NAPOLEON'S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY 45 shall come. Before the sun has sunk below yon mountains, I shall awake in a paradise which you, perhaps, may never reach. NAPOLEON'S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY NAPOLEON BONAPARTE This address was delivered to the Army of Italy, May 15, 1796. Soldiers! You have precipitated yourselves like a torrent from the Apennines. You have overwhelmed or swept before you all that opposed your march. Piedmont, delivered from Austrian oppression, has returned to her natural sentiments of peace and friendship toward France. Milan is yours; and over all Lombardy floats the flag of the Republic. To your generosity only do the Dukes of Parma and Modena now owe their political existence. The army which proudly threatened you finds no remaining barrier of defense against your courage. The Po, the Ticino, the Adda, could not stop you a single day. Those vaunted ramparts of Italy proved insufficient; you traversed them as rapidly as you did the Apennines. Successes so numerous and brilliant have carried joy to the heart of your country. Your representatives have decreed a festival to be celebrated in all the communes of the Republic, in honor of your victories. There will your fathers, mothers, wives, sisters, all who hold you dear, rejoice over your triumphs, and boast that you belong to them. Yes, Soldiers, you have done much; but much still remains for you to do. Shall it be said of us that we knew how to conquer, but not how to profit by victory? Shall posterity reproach us with having found a Capua in Lombardy? Nay, fellow-soldiers! I see you already eager to cry, "To arms!" Inaction fatigues you; and days lost to glory are to you days lost to happiness. Let us, then, begone! We have yet many forced marches to make; enemies to vanquish; laurels to gather; and injuries to avenge! Let those who have sharpened the poniards of civil war in France, who have pusillanimously assassinated our Ministers, who have burned our vessels at Toulon, -let them now tremble! The hour of vengeance has knolled! But let not the People be disquieted. We are the friends of every people; and more especially of the descendants of the Brutuses, the Scipios, and other great men to whom we look as bright exemplars. To reëstablish the Capitol; to place there with honor the statues of the heroes who made it memorable; to rouse the Roman People, unnerved by many centuries of oppression,--such will be some of the fruits of our victories. They will constitute an epoch for posterity. To you, Soldiers, will belong the immortal honor of redeeming the fairest portion of Europe. The French People, free and respected by the whole world, shall give to Europe a glorious peace, which shall indemnify it for all the sacrifices which it has borne the last six years. Then, by your own firesides you shall repose; and your fellow-citizens, when they point out any one of you, shall say: "He belonged to the Army of Italy!" ALPHONSE LAMARTINE 47 THE REIGN OF NAPOLEON ALPHONSE LAMARTINE History of the This extract is taken from Lamartine's 66 defined as the old The reign of Napoleon may be world reconstructed by a new man. with glory the threadbare centuries. among soldiers, but not among statesmen. open to the past, but blind to the future. If this judgment be found too harsh, a mere glance will serve to convince one of its justice. Men are judged not by their fortune, but by their work. He had in his hand the greatest force Providence ever placed in the hand of a mortal to create a civilization or a nationality. What has he left? Nothing but a conquered country and an immortal name. The world demanded a renovator. He made himself its conqueror. France was looking forward to the genius of reform, and he gave her despotism, discipline, and a uniform for each institution. Impiety covered all the official pomp of his creed. Instead of seeking religion in liberty he was eight centuries out of the way in parodying the rôle of Charlemagne, without having either the strong faith or the heroic sincerity of this Constantine of Gaul and Germany. To the need of equality of rights, he replied with the creation of a military nobility; to the need of free thought, with the censure and monopoly of the press. Intelligence languished. Letters became degraded, the arts became servile, and ideas died. Victory alone could restrain the explosion of the independence of the people and the human spirit. The day when victory should cease to gild this yoke of the universe, it would appear what it was: the glory of one, the humiliation of all; a reproach to the dignity of the people, a call to the insurrection of the Continent. INVECTIVE AGAINST MR. CORRY HENRY GRATTAN The famous "Invective against Mr. Corry," the sequel of which was a duel between Grattan and Corry, was delivered in the House of Commons during the heated debate on the union of Ireland with England, February 14, 1800. Corry had provoked Grattan by the remark that Grattan, instead of having a voice in the councils of his country, should have been standing as a culprit at her bar. Has the gentleman done? Has he completely done? He was unparliamentary from the beginning to the end of his speech. There was scarce a word that he uttered that was not a violation of the privileges of the House. But I did not call him to order. Why? Because the limited talents of some men render it impossible for them to be severe without being unparlia mentary. But before I sit down I shall show him how to be severe and parliamentary at the same time. any other occasion, I should think myself justifiable in treating with silent contempt anything which might fall from the honorable member; but there are times when the insignificance of the accuser is lost in the On INVECTIVE AGAINST MR. CORRY 49 magnitude of the accusation. I know the difficulty the honorable gentleman labored under when he attacked me, conscious that, on a comparative view of our characters, public and private, there is nothing he could say which would injure me. The public would not believe the charge. I despise the falsehood. If such a charge were made by an honest man, I would answer it in the manner I shall do before I sit down. But I shall first reply to it when not made by an honest man. The right honorable gentleman has called me "an unimpeached traitor." I ask, why not "traitor," unqualified by any epithet? I will tell him; it was because he dare not! It was the act of a coward, who raises his arm to strike, but has not the courage to give the blow! I will not call him villain, because it would be unparliamentary, and he is a Privy Councilor. I will not call him fool, because he happens to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. But I say he is one who has abused the privilege of Parliament and freedom of debate, in uttering language, which, if spoken out of the House, I should answer only with a blow. I care not how high his situation, how low his character, how contemptible his speech; whether a privy councilor or a parasite, my answer would be a blow. He has charged me with being connected with the rebels. The charge is utterly, totally, and meanly false ! Does the honorable gentleman rely on the report of the House of Lords for the foundation of his assertion? If he does, I can prove to the committee there was a physical impossibility of that report being |