Array Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne - The Collected Works of Napoleon Bonaparte

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"Soldiers: We were beginning to taste the sweets of repose in our winter quarters when the enemy attacked the first corps on the lower Vistula. 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 return to the Vistula and reënter 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."

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"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 ambulances, the fortress of Könisberg, the three hundred vessels which were in that port laded with all kinds of military stores, and one hundred and sixty thousand muskets, which England 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 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."

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"Since America suffers her vessels to be searched, she adopts the principle that the flag does not cover the goods.

"Since she recognizes the absurd blockades 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 subversive of national sovereignty; but it is the duty of nations to resort to force, and to declare themselves against things which dishonor them and disgrace their independence."

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"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 monarchy 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 convulsions. 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; 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 ardent hopes and confidence in the results of your present situation; for I wish that your latest posterity should preserve the recollection of me, and say: ' He was the regenerator of our country. '"

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"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."

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" 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 dismember 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 important interests of States. But your Majesty ought not to bring again under discussion 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 preparations were made in conjunction with Russia.

"I have just disbanded the camp of the Confederation. I have sent a hundred thousand 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 maritime war without interruption. I beseech your Majesty to distrust those, who, by speaking 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 conduct 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 observation more—listen to your own judgment—your own feelings—they are much more correct than those of your advisers. I beseech 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."