
 
 Proclamation to the French People^ Nov. lO, 17QQ. 
 
 19th Brumaire, 11 o'clock, p. m, 
 " Frenchmen : On my return to France I 
 found division reigning amongst all the author- 
 ities. They agreed only on this single point, 
 that the Constitution was half destroyed, and 
 was unable to protect liberty. 
 
 " Each party in turn came to me, confided to 
 me their designs, imparted their secrets, and 
 requested my support. I refused to be the 
 man of a party. 
 
 " The Council of the Ancients appealed to 
 me. I answered their appeal. A plan of general 
 restoration had been concerted by men whom 
 the nation has been accustomed to regard as 
 the defenders of liberty, equality, and prop- 
 erty. This plan required calm and free delib- 
 eration, exempt from all influence and all fear. 
 The Ancients resolved, therefore, upon the 
 removal of the legislative bodies to St. Cloud. 
 
6S napoleon's addresses. 
 
 They placed at my disposal the force neces- 
 sary to secure their independence. I was 
 bound, in duty to my fellow citizens, to the 
 soldiers perishing in our armies, and to the 
 national glory, acquired at the cost of so much 
 blood, to accept the command. 
 
 "The councils assembled at St. Cloud. Re- 
 publican troops guaranteed their safety from 
 without, but assassins created terror within. 
 Many members of the Council of the Five 
 Hundred, armed with stilettos and pistols, 
 spread menaces of death around them. 
 
 " The plans which ought to have been devel- 
 oped were withheld. The majority of the 
 council was rendered inefficient ; the boldest 
 orators were disconcerted, and the inutility of 
 submitting any salutary proposition was quite 
 evident. 
 
 " I proceeded, filled with indignation and 
 grief, to the Council of the Ancients. 1 be- 
 sought them to carry their noble designs into 
 execution. I directed their attention to the 
 evils of the nation, which were their motives 
 for conceiving those designs. They concurred 
 in giving me new proofs of their uniform good- 
 will. 
 
 " I presented myself before the Council of 
 the Five Hundred, alone, unarmed, my head 
 uncovered, just as the Ancients had received 
 
NAPOLEON, FIRST CONSUL. 69 
 
 and applauded me. My object was to restore 
 to the majority the expression of its will, and 
 to secure to it its power. 
 
 " The stilettos which had menaced the depu- 
 ties were instantly raised against their deliv- 
 erer. Twenty assassins rushed upon me, and 
 aimed at my breast. The grenadiers of the 
 legislative body, whom I had left at the door 
 of the hall, ran forward, and placed themselves 
 between me and the assassins. One of these 
 brave grenadiers (Thome) had his clothes 
 pierced by a stiletto. They bore me off. 
 
 " At the same moment cries of ' Outlaw him ' 
 were raised against the defender of the law. 
 It was the horrid cry of assassins against the 
 power destined to repress them. 
 
 " They crowded around the President, utter- 
 ing threats. With arms in their hands they 
 commanded him to declare ' the outlawry.' I 
 was informed of this. I ordered him to be 
 rescued from their fury, and six grenadiers of 
 the legislative body brought him out. Imme- 
 diately afterwards some grenadiers of the 
 legislative body charged into the hall and 
 cleared it. 
 
 "The factions, intimidated, dispersed and 
 fled. The majority, freed from their assaults, 
 returned freely and peaceably into the hall, 
 listened to the propositions made for the pub- 
 
70 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 lie safety, deliberated, and drew up the salu- 
 tary resolution which will become the new and 
 provisional law of the Republic. 
 
 " Frenchmen, you doubtless recognize in this 
 conduct the zeal of a soldier of liberty, of a 
 citizen devoted to the Republic. Conserva- 
 tive, tutelary, and liberal ideas resumed their 
 authority upon the dispersion of the factions, 
 who domineered in the councils, and who, in 
 rendering themselves the most odious of men, 
 did not cease to be the most contemptible." 
 
NAPOLEON, FIRST CONSUL. 71 
 
 Proclamation to the A?yny of the East^ 
 Novembe7-^ ijgg. 
 
 " Soldiers : The Consuls of the French 
 Republic frequently direct their attention to 
 the Army of the East. 
 
 " France acknowledged all the influence of 
 your conquests on the restoration of her trade 
 and civilization of the world. 
 
 "The eyes of all Europe are upon you, and 
 in thought I am often with you. 
 
 " In whatsoever situation the chances of war 
 may place you, prove yourselves still the 
 soldiers of Rivoli and Aboukir — you will be 
 invincible. 
 
 " Place in Kleber the boundless confidence 
 you placed in me. He deserves it. 
 
 " Soldiers, think of the day when you will 
 return victorious to the sacred territory of 
 France. That will be a glorious day for this 
 whole nation." 
 
72 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Proclamation to the Frejich before the Second 
 Italian Campaign. 
 
 " Frenchmen : You have been anxious for 
 peace. Your Government has desired it with 
 still greater ardor. Its first efforts, its con- 
 stant wishes, have been for its attainment. 
 The English Ministry has exposed the secret 
 of its iniquitous policy. It wishes to dismem- 
 ber France, to destroy its commerce, and 
 either to erase it from the map of Europe, or 
 to degrade it to a secondary power. England 
 is willing to embroil all the nations of the 
 Continent in hostility with each other, that 
 she may enrich herself with the spoils, and 
 gain possession of the trade of the world. 
 For the attainment of this object she scatters 
 her gold, becomes prodigal of her promises, 
 and multiplies her intrigues." 
 
NAPOLEON, FIRST CONSUL. 73 
 
 Proclamatifln to the Soldiers before the Battle 
 of Marengo, June, 1800. 
 
 " Soldiers : When we began our march, one 
 department of France was in the hands of the 
 enemy. Consternation pervaded the south of 
 the Repubhc. You advanced. Joy and hope 
 in our country have succeeded to consterna- 
 tion and fear. The enemy, terror - struck, 
 seeks only to regain his frontiers. You have 
 taken his hospitals, his magazines, his reserve 
 parks. The first act of the campaign is fin- 
 ished. Millions of men address you in 
 strains of praise. But shall we allow our 
 audacious enemies to violate with impunity 
 the territory of the Republic ? Will you per- 
 mit the army to escape which has carried 
 terror into your families ? You will not. 
 March, then, to meet him. Tear from his 
 brows the laurels he has won. Teach the 
 world that a malediction attends those that 
 violate the territory of the Great People. 
 The result of our efforts will be unclouded 
 glory, and a durable peace." 
 
74 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 Letter to the Emperor of Austria^ on the Field 
 of Marengo, fune, 1800. 
 
 " Sire : — It is on the field of battle, amid the 
 sufferings of a multitude of wounded, and 
 surrounded by fifteen thousand corpses, that I 
 beseech your Majesty to listen to the voice of 
 humanity, and not to suffer two brave nations 
 to cut each other's throats for interests not 
 their own. It is my part to press this upon 
 your Majesty, being upon the very theatre of 
 war. Your Majesty's heart can not feel it so 
 keenly as does mine.- 
 
 " For what are you fighting ? For religion ? 
 Then make war on the Russians and the 
 English, who are the enemies of your faith. 
 Do you wish to guard against revolutionary 
 principles ? It is this very war which has 
 extended them over half the continent, by 
 extending the conquests of France. The 
 continuance of the war can not fail to diffuse 
 them still further. Is it for the balance of 
 Europe ? The English threaten that balance 
 far more than does France, for they have 
 become the masters and the tyrants of com- 
 merce, and are beyond the reach of resistance. 
 Is it to secure the interests of the House of 
 Austria } Let us then execute the Treaty of 
 
NAPOLEON, FIRST CONSUL. 75 
 
 Campo Formio, which secures to your Majesty 
 large indemnities in compensation for the 
 provinces lost in the Netherlands, and secures 
 them to you where you most wish to obtain 
 them, that is, in Italy. Your Majesty may 
 send negotiators whither you will, and we will 
 add to the Treaty of Campo Formio stipula- 
 tions calculated to assure you of the con- 
 tinued existence of the secondary States, all 
 of which the French Republic is accused of 
 having shapen. Upon these conditions peace 
 is made if you will. Let us make the armis- 
 tice general for all the armies, and enter into 
 negotiations instantly." 
 
76 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Order to Seize all English i?i France, Announced 
 in the Moniteur, May, 180J. 
 
 " The Government of the Republic, having 
 heard read, by tlie Minister of Marine and 
 Colonies, a despatch from the maritime prefect 
 at Brest, announcing that two English frigates 
 had taken two merchant vessels in the Bay of 
 Andrieu, without any previous declaration of 
 war, and in manifest violation of the law of 
 nations, — 
 
 " All the English, from the ages of eighteen 
 to sixty, or holding any commission from his 
 Britannic Majesty, who are at present in 
 France, shall immediately be constituted pris- 
 oners of war, to answer for those citizens of 
 the Republic who may have been arrested 
 and made prisoners by the vessels or subjects 
 of his Britannic Majesty previous to any 
 declaration of hostilities." 
 
PART IV. 
 
 NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 
 
 Letter to the Pope, 1804. 
 
