72] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



formation of bad laws, and a better 

 arrangement for raising the public 

 contributions. 



" The consuls declare, moreover, 

 that the liberty of religious worship 

 is guaranteed by the constitution ; 

 that no magistrate dares to offer it 

 any violence ; that no man dares 

 to say to another — you shall exer- 

 cise such and such a mode of wor- 

 ship, on such and such a day. 



"The law of the twentieth of 

 May, 1795, which leaves to the 

 citizens the free use of the edifices 

 destined to religious purposes, shall 

 be faithfully fulfilled. All the 

 departments ought to be equally 

 under the authority of general 

 laws. But the first magistrates will 

 extend their especial cares, and take 

 a particular interest in the agricul- 

 ture, manufactures, and commerce 

 of those that have suffered the 

 greatest calamities. Government 

 will pardon and shew grace to the 

 penitent. Their forgiveness and 

 indulgence will be unlimited. But 

 it will strike those who, after this 

 declaration, shall dare to resist the 

 sovereign will of the nation. 



" Frenchmen, inhabitants of the 

 departments of the west, rally 

 round the constitution, which invests 

 the magistrates whom it has created 

 with the power, and made it their 

 duty to protect the citizens; which 

 i secures them equally from the in- 

 stability of the laws, and from their 

 severity. Let those who wish the 

 prosperity of France separate them- 

 selves from those who persist in their 

 efforts to seduce them, in order to 

 deliver them over to the chains of 

 tyranny and the domination of 

 the stronger. Let the good inlia- 

 bitants of the country return to 

 their fire-sides, and resume their 

 useful labours. And let them be 



on their guard against the insinua- 

 tions of those who would throw 

 them again into feudal slavery. If, 

 after all the measures just taken by 

 government, there should yet be 

 found men daring enough to pro- 

 voke a civil war, there would re- 

 main to the chief magistrates only 

 the melancholy but necessary duty 

 of subduing them by force. But 

 we, even all of us, will henceforth 

 feel only one sentiment: the love of 

 our country. The ministers of the 

 God of peace will be the first movers 

 of reconciliation and concord. Let 

 them speak to their hearts the lan- 

 guage which they have learnt in 

 the school of their master. Let them 

 repair to the temples, again opened 

 to them, to offer, together with their 

 fellow-citizens, the sacrifice which 

 will expiate the crimes of war, and 

 the blood which it shed." This 

 proclamation was dated the twenty- 

 fifth of December, 1799- On the 

 same day, Buonaparte addressed 

 the French soldiers as follows : 

 " In promising peace to the French 

 nation, I was your organ. I know 

 your valour. You are the men who 

 have conquered Holland, the Rhine, 

 Italy, and made peace under the 

 walls of astonished Vienna. 



" Soldiers, it is no longer your 

 business to defend your frontiers : 

 you are now to invade the states of 

 your enemies. There is not one 

 among you who have made different 

 campaigns, but who knows that the 

 most essential duty of a soldier, is, 

 with patience and constancy, to 

 suffer privations. Several years of 

 a bad government are not to be re- 

 paired in one day. 



" It will be a pleasure to me, in 

 the character of first magistrate, to 

 proclaim to the nation the corps 

 that by its discipline and valour. 



