Napoleon's Addresses - Selections From the Proclamations, Speeches and Correspondance of Napoleon Bonaparte #255635

After a battle he stated the results to them, thus giving them a tacit recogni tion of their importance. The explanation was one that all understood; it was clear and explicit, and bristled' with figures. Your common man grasps numbers. They are the bullets of speech and sink in like lead. When Napoleon rattled a volley of numbers at them Soldiers, in fifteen days you have gained six victories, taken twenty-one stands of colors, fifty-five pieces of cannon, and several fortresses, and conquered the richest part of Pied mont. You have made fifteen hundred prisoners, and killed or wounded ten thou sand men they understood, and glowed with pride.