 " Most Holy Father : — The happy effect 
 produced upon the character and moraUty of 
 my people by the reestablishment of reUgion 
 induces me to beg your Holiness to give me 
 a new proof of your interest in my destiny, 
 and in that of this great nation, in one of the 
 most important conjunctures presented in the 
 annals of the world. I beg you to come and 
 give, to the highest degree, a religious char- 
 acter to the anointing and coronation of the 
 first Emperor of the French. That ceremony 
 will acquire a new lustre by being performed 
 by your Holiness in person. It will bring 
 down upon our people, and yourself, the 
 blessing of God, whose decrees rule the 
 destiny of Empires and families. Your Holi- 
 ness is aware of the affectionate sentiments 
 I have long borne towards you, and can 
 thence judge of the pleasure that this occur- 
 
 77 
 
78 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 rence will afford me of testifying them anew. 
 We pray God that He may preserve you, 
 most Holy Father, for many years, to rule 
 and govern our mother, the Holy Church. 
 " Your dutiful son, 
 
 " Napoleon." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 79 
 
 Address to the Troops 011 Presenting the Colors^ 
 Dec. J, 1804. 
 
 " Soldiers : Behold your colors ! These 
 eagles will always be your rallying point ! 
 They will always be where your Emperor 
 may think them necessary for the defence of 
 his throne and of his people. Swear to sacri- 
 fice your lives to defend them, and by your 
 courage to keep them constantly in the path 
 of victory. Swear ! " 
 
8o napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Letter to the King of Englaiid, Jan. 2, 180^. 
 
 " Sir., my b?'other : — Called to the throne by 
 Providence, by the suffrages of the Senate, of 
 the people, and of the army, my first desire 
 is peace. France and England, abusing their 
 prosperity, may contend for ages. But do 
 their respective governments fulfil their 
 most sacred duties in causing so much blood 
 to be vainly shed without the hope of advan- 
 tage or the hope of cessation ? I do not con- 
 ceive that it can be deemed dishonorable in 
 me to make the first advances. I believe it 
 has been sufiiciently proved to the world that 
 I dread none of the chances of war, which 
 indeed offer nothing that I can fear. Though 
 peace is the wish of my heart, yet war has 
 never been adverse to my glory. I conjure 
 your Majesty, then, not to refuse the happiness 
 of giving peace to the world. Delay not that 
 grateful satisfaction, that it may be a legacy 
 for your children ; for never have arisen 
 more favorable circumstances, nor a more 
 propitious moment for calming every passion 
 and displaying the best feelings of humanity 
 and reason. That moment once lost, what 
 term shall we set to a struggle which all my 
 efforts have been unable to terminate. In the 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 8 1 
 
 space of ten years your Majesty has gained 
 more in wealth and territory than the extent 
 of Europe comprehends. Your people have 
 attained the height of prosperity. What then 
 has your Majesty to hope from war? The 
 world is sufficiently extensive for our two 
 nations ; and reason might assist us to dis- 
 cover means of conciliating all, were both 
 parties animated by a spirit of reconcilement. 
 At all events I have discharged a sacred duty, 
 and one clear to my heart. Your Majesty 
 may rely upon the sincerity of the sentiments 
 now expressed, and on my desire to afford 
 your Majesty every proof of that sincerity." 
 
82 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Conversation ivith Decier Regardiiig the Marriage 
 of Jerome Bonaparte^ May 6, i8o^. 
 
 "Jerome is wrong to think that he will be 
 able to count upon any weakness on my par% 
 for, not having the rights of a father, I cannoc 
 entertain for him the feeling of a father ; a 
 father allows himself to be blinded, and it 
 pleases him to be blinded because he identi- 
 fies his son with himself. 
 
 " But what am I to Jerome ? Sole instru- 
 ment of my destiny, I owe nothing to my 
 brothers. They have made an abundant 
 harvest out of what I have accomplished in 
 the way of glory ; but, for all that, they must 
 not abandon the field and deprive me of the 
 aid I have a right to expect from them. They 
 will cease to be anything for me, directly they 
 take a road opposed to mine. If I expect so 
 much from my brothers, who have already 
 rendered many services, if I have abandoned 
 the one who, in mature age (Lucien), re- 
 fused to follow my advice, what must not 
 Jerome, who is still young, and is known only 
 for his neglect of duty, expect ? If he does 
 nothing for me, I shall see in this the decree 
 of destiny, which has decided that I shall do 
 nothing for him," 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 83 
 
 Letter to Je7'ome Bonaparte^ May (5, i8o^. 
 
 Alexandria, i6 Floreal, year \t^. 
 
 " My brother, your letter of this morning 
 informs me of your arrival in Alexandria. 
 There are no faults that a true repentance will 
 not efface in my eyes. 
 
 " Your union with Mademoiselle Paterson is 
 null, alike in the eyes of religion and of the 
 law. Write Mademoiselle Paterson to return 
 to America. I will grant her a pension of 
 60,000 francs during her lifetime, on condition 
 that she will under no circumstances bear my 
 name, — she has no right to do so owing to 
 the non-existence of her marriage. You must 
 yourself give her to understand that you are 
 powerless to change the nature of things. 
 Your marriage being thus annulled by your 
 own consent, I will restore to you my friend- 
 ship and continue to feel for you as I have 
 done since your infancy, hoping that you will 
 prove yourself worthy by the efforts you 
 make to acquire my gratitude and to dis- 
 tinguish yourself in my armies," 
 
84 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Address to the Senate, 180^. 
 
 " Senators : It is necessary, in the present 
 state of Europe, that I should explain to you 
 my sentiments. I am about to quit my capi- 
 tal, to place myself at the head of my army, 
 to bear prompt assistance to my allies, and to 
 defend the dearest interests of my people. 
 The wishes of the eternal enemies of the 
 continent are accomplished. Hostilities have 
 commenced in the midst of Germany ; Austria 
 and Russia have united with England, and 
 our generation is involved anew in the 
 calamity of war. A few days ago I still 
 cherished the hope that peace would not be 
 disturbed. But the Austrian army has 
 passed the Inn. Munich is invaded ; the 
 Elector of Bavaria has been driven from his 
 capital. All my hopes of peace have 
 vanished." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 85 
 
 Proclamatio7i to the Troops on the Comfnencement 
 
 of the War of the Third Coalition, 
 
 September, i8o^. 
 
 " Soldiers : The war of the third coalition is 
 commenced. The Austrian army has passed 
 the Inn, violated treaties, attacked and driven 
 our ally from his capital. You yourselves 
 have been obliged to hasten, by forced 
 marches, to the defence of our frontiers. 
 But you have now passed the Rhine ; and we 
 will not stop now till we have secured the 
 independence of the Germanic body, succored 
 our allies, and humbled the pride of our un- 
 just assailants. We will not again make 
 peace without a sufficient guarantee ! Our 
 generosity shall not again wrong our policy. 
 Soldiers, your Emperor is among you ! You 
 are but the advanced guard of the great 
 people. If it is necessary they will all rise 
 at my call to confound and dissolve this new 
 league, which has been created by the malice 
 and gold of England. But, soldiers, we shall 
 have forced marches to make, privations of 
 every kind to endure. Still, whatever obsta- 
 cles may be opposed to us, we will conquer 
 them ; and we will never rest until we have 
 planted our eagles on the territory of our 
 enemies 1" 
 
86 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Address to the Austrians, after the Fall of Uhn, 
 October, iSo^. 
 
 " Gentlemen : War has its chances. Often 
 victorious, you must expect sometimes to be 
 vanquished. Your master wages against me 
 an unjust war. I say it candidly, I know not 
 for what I am fighting, I know not what he 
 requires of me. He has wished to remind me 
 that I was once a soldier. I trust he will find 
 that I have not forgotten my original avoca- 
 tion. I want nothing on the continent, I 
 desire ships, colonies, and commerce. Their 
 acquisition would be as advantageous to you 
 as to me." 
 
NAPOLEON, EiMPEROR OF FRANCE. 87 
 
 Address to the Troops after the War of the 
 Thmi Coalition, October, i8o^. 
 
 " Soldiers of the Grand Army : In a fort- 
 night we have finished the entire campaign. 
 What we proposed to do has been done. We 
 have driven the Austrian troops from Bavaria, 
 and restored our ally to the sovereignty of his 
 dominions. 
 
 " That army, which, with equal presumption 
 and imprudence, marched upon our frontiers, 
 is annihilated. 
 
 " But what does this signify to England ? 
 She has gained her object. We are no longer 
 at Boulogne, and her subsidy will be neither 
 more nor less. 
 
 " Of a hundred thousand men who composed 
 that army, sixty thousand are prisoners. They 
 will replace our conscripts in the labors of 
 agriculture. 
 
 " Two hundred pieces of cannon, the whole 
 park of artillery, ninety flags, and all their gen- 
 erals are in our power. Fifteen thousand men 
 only have escaped. 
 
