ABSTRACT
Yet the Order of the Day which Napoleon issued when he arrived to take command of his armies on 28th July seemed to confirm the general expectation of an offensive, "Whatever may be the road we take beyond our frontiers", he wrote, "we shall come across the glorious tracks of our fathers. We shall prove worthy of them. All France follows you with its fervent prayers, and the eyes of the world are upon you. On our success hangs the fate of liberty and civilisation."
