NAPOLEON
without bread. The Republican phalanxes—the soldiers of liberty, were alone capable of enduring what you have suffered.
Thanks to you, soldiers! your country has a right to expect of you great things. You have still battles to fight, cities to take, rivers to pass. Is there one among you whose courage flags? One who would prefer returning to the sterile summits of the Apennines and the Alps, to undergo patiently the insults of that slavish soldiery? No, there is not one such among the victors of Montenotte, of Millesimo, of Diego, and of Mondovi!
Friends, I promise you that glorious conquest: but be the liberators of peoples, be not their scourges!
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.
- ↑ Delivered on May 15, 1796, a few days after the Battle of Lodi. The translation was made for "Sargent's Standard Speaker.", (1852.)
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