 " Soldiers : I announced to you the result of 
 a great battle ; but, thanks to the ill-devised 
 schemes of the enemy, I was enabled to secure 
 the wished -for result without incurring any 
 
88 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 danger, and, what is unexampled in tlie history 
 of nations, that result has been gained at the 
 sacrifice of scarcely fifteen hundred men killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 " Soldiers : this success is due to your un- 
 limited confidence in your Emperor, to your 
 patience in enduring fatigues and privations of 
 every kind, and to your singular courage and 
 intrepidity. 
 
 " But we will not stop here. You are im- 
 patient to commence another campaign. 
 
 " The Russian army, which English gold has 
 brought from the extremities of the universe, 
 shall experience the same fate as that which 
 we have just defeated. 
 
 " In the conflict in which we are about to 
 engage, the honor of the French infantry is 
 especially concerned. We shall now see 
 another decision of the question which has 
 already been determined in Switzerland and 
 Holland ; namely, whether the French infan- 
 try is the first or the second in Europe. 
 
 " Among the Russians there are no generals 
 in contending against whom I can acquire 
 any glory. All I wish is to obtain the vic- 
 tory with the least possible bloodshed. My 
 soldiers are my children." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 89 
 
 ProcIamatio7i to the Soldiers hefo7'e the Battle of 
 A7iste?'litz, Dee. i, iSo^. 
 
 " Soldiers : The Russian army has presented 
 itself before you to revenge the disasters of 
 the Austrians at Ulm. They are the same 
 men that you conquered at Hollabrunn, and 
 on whose flying trails you have followed. 
 The positions which we occupy are formid- 
 able. While they are marching to turn my 
 right, they must present their flank to your 
 blows. 
 
 " Soldiers : I will myself direct all your bat- 
 talions. I will keep myself at a distance from 
 the fire, if, with your accustomed valor, you 
 carry disorder and confusion into the enemies' 
 ranks. But should victory appear for a 
 moment uncertain, you will see your Emperor 
 expose himself to the first strokes. Victory 
 must not be doubtful on this occasion." 
 
go NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 Proclamation after the Battle of Austerlitz, 
 Dec. J, 1805. 
 
 " Soldiers : I am satisfied with you. In the 
 Battle of Austerlitz you have justified all that 
 I expected from your intrepidity. You have 
 decorated your eagles with immortal glory. 
 An army of one hundred thousand men, com- 
 manded by the Emperors of Russia and Aus- 
 tria, has been, in less than four hours, either 
 cut in pieces or dispersed. Thus in two 
 months the third coalition has been van- 
 quished and dissolved. Peace can not now 
 be far distant. But I will make only such a 
 peace as gives us guarantee for the future, 
 and secures rewards to our allies. When 
 everything necessary to secure the happiness 
 and prosperity of our country is obtained, I 
 will lead you back to France. My people will 
 behold you again with joy. It will be enough 
 for one of you to say, ' I was at the battle of 
 Austerlitz ;' for all your fellow citizens to ex- 
 claim, ' There is a brave man.' " 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 9 1 
 
 Address to the Soldiers on the Signing of Peace 
 with Aiisti'ia, Dec. 26, 180^. 
 
 " Peace has just been signed by the Emperor 
 of Austria. You have in the last autumn 
 made two campaigns. You have seen your 
 Emperor share your dangers and your fatigues. 
 I wish also that you should see him sur- 
 rounded by the grandeur and splendor which 
 belong to the sovereign of the first people in. 
 the world. You shall all be there. We will 
 celebrate the names of those who have died in 
 these two campaigns in the field of honor. 
 The world shall ever see us ready to follow 
 their example. We will even do more than 
 we have yet done, if necessary to vindicate 
 our national honor, or to resist the efforts of 
 those who are the eternal enemies of peace 
 upon the continent. During the three months 
 which are necessary to effect your return to 
 France, prove the example for all armies. 
 You have now to give testimonies, not of 
 courage and intrepidity, but of strict discipline. 
 Conduct yourselves like children in the bosom 
 of their family." 
 
92 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers^ FeTyriiary^ 1806. 
 
 " Soldiers : For the last ten years I have 
 done everything in my power to save the 
 King of Naples. He has done everything to 
 destroy himself. After the battles of Dego, 
 Mondovi, and Lodi he could oppose to me 
 but a feeble resistance. I relied upon the 
 word of this Prince, and was gracious toward 
 him. When the second coalition was dis- 
 solved at Marengo, the King of Naples, who 
 had been the first to commence this unjust 
 war, abandoned by his allies, remained single- 
 handed and defenceless. He implored me. 
 I pardoned him a second time. It is but a 
 few months since you were at the gates of 
 Naples. I had sufficiently poAverful reasons 
 for suspecting the treason in contemplation. 
 I was still generous, — I acknowledged the 
 neutrality of Naples. I ordered you to evac- 
 uate the Kingdom. For the third time the 
 House of Naples was reestablished and saved. 
 Shall we forgive a fourth time ? Shall we 
 rely a fourth time on a court without faith, 
 honor, or reason ? No, no ! The dynasty of 
 Naples has ceased to I'ci^^n. Its existence is 
 incompatible with tlie honor of Europe, and 
 the repose of my crown." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 93 
 
 Address to the Senate on Annexatio7i of the 
 Cisalpine Republic^ 1806. 
 
 " Powerful and great is the French Empire. 
 Greater still is our moderation. We have in 
 a manner conquered Holland, Switzerland, 
 Italy, Germany. But, in the midst of such 
 unparalleled success, we have listened only to 
 the counsels of moderation. Of so many con- 
 quered provinces, we have retained only the 
 one which was necessary to maintain France 
 in the rank among the nations which she has 
 always enjoyed. The partition of Poland, 
 the provinces torn from Turkey, the conquest 
 of India, and of almost all the European col- 
 onies, have turned the balance against us. 
 To form a counterpoise to such acquisitions, 
 we must retain something. But we must 
 keep only what is useful and necessary. 
 Great would have been the addition to the 
 wealth and the resources of our territory, if 
 we had united to them the Italian Republic. 
 But we gave it independence at Lyons. And 
 we now proceed a step further, and recognize 
 its ultimate separation • from the crown of 
 France, deferring only the execution of that 
 project till it can be done without danger to 
 Italian independence." 
 
94 
 
 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 To the Legislative Body before the Battle of 
 fena^ October^ 1806. 
 
 " Princes, magistrates, soldiers, citizens, we 
 have all but one object in our several depart- 
 ments, — the interests of our country. Weak- 
 ness in the executive is the greatest of all 
 misfortunes to the people. Soldier, or First 
 Consul, I have but one thought ; Emperor, I 
 have no other object, — the prosperity of 
 France. I do not wish to increase its terri- 
 tory, but I am resolved to maintain its integ- 
 rity. I have no desire to augment the 
 influence which we possess in Europe, but 
 I will not permit that we enjoy to decline. 
 No State shall be incorporated with our 
 empire ; but I will not sacrifice my rights, 
 or the ties which unite us to other States." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 95 
 
 Address to the Captive Officers after the Battle 
 of/e/ia, Oct. 75, 1806. 
 
 " I know not why I am at war with your 
 sovereign. He is a wise, pacific prince, 
 deserving of respect. I wisli to see your 
 country rescued from its humiliating depend- 
 ence upon Prussia. Why should the Saxons 
 and the French, with no motive for hostility, 
 fight against each other, I am ready, for my 
 part, to give a pledge of my amicable dis- 
 position by setting you all at liberty, and by 
 sparing Saxony. All I require of you is your 
 promise no more to bear arms against France." 
 
96 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers before Entering 
 Warsaw, Jan. z, 1801. 
 
 " Soldiers : It is a year this very hour since 
 you were on the field of Austerlitz, where the 
 Russian battalions fled in disorder, or surren- 
 dered up their arms to their conquerors. 
 Next day proposals of peace were talked of, 
 but they were deceptive. No sooner had 
 the Russians escaped by, perhaps, blamable 
 generosity, from the disasters of the third 
 coalition than they contrived a fourth. But 
 the ally on whose tactics they founded their 
 principal hope was no more. His capitals, 
 his fortresses, his magazines, his arsenals, two 
 hundred and eighty flags, and two hundred 
 field-pieces have fallen into our power. The 
 Oder, the Wartha, the deserts of Poland, and 
 the inclemency of the season, have not for a 
 moment retarded your progress. You have 
 braved all ; surmounted all : every obstacle 
 has fled at your approach. The Russians 
 have in vain endeavored to defend the cap- 
 ital of ancient and illustrious Poland. The 
 French eagle hovers over the Vistula. The 
 brave and unfortunate Poles, on beholding 
 you, fancied they saw the legions of Sobiesky 
 returning from their memorable expedition. 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 97 
 
 " Soldiers : We will not lay clown our arms 
 until a general peace has secured the power 
 of our allies, and restored to us our colonies 
 and our freedom of trade. We have gained on 
 the Elbe and Oder, Pondicherry, our Indian 
 establishments, the Cape of Good Hope, and 
 the Spanish colonies. Why should the Rus- 
 sians have the right of opposing destiny and 
 thwarting our just designs ? They and we 
 are still the soldiers who fought at Austerlitz." 
 
