“Citizens directors,
“The brave Soldiers, who conferred Liberty on Rome, have continued to deserve well of their Country. Greece has joyfully received her Deliverers. The Tree of Liberty is planted on the Piræus. Thirty thousand Janizaries, the Slaves of Despotism, had taken possession of the Isthmus of Corinth. Two Demi-brigades opened us a passage. After ten days’ fighting, we have driven the Turks from the Morea. The Peloponnesus is now free. Every step in my power has been taken to revive the antient spirit of Sparta. The Inhabitants of that celebrated City, seeing black broth of my Troops, and the scarcity of specie to which we have been long accustomed, will, I doubt not, soon acquire the frugal virtues of their Ancestors. As a proper measure of precaution, I have removed all Pitt’s gold from the Country.
“Off this Island we encountered the Fleet of the Sultan. The Mahometan Crescent soon fled before the three-coloured flag. Nine Sail of the Line are the fruits of this Victory. The Captain Pacha’s Ship, a second rate, struck to a National Corvette. My Aide-de-Camp will present you with the model of a Trireme, which was found among the Archives of Athens. Vessels of this description draw so little water, that our Naval Architects may perhaps think them more eligible than Rafts, for the conveyance of the Army of England. Liberty will be sufficiently avenged, if the ruins of a Grecian City furnish us with the means of transporting the Conquerors of Rome to Britain.
“On landing at this Island, I participated in a Scene highly interesting to Humanity. A poor Fisherman, of the family of Themistocles, attended by his Wife, a descendant of the virtuous Phryne, fell at my feet. I received him with the Fraternal embrace, and promised him the protection of the Republic. He invited me to supper at his Hut, and in gratitude to his Deliverer presented me with a memorable Oyster Shell, inscribed with the Name of his illustrious Ancestor. As this curious piece of antiquity may be of service to some of the Directory, I have inclosed it in my Dispatches, together with a Marble Tablet, containing the proper form for pronouncing the Sentence of Ostracism on Royalist Athenians.
“Kléber, whom I had ordered to Constantinople, informs me that the Capital of Turkey has proved an easy conquest. Santa-Sophia has been converted into a Temple of Reason; the Seraglio has been purified by Theo-Philanthropists, and the liberated Circassians are learning from our Sailors the lessons of Equality and Fraternity. A Detachment has been sent to Troy, for the purpose pf organizing the Department of Mount Ida. The Tomb of Achilles has been repaired, and the Bust of Briseis (which formed part of the Pedestal) restored to its original state, at the expense of the Female Citizen Buonaparté.
“The Division of the Fleet destined for Egypt has anchored in the Port of Alexandria. Berthier, who commands this Expedition, informs me that this Port will soon be restored to its ancient pre-eminence; and that its celebrated Pharos will soon be fit to receive the Reverbères which have been sent from the Rue St. Honoré.
“Baraguay D’Hilliers, with the Left Wing of the Army of Egypt, has fixed his Head-quarters at Jerusalem. He is charged to restore the Jews to their ancient Rights. Citizens Jacob Jacobs, Simon Levi, and Benjamin Solomons, of Amsterdam, have been provisionally appointed Directors. The Palace of Pontius Pilate is re-building for their residence. All the vestiges of Superstition in Palestine have been carefully destroyed.
“I beg you will ratify a grant which I have made of the Temple of the Sun at Palmyra to a Society of Illuminati from Bavaria. They may be of service in extending our future conquests.
“I have received very satisfactory accounts from Desaix, who had been sent by Berthier with a Demi-brigade into the interior of Africa. That fine Country has been too long neglected by Europeans. In manners and civilization it much resembles France, and will soon emulate our virtues. Already does the Torrid Zone glow with the ardour of Freedom. Already has the Altar of Liberty been reared in the Caffrarian and Equinoctial Republics. Their regenerated inhabitants have sworn eternal amity to us at a Civic Feast, to which a detachment of our Army was invited. This memorable day would have terminated with the utmost harmony, if the Caffrarian Council of Ancients had not devoured the greatest part of General Desaix’s État-Major for their supper. I hope our Ambassador will be instructed to require that Civic Feasts of this nature be omitted for the future. The Directory of the Equinoctial Republic regret that the scarcity of British Cloth in Africa, and the great heat of the climate, prevent them from adopting our costume.
“We hope soon to liberate the Hottentots, and to drive the perfidious English from the extremities of Africa and of Europe. Asia, too, will soon be free. The three-coloured flag floats on the summit of Caucasus; the Tigrine Republic is established; the Cis and Trans-Euphratean Conventions are assembled; and soon shall Arabia, under the mild influence of French Principles, resume her ancient appellation, and be again denominated ‘the Happy’.