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The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France 1789-1907
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Historical SummaryThese documents show the manner and official justification of the transfer of the Neapolitan crown from its Bourbon sovereign to Joseph Bonaparte. This event was the first of a series by which the Grand Empire was created. Something of the conception of this empire can be learned from document B.
World History Documents Upon Napoleon and the Kingdom of Naples.
REFERENCES. Fyffe, Modern Europe, I, 300–303 (Popular ed., 202–204): Fournier. Napoleon, 327–329: Rose, Napoleon, II. 56–59; Sloane, Napoleon, II, 255–256; Lanfrey, Napoleon, III, 106–108.
A. Proclamation to the Army.
December 30, 1805. Moniteur, February 1, 1806.
Moniteur. Réimpression de l’ancien moniteur. Thirty-one vols. Paris 1858–1870.
At my Imperial Camp at Schoenbrünn, 6 Nivôse, Year XIV (December 30, 1805).
Soldiers,
For ten years past I have done everything to save the King of Naples; he has done everything to ruin himself.
After the battles of Dego, Mondovi and Lodi he could oppose to me only a feeble resistance. I trusted the words of that prince and was generous towards him.
When the second coalition was dissolved at Marengo, the King of Naples, who had first commenced that unjust war, abandoned at Lunéville by his allies, remained alone and without defence. He implored me; I pardoned him a second time.
A few months ago you were at the gates of Naples. I had plenty of legitimate reasons to suspect the treason which was meditated and to avenge the outrages which had been committed. I was again generous. I recognized the neutrality of Naples; I ordered you to evacuate that kingdom; and for the third time the House of Naples was saved and strengthened.
Shall we pardon a fourth time? shall we confide for a fourth time in a heart without faith, without honor, and without reason? No! no! the dynasty of Naples has ceased to reign; its existence is incompatible with the repose of Europe and the honor of my crown.
Soldiers, march; cast into the waves, supposing that they await you, those debilitated battalions of the tyrant of the seas. Show to the world in what manner we punish perjurers. Be not slow to understand that all Italy is subject to my laws or to those of my allies; that the most beautiful country of the world is liberated from the yoke of the most perfidious men; that the sanctity of treaties is avenged, and that the manes of my brave soldiers butchered in the harbors of Sicily on their return from Egypt, after having escaped the perils of shipwreck, of the deserts, and of a hundred battles, are at length appeased.
Soldiers, my brother will march at your head: he knows my plans; he is the depository of my authority; he has my entire confidence; encompass him with yours.
NAPOLEON.
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Chicago: Moniteur, ed., "A. Proclamation to the Army.," The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France 1789-1907 in The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France 1789-1907, ed. Frank Maloy Anderson (New York: Russell Russell, 1908), 378–379. Original Sources, accessed March 27, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=5BD5M6MPRIMRSR5.
MLA: . "A. Proclamation to the Army." The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France 1789-1907, edited by Moniteur, in The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France 1789-1907, edited by Frank Maloy Anderson, New York, Russell Russell, 1908, pp. 378–379. Original Sources. 27 Mar. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=5BD5M6MPRIMRSR5.
Harvard: (ed.), 'A. Proclamation to the Army.' in The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France 1789-1907. cited in 1908, The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France 1789-1907, ed. , Russell Russell, New York, pp.378–379. Original Sources, retrieved 27 March 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=5BD5M6MPRIMRSR5.
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