98 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 To the King of Prussia^ Entreating Peace after 
 the Battle of Eylau^ Febj'uary^ i8oy. 
 
 " I desire to put a period to the misfortunes 
 of your family, and to organize, as speedily as 
 possible, the Prussian monarchy. Its inter- 
 mediate power is necessary for the tranquillity 
 of Europe. I desire peace with Russia; and, 
 provided the Cabinet of St Petersburg has no 
 designs upon the Turkish Empire, I see no 
 difficulty in obtaining it. Peace with England 
 is not less essential to all nations. I shall 
 have no hesitation in sending a minister to 
 Memil to take part in a congress of France, 
 Sweden, England, Russia, Prussia, and Turkey, 
 But, as such a congress may last many years, 
 which would not suit the present condition of 
 Prussia, your Majesty therefore will, I am 
 persuaded, be of opinion that I have taken 
 the simplest method, and one which is most 
 likely to secure the prosperity of your sub- 
 jects. At all events, I entreat your Majesty 
 to believe in my sincere desire to reestablish 
 amicable relations with so friendly a power as 
 Prussia, and that I wish to do the same with 
 Russia and England." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 99 
 
 Address to the Army on its Return to Winter 
 Quarters on the Vistula, iSoy. 
 
 " Soldiers : We were beginning to taste the 
 sweets of repose in our winter quarters when 
 the enemy attacked the first corps on the 
 lower A'^istula. We flew to meet him. We 
 pursued him, sword in hand, eighty leagues. 
 He was driven for shelter beneath the cannons 
 of his fortresses, and beyond the Pregel. We 
 have captured sixty pieces of cannon, sixteen 
 standards, and killed, wounded, or taken more 
 than forty thousand Russians. The brave, 
 who have fallen on our side, have fallen 
 nobly — like soldiers. Their families shall 
 receive our protection. Having thus defeated 
 the whole projects of the enemy, we will re- 
 turn to the Vistula and reenter our winter 
 quarters. Whosoever ventures to disturb our 
 repose will repent of it. Beyond the Vistula, 
 as beyond the Danube, we shall always be the 
 Soldiers of the Grand Army." 
 
lOO NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 Proclamatmi to the Soldier's after the Battle of 
 Friedland^ fune 24, i8oy. 
 
 " Soldiers : On the 5th of June we were 
 attacked in our cantonments by the Russian 
 army. The enemy had mistaken the cause of 
 our inactivity. He perceived too late that our 
 repose was that of a lion. He repents of 
 having disturbed it. In a campaign of ten 
 days we have taken one hundred and twenty 
 pieces of cannon, seven colors, and have 
 killed, wounded, or taken sixty thousand 
 Russians. We have taken from the enemy's 
 army all its magazines, its hospitals, its am- 
 bulances, the fortress of Konisberg, the three 
 hundred vessels which were in that port laded 
 with all kinds of military stores, and one hun- 
 dred and sixty thousand muskets, which Eng- 
 land was sending to arm our enemies. From 
 the banks of the Vistula we have come with 
 the speed of the eagle to those of Niemen. 
 At Austerlitz you celebrated the anniversary 
 of the coronation. At Friedland you have 
 worthily celebrated the Battle of Marengo, 
 where we put an end to the war of the second 
 coalition. 
 
 " Frenchmen : You have been worthy of 
 yourselves and of me. You will return to 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. lOI 
 
 France covered with laurels, having obtained 
 a glorious peace, which carries with it a 
 guarantee of its duration. It is time for our 
 country to live in repose, sheltered from the 
 malignant influences of England. My bounties 
 shall prove to you my gratitude, and the full 
 extent of the love which I feel for you.'' 
 
I02 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Letter to Champagny, Nov. zy, iSoy. 
 
 " Since America suffers her vessels to be 
 searcliecl, she adopts the principle that the 
 flag does not cover the goods. 
 
 " Since she recognizes the absurd block- 
 ades laid by England, consents to having her 
 vessels incessantly stopped, sent to England, 
 and so turned aside from their course, why 
 should not the Americans suffer the blockade 
 laid by France ? Certainly France is no 
 more blockaded by England than England by 
 France. Why should not Americans also 
 suffer their vessels to be searched by French 
 ships ? Certainly France recognizes that 
 these measures are unjust, illegal, and sub- 
 versive of national sovereignty ; but it is the 
 duty of nations to resort to force, and to de- 
 clare themselves against things which dis- 
 honor them and disgrace their independence." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 1 03 
 
 Proclamation to the Spaniards on the Abdica- 
 tion of Charles IV. ^ June 2, 1808. 
 
 " Spaniards : After a long agony your nation 
 was on the point of perishing. I saw your 
 miseries and hastened to apply a remedy. 
 Your grandeur, your power, form an integral 
 part of my own. Your princes have ceded to 
 me the rights to the crown of Spain. I have 
 no wish to reign over your provinces, but I am 
 desirous of acquiring eternal titles to the love 
 and gratitude of your posterity. Your mon- 
 archy is old. My mission is to pour into its 
 veins the blood of youth. I will ameliorate 
 all your institutions and make you enjoy, if 
 you second my efforts, the blessings of reform, 
 without its collisions, its disorders, its convul- 
 sions. I have convoked a general assembly 
 of the deputations of your provinces and 
 cities. I am desirous of ascertaining your 
 wants by personal intercourse. I will then 
 lay aside all the titles I have acquired, and 
 place your glorious crown on the head of my 
 second self, after having secured for you a 
 constitution which may establish the sacred 
 and salutary authority of the sovereign, with 
 the liberties and privileges of the people. 
 Spaniards : Reflect on what your fathers were ; 
 
I04 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 on what you are now. The fault does not lie 
 in you ; but in the constitution by which you 
 have been governed. Conceive the most ar- 
 dent hopes and confidence in the results of 
 your present situation ; for I wish that your 
 latest posterity should preserve the recollec- 
 tion of me, and say : ' He was the regenerator of 
 our country.^ " 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 105 
 
 Address to the Legislative Body, before Leaving 
 Paris for the Spanish Ca??ipaign, 1808. 
 
 " I have travelled this year more than three 
 thousand miles in the interior of my empire. 
 The spectacle of this great French family — 
 recently distracted by intestine divisions, now 
 united and happy — has profoundly moved 
 me. I have learned that I cannot be happy 
 myself unless I first see that France is happy. 
 A part of my army is marching to meet the 
 troops which England has landed in Spain. 
 It is an especial blessing of that Providence 
 which has constantly protected our army, that 
 passion has so blinded the English counsels 
 as to induce them to renounce the possession 
 of the seas, and to exhibit their army on the 
 continent. I depart in a few days to place 
 myself at the head of my troops, and, with the 
 aid of God, to crown in Madrid the King of 
 Spain, and to place our eagles on the fort of 
 Lisbon. The Emperor of Russia and I have 
 met at Erfurt. Our most earnest endeavor 
 has been for peace. We have resolved to 
 make many sacrifices ; to confer, if possible, 
 the blessings of maritime commerce upon the 
 hundred millions of men whom we represent. 
 We are of one mind, and we are indissolubly 
 united for peace as for war. " 
 
io6 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Letter to the Emperoi' of Austria^ October^ 1808. 
 
 ^"^ Sire, my Brother: — I thank your Royal 
 and Imperial Majesty for the letter you have 
 been so good as to write me, and which 
 Baron Vincent delivered. I never doubted 
 your Majesty, but I nevertheless feared for a 
 moment that hostilities would be renewed 
 between us. There is, at Vienna, a faction 
 which affects alarm in order to drive your 
 Cabinet to violent measures, which would 
 entail misfortunes greater than those which 
 are passed. I had it in my power to dismem- 
 ber your Majesty's monarchy, or at least to 
 diminish its power. I did not do so. It 
 exists as it is by my consent. This is a plain 
 proof that our accounts are settled ; that I have 
 no desire to injure you. I am always ready 
 to guarantee the integrity of your monarchy. 
 I will never do anything adverse to the im- 
 portant interests of States. But your Majesty 
 ought not to bring again under discus- 
 sion what has been settled by a fifteen years' 
 war. You ought to avoid every proclamation 
 or act calculated to excite dissension. The 
 last levy in mass might have provoked war if 
 I had apprehended that the levy and prepara- 
 tions were made in conjunction with Russia. 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE, 107 
 
 "I have just disbanded the camp of the 
 Confederation. I have sent a hundred thou- 
 sand men to Boulogne to renew my projects 
 against England. I had reason to believe 
 when I had the happiness of seeing your 
 Majesty, and had concluded the treaty of 
 Presburg, that our disputes were terminated 
 forever, and that I might undertake the mari- 
 time war without interruption. I beseech 
 your Majesty to distrust those, who, by speak- 
 ing of the dangers of the monarchy, disturb 
 your happiness and that of your family and 
 people. Those persons alone are dangerous ; 
 they create the dangers they pretend to fear. 
 By a straightforward, plain, and ingenious line 
 of conduct, your Majesty will render your 
 people happy, will secure to yourself that 
 tranquillity of which you must stand in need 
 after so many troubles, and will be sure of 
 finding me determined to do nothing hostile 
 to your important interests. Let your con- 
 duct bespeak confidence, and you will inspire 
 it. The best policy at the present time is 
 simplicity and truth. Confide your troubles 
 to me when you have any, and I will instantly 
 banish them. Allow me to make one obser- 
 vation more — listen to your own judgment — 
 your own feelings — they are much more cor- 
 rect than those of your advisers. I beseech 
 
io8 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 your Majesty to read my letter in the spirit in 
 which it is written, and to see nothing in it 
 inconsistent with the welfare and tranquillity 
 of Europe and your Majesty." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 1 09 
 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers, during the March 
 for Spain, 1808. 
 
