THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS
hundred and eighty stand of colors, seven hundred field-pieces, five grand strongholds are in our power.
The Oder, the Wasta, the Polish deserts, the inclement weather, nothing has been able to arrest your course—all have fled before you. The French eagle hovers over the Vistula. The brave and unfortunate Poles imagine they behold again the legions of Sobieski.
Soldiers, we shall not lay down our arms until a general peace has restored to our commerce its freedom and its colonies. We have conquered on the Elba and the Oder, Pondicherry, our Indian establishments, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spanish colonies. Who should give the Russians the hope of balancing the destinies? Are not they and we the soldiers of Austerlitz?
Soldiers, I bid you farewell. For twenty years that we have been together your conduct has left me nothing to desire. I have always found you On the road to glory. All the powers of Europe have combined in arms against me.
A few of my generals have proved untrue to their duty and to France. France herself has
- ↑ After his abdication, April 20, 1814. Translated "by a member of the New York Bar."
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