?"

The whole battalion shouted, "_Vive l'Empereur_." The general raised
his hand, and all were silent.

"Soldiers! at Jena, we were as one to three against these Prussians who
are so arrogant to-day; at Montmirail we were as one against six! Let
those among you who have been prisoners of the English tell the tale of
their frightful sufferings in their prison ships. The Saxons, the
Belgians, the Hanoverians, the soldiers of the Confederation of the
Rhine, complain that they are compelled to lend their arms to princes
who are enemies of justice and of the rights of all nations. They know
that this coalition is insatiable. After having devoured twelve
millions of Poles, twelve millions of Italians, one million of Saxons,
six millions of Belgians, it will devour all the states of the second
order in Germany. Madmen! a moment of prosperity has blinded them; the
oppression and humiliation of the French people is beyond their power.
If they enter France they will find their graves there. Soldiers, we
have forced marches to make, battles to wage, and perils to encounter,
but, if we are constant, victory will be ours. The rights of man and
the happiness of our country will be reconquered. For all Frenchmen,
who have hearts, the time has come to conquer or to perish.--NAPOLEON."

The shouts which arose were like thunder, it was as if the Emperor had
breathed his war spirit into our hearts, and moved us as one man to
destroy our enemies. The shouts continued long after the general had
gone, and even I was satisfied. I saw that it was the truth, that the
Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, who had talked so much of the
deliverance of the people, had profited by the first opportunity to
grasp everything, that those grand words about liberty, which had
served to excite their young men against us in 1813, and all the
promises of constitutions which they had made, had been set aside and
broken. I looked upon them as beggars, as men who had not kept their
word, who despised the people, and whose ideas were very narrow and
limited, and consisted in always keeping the best place for themselves
and their children and descendants whether they were good or bad, just
or unjust, without any reference to God's law. That was the way I
looked at it; the proclamation seemed to me very beautiful. I thought
too, that Father Goulden would be pleased with it, because the Emperor
had not forgotten the rights of man, which are lib