 " Soldiers : After triumphing on the banks 
 of the Vistula and the Danube, with rapid 
 steps you have passed through Germany, 
 This day, without a moment of repose, I com- 
 mand you to traverse France. Soldiers : I 
 have need of you. The hideous presence of 
 the leopard contaminates the peninsula of 
 Spain and Portugal. In terror he must fly 
 before you. Let us bear our triumphal eagles 
 to the pillars of Hercules. There, also, we 
 have injuries to avenge. Soldiers : You have 
 passed the renown of our modern armies, but 
 you have not yet equalled the glories of those 
 Romans, who, in one and the same campaign, 
 were victorious upon the Rhine and the 
 Euphrates, in lUyria and upon the Tagus. 
 A long peace, a lasting prosperity, shall be 
 the reward of your labors. But a real French- 
 man ought not, could not, rest until the seas 
 are open to all. Soldiers : All that you have 
 done, all that you will do for the happiness of 
 the French people, and for my glory, shall be 
 eternal in my heart." 
 
no NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Summons to M. de Morla to Su?'?'e7ider Madrid, 
 Dec. J, 1808. 
 
 " In vain you employ the name of the peo- 
 ple. If you cannot find means to pacify them, 
 it is because you yourselves excited them 
 and misled them by falsehood. Assemble the 
 clergy, the heads of the convents, the alcades, 
 and if between this and six in the morning the 
 city has not surrendered, it shall cease to 
 exist. I neither will, nor ought to withdraw 
 my troops. You have slaughtered the unfortu- 
 nate French who have fallen into your hands. 
 Only two days ago you suffered two servants 
 of the Russian ambassador to be dragged 
 away and put to death in the streets because 
 they were Frenchmen. The incapacity and 
 weakness of a general had put into your 
 hands troops which had capitulated on the 
 field of battle of Baylen, and the capitulation 
 was violated. You, M. de Morla, what sort of 
 a letter did you write to that general .-* Well 
 did it become you to talk of pillage — ^you, 
 who having entered Rousillon in 1795, carried 
 off all the women, and divided them as booty 
 among your soldiers. What right had you, 
 moreover, to hold such language. The capit- 
 ulation of Baylen forbade it. Look what was 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. Ill 
 
 the conduct of the EngHsh, who are far from 
 priding themselves on being strict observers 
 of the law of nations. They complained of 
 the Convention of Cintra, but they fulfilled it. 
 To violate military treaties is to renounce all 
 civilization — to put ourselves on a level with 
 the Bedouins of the desert. How then dare 
 you demand a capitulation — you who violated 
 that of Baylen ? See how injustice and bad 
 faith ever recoil upon those who are guilty of 
 them. I had a fleet at Cadiz. It had come 
 there as to a harbor of an ally. You directed 
 against it the mortars of the city which you 
 commanded. I had a Spanish army in my 
 ranks. I preferred to see it escape in English 
 ships, and to fling itself upon the rocks of 
 Espinosa, than to disarm it. I preferred hav- 
 ing nine thousand more enemies to fight, to 
 violating good faith and honor. Return to 
 Madrid. I give you till six o'clock to-morrow 
 evening. You have nothing to say to me 
 about the people, but to tell me that they have 
 submitted. If not, you and your troops shall 
 be put to the sword." 
 
112 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 Proclamation to the Spanish People^ 
 December^ 1808. 
 
 " I have declared, in a proclamation of the 
 2d of June, that I wished to be the regen- 
 erator of Spain, To the rights which the 
 princes of the ancient dynasty have ceded to 
 me, you have wished that I should add the 
 rights of conquest. That, however, shall 
 not change my inclination to serve you. I 
 wish to encourage everything that is noble in 
 your own exertions. All that is opposed to 
 your prosperity and your grandeur I wish to 
 destroy. The shackles which have enslaved 
 the people I have broken. I have given you 
 a liberal constitution, and, in the place of an 
 absolute monarchy, a monarchy mild and 
 limited. It depends upon yourselves whether 
 that constitution shall still be your law." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. II3 
 
 Letter to the American Minister^ Arm- 
 strong, i8og. 
 
 " The seas belong to all nations. Any 
 vessel, sailing under whatsoever flag, recog- 
 nized and avowed by her, should be as much 
 at home in the midst of the seas as if she were 
 in her own ports. The flag floating from the 
 mast of a merchant vessel should be respected 
 as much as if it floated from the top of a 
 village spire. 
 
 " In case of war between two maritime 
 powers, neutrals should follow the legislation 
 of neither one. Every vessel should be pro- 
 tected by its flag. Every power which vio- 
 lates a flag declares war against the power to 
 which it belongs. To insult a merchant vessel 
 which carries the flag of a power, is the same 
 thing as invading a town or colony belonging 
 to that power. His Majesty declares that he 
 considers the fleets of nations as floating 
 colonies belonging to those nations. In con- 
 sequence of this principle, the sovereignty and 
 independence of a nation is a property of its 
 neighbors. If a French citizen was insulted 
 in an American port or colony, the Govern- 
 ment of the United States would not deny 
 that it was responsible for it. In the same 
 
114 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 way the Government of the United States 
 must be responsible for the violation of French 
 property on board of a ship or floating Ameri- 
 can colony ; otherwise, this Government, not 
 being able to guarantee the integrity of its 
 rights and the independence of its flag, his 
 Majesty considers the American vessels which 
 have been violated by visits, by taxes, and 
 other arbitrary acts, as no longer belonging to 
 the United States, and as denationalized. 
 
 " But whenever the Government of the 
 United States shall order its vessels armed to 
 repulse the unjust aggressions of England, to 
 sustain its rights, against the refusal of this 
 power to recognize the great principle that 
 the flag covers the ship, and against its unjust 
 pretension of searching neutral vessels, his 
 Majesty is willing to recognize them and treat 
 them as neutrals." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. II5 
 
 Proclamation to the Soldiers before the Battle of 
 Eck77iuhl^ April, i8og. 
 
 " Soldiers : The territory of the confedera- 
 tion of the Rhine has been violated. The 
 Austrian general supposes that we are to fly 
 at the sight of his eagles, and abandon our 
 allies to his mercy. I arrive with the rapidity 
 of lightning in the midst of you. Soldiers : I 
 was surrounded by your bayonets, when the 
 Emperor of Austria arrived at my bivouac in 
 Moravia. You heard him employ my clemency, 
 and swear an eternal friendship. Conquerors 
 in three wars, Austria has owed everything to 
 our generosity. Three times she has per- 
 jured herself ! Our former successes are our 
 guarantee for our future triumphs. Let us 
 march, then, and at our aspect, let the enemy 
 recognize his conquerors," 
 
ii6 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Proclamation to the Troops at RatisboUy 
 Ap7'il, i8og. 
 
 " Soldiers : You have justified my anticipa- 
 tions. You have suppUed by bravery the 
 want of numbers, and have shown the differ- 
 ence which exists between the soldiers of 
 Csesar and the armed rabble of Xerxes. 
 Within the space of a few days we have 
 triumphed in the battles of Thaun, Abersberg, 
 and Eckmuhl, and in the combats of Peissing, 
 Landshut, and Ratisbon. One hundred pieces 
 of cannon, forty standards, fifty thousand 
 prisoners, three bridge equipages, three thou- 
 sand baggage-wagons with their horses, and all 
 the money chests of the regiments, are the 
 fruits of the rapidity of your marches, and of 
 your courage. The enemy, seduced by a per- 
 jured Cabinet, appeared to have lost all 
 recollection of you. His awakening has been 
 speedy ; you have appeared more terrible than 
 ever. Lately, he crossed the Inn, and invaded 
 the territory of our allies. Lately, he talked 
 of nothing less than carrying the war into the 
 bosom of our country. Now, defeated, dis- 
 persed, he flies, in consternation. Already my 
 advance-guard has passed the Inn. In one 
 month we will be in Vienna." 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE. II7 
 
 Address to the Troops on Entering Vienna^ 
 May, i8og. 
 
