Page:Napoleon's Addresses.djvu/104

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100
NAPOLEON'S ADDRESSES.

Proclamation to the Soldiers after the Battle of Friedland, June 24, 1807.

"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