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NAPOLEON SAYS AU REVOIR AT
FONTAINEBLEAU - 1814
Farewell to the Old Guard
Go here for more about
Napoleon.
Go here for more about
Napoleon's Farewell to the Old Guard.
It follows the English
translation of the full text transcript of Napoleon's
Farewell to the Imperial Guard, his bodyguards, delivered in
the Cour du Cheval Blanc, the courtyard of
Cheval-Blanc, at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, which is
located about 40 miles or 65 km south-southeast of Paris.
The speech was given on April 20, 1814.
Here you can have a look around
in the
Fontainebleau courtyard.
Here is the
original French version of the speech.
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Soldiers of my Old
Guard: |
I bid you
farewell.
For twenty years I
have constantly accompanied you on the road to
honor and glory. In these latter times, as in
the days of our prosperity, you have invariably
been models of courage and fidelity.
With men such as
you our cause could not be lost; but the war
would have been interminable; it would have been
civil war, and that would have entailed deeper
misfortunes on France.
I have sacrificed all of my interests to those
of the country.
I go, but you, my friends, will continue to
serve France. Her happiness was my only thought.
It will still be the object of my wishes.
Do not regret my
fate; if I have consented to survive, it is to
serve your glory. I intend to write the history
of the great achievements we have performed
together.
Adieu, my friends.
Would I could
press you all to my heart.
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