 " In a month after the enemy passed the 
 Inn, on the same day, at the same hour, we 
 entered Vienna. Their miUtia, their levies en 
 viasse, their ramparts, created by the impotent 
 rage of the princes of the House of Lorraine, 
 have fallen at the first sight of you. The 
 princes of that house have abandoned their 
 capital, not like the soldiers of honor, who 
 yield to circumstance and the reverses of war, 
 but as perjurers haunted by the sense of their 
 crime. In flying from Vienna, their adieus to 
 its inhabitants have been murder and confla- 
 gration. Like Medea, they have with their 
 own hands massacred their own offspring. 
 Soldiers : The people of Vienna, according to 
 the expression of a deputation of the suburbs, 
 abandoned, widoived, shall be the object of 
 your regards. I take its good citizens under 
 my special protection. As to the wicked and 
 turbulent, they shall meet with exemplary jus- 
 tice. Soldiers : Be kind to the poor peasants ; 
 to those worthy people who have so many 
 claims upon your esteem. Let us not mani- 
 fest any pride at our success. Let us see in 
 it but a proof of that divine justice which pun- 
 ishes the ungrateful and the perjured." 
 
ii8 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Prodaination to the Hungarians, i8og. 
 
 " Hungarians : The moment is come to 
 revive your independence. I offer you peace, 
 the integrity of. your territory, the inviolabiUty 
 of your constitutions, — whether of such as 
 are in actual existence, or of those which the 
 spirit of the time may require. I ask nothing 
 of you. I desire only to see your nation free 
 and independent. Your union with Austria 
 has made your misfortunes. Your blood has 
 flowed for her in distant regions. Your dear- 
 est interests have always been sacrificed to 
 those of the Austrian hereditary estates. You 
 form the finest part of the Empire of Austria, 
 yet you are treated as a province. You have 
 national manners, a national language ; you 
 boast an ancient and illustrious origin. Re- 
 sume, then, your existence as a nation. Have 
 a king of your own choice, who will reside 
 among you, and reign for you alone." 
 
PART V. 
 
 THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 
 
 Address to the Troops on the Beg'mn'uig of the 
 Ricssiaii Campaig7i, May, 1812. 
 
 " Soldiers : The second war of Poland has 
 commenced. The first war terminated at 
 Friedland and Tilsit. At Tilsit, Russia swore "^ 
 eternal alliance with France, and war with 
 England. She has openly violated her oath, 
 and refuses to offer any explanation of her 
 strange conduct till the French Eagle shall 
 have passed the Rhine, and, consequently, 
 shall have left her allies at her discretion. 
 Russia is impelled onward by fatality. Her 
 destiny, is about to be accomplished. Does 
 she believe that we have degenerated ? that 
 we are no longer the soldiers of Austerlitz ? 
 She has placed us between dishonor and 
 war. The choice cannot for an instant be 
 doubtful. Let us march forward, then, and 
 crossing the Niemen, carry the war into her 
 territories. The second war of Poland will be 
 to the French army as glorious as the first. 
 
I20 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 But our next peace must carry with it its own 
 guarantee, and put an end to that arrogant 
 influence which, for the last fifty years, Russia 
 has exercised over the affairs of Europe." 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 121 
 
 Address to the Troops before the Battle of 
 Borodino^ Sept. 7, 181 2. 
 
 " Soldiers : This is the battle you have so 
 much desired. The victory depends upon 
 you ! It is now necessary to us. It will give 
 us abundance of good winter quarters, and a 
 prompt return to our country. Behave as at 
 Austerlitz, at Friedland, at Witepsk, at Smo- 
 lensk, and let the latest posterity recount with 
 pride your conduct on this day ; let them say 
 of you, ' He was at the battle under the walls 
 of Moscow.' " 
 
122 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 Letter to Alexander I., Emperor of Russia. 
 
 Moscow, Sept. 20, 181 2. 
 
 " Monsieur, my brother : — Having been in- 
 formed that the brother of your Imperial 
 Majesty's Minister at Cassel was in Moscow, 
 I sent for him, and we have had a conversa- 
 tion of some length. I have advised his mak- 
 ing my sentiments known to your Majesty. 
 
 " The superb and beautiful city of Moscow 
 no longer exists. Rostoptchine gave orders 
 to burn it. Four hundred incendiaries were 
 arrested on the spot, all of whom declared 
 that they had received their orders from the 
 governor and the director of the police ; they 
 were shot. 
 
 " The fire at last appears to have ceased. 
 Three-quarters of the buildings have been 
 burned, the other quarter remains. 
 
 " Such conduct is atrocious and useless. 
 Was its object to make way with some treas- 
 ure ? But the treasure was in caves which 
 could not be reached by the fire. 
 
 " Moreover, why destroy one of the most 
 beautiful cities in the world, the work of cen- 
 turies, for so paltry an end ? It is the same 
 line of conduct that has been followed from 
 Smolensk, and has left 600,000 families home- 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 1 23 
 
 less. The fire-engines in Moscow were either 
 broken or made way with, and a portion of 
 the arms in the arsenal given to malefactors, 
 which obliged us to lire a few shots at the 
 Kremlin in order to disperse them. 
 
 " Humanity, the interests of your Majesty 
 and of this great city, required that the city 
 should be confided to me as a trust, since it 
 was exposed by the Russian army. It should 
 not have been left without administration, 
 magistrates, and civil guards. Such a plan 
 was adopted at Vienna, Madrid, and twice at 
 Berlin. We ourselves followed out this plan 
 -at the time of the entrance of Sonvarof. 
 
 " Incendiaries authorize pillage, to which 
 the soldiers surrender themselves in order to 
 dispute the debris with the flames. 
 
 " If I imagined for an instant that such a 
 state of affairs was authorized by 3^our Maj- 
 esty, I should not write this letter; but I hold 
 it as impossible that, with your Majesty's 
 principles, and heart, with the justice of your 
 Majesty's ideas, you could authorize excesses 
 that are unworthy of a great sovereign and 
 of a great nation. While the engines were 
 carried from Moscow, one hundred and 
 fifty pieces of field cannon, 60,000 new mus- 
 kets, 1,600,000 infantry cartridges, 400,000 
 weights of powder, 300,000 weights of salt- 
 
124 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 petre, as much sulphur, etc., were left be- 
 hind. 
 
 ^' I wage war against your Majesty without 
 animosity ; a note from you before or after the 
 last battle would have stopped my march, 
 and I should even have liked to have sacri- 
 ficed the advantage of entering Moscow. If 
 your Majesty retains some remains of your 
 former sentiments, you will take this letter in 
 good part. At all events, you will thank me 
 for giving you an account of what is passing 
 at Moscow." 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 1 25 
 
 Discou7'se at the Openiiig of the Legislative Body. 
 
 Palais des Tuileries, Feb. 14, 18 13. 
 
 " I entered Russia. The French armies 
 were constantly victorious on the fields of 
 Ostrono, Polotsk, Mohilef, Smolensk, Mos- 
 kova, Malo-Yaroslavetz. Nowhere could the 
 Russian armies stand before our eagles. Mos- 
 cow fell into our power. 
 
 '' When the Russian borders were forced 
 and the powerlessness of their arms was rec- 
 ognized, a swarm of Tartars turned their 
 parricidal hands against the most beautiful 
 provinces of the empire they had been called 
 upon to defend. Inside a few weeks, in spite 
 of the grief and despair of the unfortunate 
 Muscovites, they set fire to over four thousand 
 of their most prosperous villages, and more 
 than fifty of their most beautiful cities ; thus 
 gratifying their ancient hatred, and, on the 
 pretext of retarding our progress, surround- 
 ing us by a desert waste. 
 
 " But we triumphed over all these obstacles ; 
 even the conflagration of Moscow, where, in 
 four days, they destroyed the fruits of the toil 
 and thrift of forty generations, in no way 
 changed the prosperous condition of my affairs. 
 But the rigor of an extreme and premature 
 
126 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 winter laid the weight of a terrible calamity 
 upon my army. In a few nights every thing 
 changed. I met with great losses. My solI 
 would have been crushed beneath their weight 
 had I been accessible to any other feelings 
 than the interest, the glory, and the future of 
 my people. 
 
 " At sight of the evils that beset us, Eng- 
 land's joy was great. Her hopes knew no 
 bounds. She offered our finest provinces as a 
 reward for treachery. As a condition of peace 
 she proposed the extinction of this beautiful 
 empire ; which was in other terms a proclama- 
 tion of perpetual war. 
 
 " The energy shown by my people under 
 such grave circumstances, their devotion to 
 the integrity of the empire, the love they have 
 shown me, have dissipated all these chimeras 
 and have brought our enemies to a more just 
 appreciation of affairs. 
 
 " The misfortunes occasioned by the severity 
 of the frosts demonstrated to their full extent 
 the grandeur and solidity of this empire, 
 founded upon the exertions and love of fifty 
 million citizens, and upon the territorial re- 
 sources of the most beautiful countries in the 
 world," 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 127 
 
 Address to the Legislative Body, 
 Decembe?', i8ij. 
 
