Such an
outrageous suggestion surely merits a condign response, and I have
indignantly refused her request. I announce this to you in the certainty
that you will make the wrong done to your King and to your nation your
own. Hence mine is a proclamation of war: arm yourselves therefore in
readiness for it!
"You will be confronted by an ancient enemy who is both valiant and
disciplined, but against whom you need not fear to measure your
strength, for you may remember with pride Goito, Pastrengo, Santa Lucia,
Sommacampagna, and, above all, Custozza, where four brigades fought for
three days against the enemy's five _corps d'armee_. I will be your
leader. Your prowess in action has already been tested in the past, and
when fighting under my magnanimous father I myself proudly recognized
your valor. I am convinced that on the field of honor and glory you will
know how to justify, as well as to augment, your military renown.
"You will have as comrades those intrepid French troops--the conquerors
in so many distinguished campaigns--with whom you fought side by side at
Tchernaya, whom Napoleon III, always prompt to further the defence of a
righteous cause and the victory of civilization, generously sends in
great numbers to our aid.
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