Napoleon

I
To the Army in Italy*
(1796)

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!

*Delivered early in May, 1796, or soon after he had taken command in Italy. He had relieved Scherer in March. The Battle of Lodi was won a few days later (May 10), and Arcole on November 15-17. Napoleon’s speeches, with a few exceptions, were proclamations; but in form and spirit, they were orations. This speech was translated "by a member of the New York Bar," for Cormenin’s "Eminent Orators Of France."