 " I have suppressed your address, it was 
 incendiary. I called you round me to do 
 good — you have done ill. Eleven-twelfths of 
 you are well intentioned, the others, and above 
 all, M. Laine, are factious intriguers, devoted 
 to England, to all my enemies, and correspond- 
 ing, through the channel of the advocate 
 Desege, with the Prince Regent, Return to 
 your departments and feel that my eye will 
 follow you ; you have endeavored to humble 
 me, you may kill me, but you shall not dis- 
 honor me. You make remonstrances ; is this 
 a time, when the stranger invades our prov- 
 inces, and two hundred thousand Cossacks are 
 ready to overflow our country ? There may 
 have been petty abuses ; I never connived at 
 them. You, M. Renouard, you said that 
 Prince Massena robbed a man at Marseilles 
 of his house. You lie ! The general took 
 possession of a vacant house, and my minister 
 shall indemnify the proprietor. Is it thus 
 that you dare affront a marshal of France 
 who has bled for his country, and grown gray 
 in victory ? Why did you not make your 
 complaints in secret to me ? I would have 
 
^28 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 done you justice. We should wash our dirty 
 linen in private, and not drag it out before the 
 world. You call yourselves representatives of 
 the nation. It is not true ; you are only 
 deputies of the departments ; a small portion 
 of the State, inferior to the Senate, inferior 
 even to the Council of State. The repre- 
 sentatives of the people ! I am alone the 
 representative of the people. Twice have 
 twenty-four millions of French called me to 
 the throne — which of you durst undertake 
 such a burden ? It had already overwhelmed 
 (ecrase) your Assemblies, and your Conven- 
 tions, your Vergniands and your Guadets, 
 your Jacobins and your Girondins. They 
 are all dead ! What, who are you ? nothing — 
 all authority is in the throne ; and what is the 
 throne ? This wooden frame covered with 
 velvet .'' No, I am the throne. You have 
 added wrong to reproaches. You have talked 
 of concessions - — concessions that even my 
 enemies dared not ask. I suppose if they 
 asked Champagne, you would have given 
 them La Brie besides ; but in four months I 
 will conquer peace, or I shall be dead. You 
 advise ! how dare you debate on such high 
 matters (de si graves interets) ! You have put 
 me in the front of the battle as the cause of 
 war. It is infamous {c'est une atrocite). In all 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 1 29 
 
 your committees you have excluded the friends 
 of the Government, extraordinary commission, 
 committee of finance, committee of the ad- 
 dress, all, all my enemies. M. Laine, I repeat 
 it, is a traitor ; he is a wicked man, the others 
 are mere intriguers. I do justice to the 
 eleven-twelfths ; but the factious I know and 
 will pursue. Is it, I ask again, is it while the 
 enemy is in France that you should have 
 done this ? But nature has gifted me \\ ith a 
 determined courage — nothing can overcome 
 me. It cost my pride much, too, — I made 
 that sacrifice ; I — but I am above your miser- 
 able declamations. I was in need of consola- 
 tion, and you would mortify me, — but, no, 
 my victories shall crush your clamors ; in 
 three months we shall have peace, and you 
 shall repent your folly. / am one of those who 
 triumph or die. 
 
 " Go back to your departments. If any one 
 of you dare to print your address, I shall pub- 
 Hsh it in the Mojiiteur with notes of my own. 
 Go, France stands more in need of me than I 
 do of France. I bear the eleven-twelfths of 
 vou in my heart. I shall nominate the depu- 
 ties of the two series which are vacant, and I 
 shall reduce the legislative body to the dis- 
 charge of its proper duties. The inhabitants 
 of Alsace and Franche-Comte have a better 
 
130 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 spirit than you ; they ask me for arms. I 
 send them, and one of my aides-de-camp will 
 lead them against the enemy." 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 131 
 
 Address to the Guard, April 2, 18 14. 
 
 " Soldiers : The enemy has stolen three 
 marches on us, and has made himself master 
 of Paris. We must drive him thence. French- 
 men, unworthy of the name, emigrants whom 
 we have pardoned, have mounted the white 
 cockade and joined the enemy. The wretches 
 shall receive the reward due to this new 
 crime. Let us swear to conquer or die, 
 and to enforce respect to the tri-colored cock- 
 ade, which has for twenty years accompanied 
 us on the path of glory and honor." 
 
132 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Speech of Abdication^ April 2, 18 14.. 
 
 " The allied powers having decided that the 
 Emperor Napoleon is the only obstacle to 
 the reestablishment of peace in Europe, the 
 Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, 
 declares that he is ready to descend from the 
 throne, to leave Europe, and even to lay down 
 his life for the welfare of his country, which 
 is inseparable from the rights of his son, those 
 of the regency of the Empress, and the main- 
 tenance of the laws of the empire." 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 133 
 
 Farewell to the Old Guards April 20, 18 14. 
 
 " Soldiers of my old guard, I bid you fare- 
 well. For twenty years I have constantly 
 accompanied you on the road to honor and 
 glory. In these latter times, as in the days of 
 our prosperity, you have invariably been 
 models of courage and fidelity. With men 
 such as you our cause could not be lost ; but 
 the war would have been interminable ; it 
 would have been civil war, and that would have 
 entailed deeper misfortunes on France. I have 
 sacrificed all my interests to those of the 
 country. I go, but you, my friends, wAW con- 
 tinue to serve France. Her happiness was 
 my only thought. It will still be the object of 
 my wishes. Do not regret my fate ; if I have 
 consented to survive, it is to serve your glory. 
 I intend to write the history of the great 
 achievements we have performed together. 
 Adieu, my friends. Would I could press you 
 all to my heart." Napoleon then ordered 
 the eagles to be brought, and, having em- 
 braced them, he added : " I embrace you all 
 in the person of your general. Adieu, sol- 
 diers ! Be always gallant and good." 
 
134 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 Proclamation to the French People on His 
 Return from Elba^ March ^^ i8i^. 
 
 " Frenchmen : The defection of the Duke of 
 CastigHone (Augereau) delivered up Lyons 
 without defense to our enemies. The army, 
 the command of which I had entrusted to him, 
 was, by the number of its battalions, the cour- 
 age and patriotism of the troops that com- 
 posed it, in a condition to beat the Austrian 
 troops opposed to it, and to arrive in time on 
 the rear of the left flank of the army which 
 threatened Paris. The victories of Champ- 
 Aubert, of Montmirail, of Chateau - Thierry, 
 of Van Champs, of Mormons, of Montereau, of 
 Craonne, of Rheims, of Arcis-sur-Aube, and of 
 St. Dizier, the rising of the brave peasants 
 of Lorraine and Champagne, of Alsace, 
 Franche - Comte and Burgundy, and the po- 
 sition which I had taken in the rear of the 
 hostile army, by cutting it off from its maga- 
 zines, its parks of reserve, its convoys, and all 
 the equipages, had placed it in a desperate 
 situation. The French were never on the 
 point of being more powerful, and the elite of 
 the enemy's army was lost without resource ; 
 it would have found a tomb in those vast 
 plains which it had so mercilessly laid waste, 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. I35 
 
 when the treason of the Duke of Ragusa 
 delivered up the capital and disorganized the 
 army. The unexpected misconduct of these 
 two generals, who betrayed at once their 
 country, their prince, and their benefactor, 
 changed the fate of the war ; the situation of 
 the enemy was such that, at the close of the 
 action which took place before Paris, he was 
 without ammunition, in consequence of his 
 separation from his parks of reserve. In 
 these new and distressing circumstances, my 
 heart was torn, but my mind remained im- 
 movable ; I consulted only the interests of 
 the country ; I banished myself to a rock in 
 the middle of the sea ; my life was yours, and 
 might still be useful to you. Frenchmen : In 
 my exile I heard your complaints and your 
 wishes ; you accused my long slumber ; you 
 reproached me with sacrificing the welfare of 
 the country to my repose. I have traversed 
 the seas through perils of every kind ; I return 
 among you to reclaim my rights, which are 
 yours." 
 
136 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Napoleon^ s Proclamation to the Army on His 
 Return from Elba^ March 5, 181^. 
 
 " Soldiers : We have not been conquered ; 
 two men, sprung from our ranks, have betrayed 
 our laurels, their country, their benefactor, and 
 their prince. Those whom we have beheld 
 for twenty-five years traversing all Europe to 
 raise up enemies against us, who have spent 
 their lives in fighting against us in the ranks 
 of foreign armies, and in cursing our beautiful 
 France, shall they pretend to command or 
 enchain our eagles ? — they who have never 
 been able to look them in the face. Shall 
 we suffer them to inherit the fruit of our glori- 
 ous toils, to take possession of our honors, of 
 our fortunes ; to calumniate and revile our 
 glory } If their reign were to continue all 
 would be lost, even the recollection of those 
 memorable days. With what fury they mis- 
 represent them ! They seek to tarnish what 
 the world admires ; and if there still remain 
 defenders of our glory, they are to be found 
 among those very enemies whom we have 
 confronted in the field of battle. Soldiers : 
 in my exile I have heard your voice ; I have 
 come back in spite of all obstacles and all 
 dangers. Your general, called to the throne 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 137 
 
 by the choice of the people, and raised on 
 your shields, is restored to you ; come and 
 join him. Mount the tri-colored cockade ; 
 you wore it in the days of our greatness. We 
 must forget that we have been the masters of 
 nations ; but we must not suffer any to inter- 
 meddle in our affairs. Who would pretend to 
 be master over us ? Who would have the 
 power } Resume those eagles which you had 
 at Ulm, at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Eylau, at 
 Wagram, at Friedland, at Tudela, at Eck- 
 miihl, at Essling, at Smolensk, at the Mos- 
 kowa, at Lutzen, at Wurtchen, at Montmirail. 
 The veterans of the armies of the Sambre 
 and Meuse, of the Rhine, of Italy, of Egypt, 
 of the West, of the Grand Army, are illumi- 
 nated ; their honorable scars are stained ; 
 their successes would be crimes ; the brave 
 would be rebels, if, as the enemies of the peo- 
 ple pretend, the legitimate sovereigns were in 
 the midst of foreign armies. Honors, recom- 
 penses, favors, are reserved for those who 
 have served with them against the country 
 and against us. Soldiers : Come and range 
 yourselves under the banners of your chief ; 
 his existence is only made up of yours ; his 
 rights are only those of the people and yours ; 
 his interest, his honor, his glory, are no other 
 than your interest, your honor, and your glory. 
 
