HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



[73 



shall best deserve to be hailed as the 

 support of their country. 



" Soldiers, in due time, I shall be 

 in the midst of you ; and astonished 

 Europe shall recollect that you are 

 a race of brave men." 



Hedoville, commander-in-chief 

 of the French army of England, in 

 the same spirit of reconciliation, 

 which influenced the conduct and 

 dictated the proclamations of Buo- 

 naparte, issued orders to the troops 

 under his command, from Nantz, 

 on the twenty-seventh of Decem- 

 ber, 1799> to observe, with the 

 strictest exactness, the conditions cf 

 the armistice. He discharged them 

 from making any attack whatever, 

 or upon any pretence, on either 

 bodies of armed men or indivi- 

 duals. They were ordered to ab- 

 stain from all requisitions, except 

 of thingsnecessary to the subsistence 

 of the French cantonments and 

 garrisons : and requisitions even of 

 these, were not to be enforced by 

 arms It was true that the depre- 

 dations committed every where, by 

 the miserable banditti, in spite of 

 tlie suspension of arms, and who 

 were for the most part disobedient 

 to their chiefs, were grounds of 

 recrimination and reprisal. But it 

 was proper to suffer these for a 

 time. A short space would decide 

 what was to be done on this point, 

 and the whole of the question relat- 

 ing to the western departments. — 

 At the same time he enjoined the 

 strictest vigilance over the motions 

 of the foreign enemy. The gene- 

 ral oflScers were ordered to establish, 

 by night and day, frequent and nu- 

 merous patroles all along the coasts. 

 If the English should land, the 

 French general officers were to hold 

 themselves in readiness to execute 

 the orders they should receive.— 



No soldier was permitted to ap- 

 pear alone, or at a distance from 

 the troop or body to which he be- 

 longed. 



Buonaparte, having established a 

 new constitution, and a new go- 

 vernment; having proclaimed his 

 designs and views, founded, as he 

 alleged, on principles of modera- 

 tion, justice, and peace to all French 

 citizens and soldiers, to the roy- 

 alists, and to all the continental 

 powers, had yet one step to take, 

 in order cither to accomplish a ge- 

 neral peace, or to justify the conti- 

 nuance of war. He addressed the fol- 

 lowingletter, dated the twenty-fifth 

 of December, 1 799? to the king of 

 Great Britain and of Ireland : 



" Called by the wishes of the 

 French nation, to occupy the first 

 magistracy of the republic, I think 

 it proper, on entering into office, to 

 make a direct communication of it 

 to your majesty. 



" The war, which, for eightyears, 

 has ravaged the four quarters of the 

 world, must it be eternal .'* Are 

 there no means of coming to an 

 understanding .-* 



" How can the two most en- 

 lightened nations of Europe, power- 

 ful and strong beyond what their 

 independence requires, sacrifice to 

 ideas of vain greatness, the benefits 

 of commerce, internal prosperity, 

 andthehappiness of families? How 

 is it that they do not feel that peace 

 is of the first necessity, as well as 

 of the first glory .'' 



" These sentiments cannot be fo- 

 reign to the heart of your majesty, 

 who reigns over a free nation, and 

 with the sole view of making it 

 happy. 



" Your majesty will see in this 

 overture, only my sincere desire to 

 contribute efficaciously I for a second 



