THE MISSION TO ROME. 



57 



Government, we cut from under 

 our feet the only ground upon 

 which we can maintain our- 

 selves. If, in our eyes, this 

 Government exists, if it is the 

 outcome of the free choice of 

 the nation, we are bound to 

 support it. It would not be 

 right for us to do what we can 

 to bring about its fall except 

 while it remains what it now 

 is, the work of a faction com- 

 posed chiefly of foreigners. 



1 1 . You paralyse the army, 

 forgetting the maxim, " Si vis 

 pacem," &c. You expose it to 

 demoralisation and to disease. 

 The army, which is anxious 

 to show what it can do and to 

 shed a fresh lustre upon the 

 French name, is condemned to 

 capitulate .... 



an almost unanimous vote, to 

 the Government which had 

 been the direct heir of the 

 murder of E-ossi ; and it was 

 proclaimed by an Assembly 

 whose mission it was to choose 

 the form of government which 

 it preferred. This is a fact, 

 the consequences of which I 

 am not called upon to discuss. 



11. I do not paralyse the 

 army, but do all I can to 

 prevent its admirable ardour 

 causing it to deviate from the 

 right path. The army will 

 have deserved the gratitude of 

 the country by reserving this 

 ardour to combat the enemies 

 of our independence and in- 

 fluence, instead of committing 

 the deplorable error of employ- 

 ing it to make breaches in 

 crumbling walls and to destroy 

 the finest monuments of ancient 

 and modern genius. My de- 

 spatch No. 6 indicates how our 

 army, so brave, so well disci- 

 plined, and so well commanded, 

 may maintain its position, and 

 fortify and improve it by a 

 change of quarters, in the 

 event of Rome not opening 

 her gates before the season of 

 fevers sets in. This project 

 ought, by good rights, to be 

 carried out from the very day 

 ihat an arrangement is come 



