"As to myself, gentlemen, _who embraced the American cause at the moment when its ambassadors declared to me that it was perilous or desperate_--who from that moment have devoted my life to a persevering defence of liberty and of the sovereignty of the people--who, on the 14th of July, 1789 after the taking of the Bastille, in presenting to my country a declaration of rights dared to say "that in order that a nation should be free, it is only necessary that it should _will_ so to be." I come, this day, full of confidence in the justice of our cause--of contempt, for the cowards who desert it, and of indignation against the traitors who would sully or stain it with crimes; I am ready to declare that the French nation, if it is not the vilest in the universe, can and ought to resist the conspiracy of kings who have coalesced against it! "It is not in the midst of my brave army that timid counsels should be permitted.--Patriotism, discipline, patience, mutual confidence, all the military and civil virtues I find here. Here the principles of liberty and equality are cherished, the laws respected, property held sacred. Here calumnies and factions are unknown. And when I reflect that France has many millions who can become _such_ soldiers, I ask myself, to what a degree of _debasement_ must such an immense people be reduced, stronger in its natural resources than in its artificial defences, opposing to a monstrous and discordant confederation, simple and united counsels and combinations, that the cowardly, degrading idea of sacrificing its soverignty, of permitting any discussion as to its liberties, of committing to negotiation its rights, could be considered among the _possibilities_ of a rapidly advancing futurity! "But, in order that we, soldiers of liberty, should combat for her with efficacy, or _die_ for her with any _fruit_ or advantage, it is necessary that the number of the defenders of the country should be promptly made in some degree proportionate to that of our opponents; that the supplies of all descriptions should be increased so as to facilitate our movements; that the comfort and conveniences of the troops, their clothes and arms, their pay, the accommodations for the sick, should no longer be subject to fatal delays, or to a miserable and misplaced economy, which defeats its very end. "It is _above all, necessary_ that the citizens rallied round their constitution, should be assured that the rights which that constitution guarantees shall be respected with a _religious_ fidelity; which will of itself cause more despair to our enemies than any other measure.