98 CARNOT. 
have never seen fire, I could keep the fortress of Antwerp 
with the eight dependent forts? .... 
“Tt only remains then here, for us to disgrace ourselves 
or to die; I beg you to be believe that we are all deter- 
mined to prefer the latter .... 
“T think, Sir, that if you could take upon yourself to 
leave me at least the infantry and the artillery (there was 
at Antwerp a detachment of the Imperial Guard), you 
will render a very great service to His Majesty ; but all 
will be ready to depart to-morrow, unless I receive a 
counter-order from you, which I shall await with the 
greatest impatience and the greatest anxiety.” 
Besides the despatch to General Maison, I find under 
the same date a letter to the Minister of War, the Duke 
de Feltre ; and I remark the following passage in it :— 
“When I offered to serve His Majesty, I was willing 
to sacrifice my life to him, but not my honour. Your 
Grace knows that I am not in the habit of dissimulating 
the truth, because I do not seek favour. The truth is, 
that the state to which your orders reduce me, is a hun- 
dred times worse than death, because I have no chance 
of saving the place confided to me, but in the cowardice 
of my enemies.” 
Bernadotte having wished to dissuade Carnot from the 
line of conduct that he had laid down for himself, received 
from him the following answer :— 
“10th April, 1814. 
“ PRINCE,—It is in the name of the French Govern- 
ment that I command in the fortress of Antwerp. That 
Government alone has the right to fix the termination of 
my duties: as soon as it shall be incontestably established 
on a new basis, I shall hasten to obey its orders. This 
resolution cannot fail of obtaining the approbation of a 
