National Gazette

Letter of the King to the General Officers and Commanders of the established Troops, addressed to each Commander of a Corps.

Paris, Oct. 14.

IN accepting, sir, the constitution, I promise to maintain it within, and defend it against the enemies from without the kingdom. This solemn act, on my part, ought to banish from your mind every kind of uncertainty. It determines, at the same time, in the clearest and most precise manner, the rule of your duty, and the motives of your fidelity. My intention is, that you should announce to the troops under your command, that my determination, which I think essential to the happiness of Frenchmen, is as invariable as is my love for them.

The law and the king now blended together, the enemy of the law becomes the enemy of the king. Under whatever pretence disobedience and want of discipline may now be coloured, I declare, that I shall regard every attempt, every infringement of the law, as a crime against the nation and against my person.

There may, perhaps, have been a time when officers, by an attachment to my person, doubtful of my real sentiments, might have thought it their duty to hesitate on the obligations which seemed to militate against their like engagements—but after all that I have done, this error ought no longer to subsist.

I cannot consider those as sincerely devoted to me, who abandon their country in the moment when it requires their best services. Those only are sincerely attached to me, who follow the same steps as myself—who remain firm to their post—who, far from despairing of the public safety, confederate themselves with me in effecting it, and are resolved to attach themselves inseparably to the fate of the empire.

Tell, therefore all those who are under your orders, both officers and soldiers, that the happiness of their country depends on their union, their mutual confidence, their entire submission to the laws, and their active zeal to enforce their execution. The country requires this harmony, which constitutes its efficacy and power. The past disorders, and the present circumstances, giving to these virtues of the warrior, during peace, an inestimable value; to them will be due every kind of distinction, reward, and testimony of public acknowledgment.
(Signed)
LOUIS.
(Countersigned)
DUPORTAIL.