138 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 Victory shall march at a charging step ; the 
 eagle, with the national colors, shall fly from 
 steeple to steeple, till it reaches the towers of 
 Notre Dame., Then you will be able to show 
 your scars with honor ; then you will be able 
 to boast of what you have done ; you will be 
 the liberators of the country ! In your old 
 age, surrounded and looked up to by your 
 fellow citizens, they will listen to you with 
 respect as you recount your high deeds , you 
 will each of you be able to say with pride, 
 ' And I also made part of that grand army 
 which entered twice within the walls of Vi- 
 enna, within those of Rome, of Berlin, of 
 Madrid, of Moscow, and which delivered Paris 
 from the stain which treason and the presence 
 of the enemy had imprinted on it' Honor 
 to those brave soldiers, the glory of their 
 country ! " 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 1 39 
 
 Proclamation on the Annivcrsajy of the Battles 
 of Marengo and Friedland^ fime 14, 181 j. 
 
 " Soldiers : This day is the anniversary of 
 Marengo and Friedland, which twice decided 
 the destiny of Europe. Then, as after the 
 battles of Austerlitz and Wagram, we were too 
 generous. We believed in the protestations 
 and oaths of princes to whom we left their 
 thrones. Now, however, leagued together, 
 they strike at the independence and sacred 
 rights of France. They have committed un- 
 just aggressions. Let us march forward and 
 meet them ; are we not still the same men ? 
 Soldiers : At Jena, these Prussians, now so 
 arrogant, were three to one ; at Montmi- 
 rail six to one. Let those who have been 
 captive to the English describe the nature 
 of their prison ships, and the sufferings 
 they endured. The Saxons, the Belgians, the 
 Hanoverians, the soldiers of the Confederation 
 of the Rhine, lament that they are obliged to 
 use their arms in the cause of princes who are 
 the enemies of justice, and the destroyers of 
 the rights of nations. They well know the 
 coalition to be insatiable. After having swal- 
 lowed up twelve millions of Poles, twelve 
 millions of Italians, one million of Saxons, and 
 
140 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 six millions of Belgians, they now wish to 
 devour the States of the second order among 
 the Germans. Madmen ! one moment of pros- 
 perity has bewildered them. To oppress and 
 humble the people of France is out of their 
 power ; once entering our territory, there they 
 will find their doom. Soldiers : We have forced 
 marches before us, battles to fight, and dan- 
 gers to encounter ; but firm in resolution, 
 victory must be ours. The honor and happi- 
 ness of our country are at stake ! and, in short. 
 Frenchmen, the moment is arrived when we 
 must conquer or die ! " 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 141 
 
 Pi'oclamation to the Belgians^ June z/, 181^- 
 
 " To the Belgians and the inhabitants on 
 the left bank of the Rhine : The ephemeral 
 success of my enemies detached you for a 
 moment from my empire. In my exile, upon 
 a rock in the sea, I heard your complaint ; 
 the God of Battles has decided the fate of 
 your beautiful provinces ; Napoleon is among 
 you ; you are worthy to be Frenchmen. Rise 
 in a body ; join my invincible phalanxes to 
 exterminate the remainder of these barbarians, 
 who are your enemies and mine ; they fly, with 
 rage and despair in their hearts." 
 
142 NAPOLEONS ADDRESSES. 
 
 Napoleon^ s Proclamation to the French People 07i 
 His Secojid Abdication^ June 22^ 181^. 
 
 " Frenchmen : In commencing war for the 
 national independence, I reUed on the miion 
 of all efforts, of all wills, and the concurrence 
 of all the national authorities. I had reason 
 to hope for success, and I braved all the 
 declarations of the powers against me. Circum- 
 stances appear to me changed. I offer myself 
 a sacrifice to the hatred of the enemies of 
 France. May they prove sincere in their 
 declarations, and really have directed them 
 only against my power. My political life is 
 terminated, and I proclaim my son, under the 
 title of Napoleon II., Emperor of the French. 
 The present ministers will provisionally form 
 the council of the Government. The interest 
 which I take in my son induces me to invite 
 the chambers to form, without delay, the 
 regency by a law. Unite all for the public 
 safety that you may continue an independent 
 nation." 
 
THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 
 
 143 
 
 Boiiaparte' s Protest^ Written on Bom-d the 
 Belter op hon^ August ^, 181^. 
 
 " I hereby solemniy protest, before God and 
 man, against the injustice offered me, and the 
 violation of my most sacred rights, in forcibly 
 disposing of my person and my liberty. I 
 came freely on board of the Bellerophon ; I am 
 not a prisoner ; I am the guest of England. I 
 was, indeed, instigated to come on board by 
 the captain, who told me that he had been 
 directed by his Government to receive me and 
 my suite, and conduct me to England, if 
 agreeable to my wishes. I presented myself 
 in good faith, with the view of claiming the 
 protection of the English laws. As soon as I 
 had reached the deck of the Bellerophon^ I 
 considered myself in the home and on the 
 hearth of the British people. 
 
 " If it was the intention of Government, in 
 giving orders to the captain of the Bellerophon 
 to receive me and my suite, merely to entrap 
 me, it has forfeited its honor and sullied its 
 flag. 
 
 " If this act be consummated, it will be 
 useless for the English to talk to Europe of 
 their integrity, their laws, and their liberty. 
 British good faith will have been lost in the 
 hospitality of the Bellerophon. 
 
144 NAPOLEON S ADDRESSES. 
 
 " I appeal to history, — it will say that an 
 enemy, who made war for twenty years upon 
 the English people, came voluntarily, in his 
 misfortunes, to seek an asylum under their 
 laws. What more striking proof could he 
 give of his esteem and his confidence ? But 
 what return did England make for so mag- 
 nanimous an act? They pretended to hold 
 out a friendly hand to this enemy ; and when 
 he delivered himself up in good faith, they 
 sacrificed him." 
 
NAPOLEON'S WILL. 
 
 " Napoleon. 
 
 "This 15th April, 182 1, at Longwood, 
 Island of St. Helena. This is my Testament 
 or act of my last will. 
 
 " I. I die in the Apostolical Roman religion, 
 in the bosom of which I was born, more than 
 fifty years since. 
 
 "2. It is my wish that my ashes may repose 
 on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the 
 French people, whom I have loved so well. 
 
 "3. I have always had reason to be pleased 
 with my dearest wife, Maria-Louisa. I retain 
 for her, to my last moment, the most tender 
 sentiments. I beseech her to watch, in order 
 to preserve my son from the snares which yet 
 environ his infancy. 
 
 " 4. I recommend to my son, never to forget 
 that he was born a French prince, and never 
 to allow himself to become an instrument in 
 the hands of the triumvirs who oppress the 
 nations of Europe; he ought never to fight 
 
146 napoleon's addresses. 
 
 against France, or injure lier in any manner; 
 he ought to adopt my motto : ' Everything for 
 the French people.^ 
 
 "5. I die prematurely, assassinated by the 
 English oligarchy and its . . . 
 
 " The English nation will not be slow in 
 avenging me. 
 
 "6. The two unfortunate results of the in- 
 vasions of France, when she had still so many 
 resources, are to be attributed to the treason 
 of Marmont, Augereau, Talleyrand, and La 
 Fayette. 
 
 " I forgive them — may the posterity of 
 France forgive them as I do. 
 
 "7. I thank my good and most excellent 
 mother, the Cardinal, my brothers, Joseph, 
 Lucien, and Jerome, Pauline, Caroline, Julie, 
 Hortense, Catherine, Eugene, for the interest 
 they have continued to feel for me. I pardon 
 Louis for the libel he published in 1820 ; it is 
 replete with false assertions and falsified 
 documents. 
 
 "8. I disavow the Mamtscript of St. Helena, 
 and other works, under the title of Maxims, 
 Sayings, etc., which persons have been pleased 
 to publish for the last six years. Such are 
 not the rules which have guided my life. I 
 
napoleon's will. 147 
 
 caused the Due d' Enghien to be arrested and 
 tried, because that step was essential to the 
 safety, interest, and honor of the French 
 people, when the Comte d 'Artois was main- 
 taining, by his own confession, sixty assassins 
 at Paris, Under similar circumstances I 
 should act in the same way." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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