. Bernadotte, the first phase, 1763-1799. d Meuse:— You were one of the brave soldiers of thatglorious army of Sambre and Meuse, in which we sawso many thousands of men presenting the pictureof a single family, with no rivalry save emulation inthe service of the commonweal. Honesty, Sobriety,and Discipline, austere and vigorous—these were thepowerful forces which won for that army its highrenown. They will again be your guides to Victory. The Minister of War, But the Ministers messages to the army of Italywere not always messages of encouragement. Therewere others which were sent
. Bernadotte, the first phase, 1763-1799. d Meuse:— You were one of the brave soldiers of thatglorious army of Sambre and Meuse, in which we sawso many thousands of men presenting the pictureof a single family, with no rivalry save emulation inthe service of the commonweal. Honesty, Sobriety,and Discipline, austere and vigorous—these were thepowerful forces which won for that army its highrenown. They will again be your guides to Victory. The Minister of War, But the Ministers messages to the army of Italywere not always messages of encouragement. Therewere others which were sent with a sterner surrender of the fortresses in North Italy proveddisastrous to France, because the besieging forceswere thus set free to take the field. Bernadotteordered the commandants to be brought before acourt martial in a letter which concluded as follows :— . . It is, undoubtedly, to be regretted thatsignal examples should be necessary in order to en- a Dry, ii. 458. b Moniteur, 30th August 1799; Gohier, i. july-aug. 1799] STERN MEASURES 391 force military laws. No commandant can have beenignorant of the fact that those laws forbid capitulat-ing, before the town has stood an assault. Even ifthe laws had not so decreed, should not a French-man and a Republican find such a prohibition in hisheart ? Do not courage and honour anticipate thelaws decrees ? a The fall of the fortresses reached a culminatingpoint, when Mantua was surrendered by GeneralFoissac-Latour, who was never afterwards the Minister wrote to the general-in-chief in Italy :— 11 The newspapers, Citizen General, published, somedays back, the rumour of the surrender of news is too extraordinary to find credencefrom those who know French valour. If, contraryto all probability, that surrender has taken place,whatever be the conditions, it must have been theresult of treason. I order you, in the name of theRepublic and of its interests and glory, to bringGene
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