The independence of the Cisalpine Republic was declared on the 29th of
June, 1797. A general federation of the national guards and of the
authorities of the new Republic was held in the Lazaretto of Milan. On
the 14th of July, thirty thousand of the national guard and deputies
from the departments swore fealty to the new Commonwealth.
The Cisalpine Directory named its own ministers, the administrative
authorities, and governed the Republic as an independent State. The keys
of Milan, and of all the fortified places were duly remitted by the
French to the Cisalpine officers, and the army quitted the States of the
Republic and were cantoned upon the Venetian territory.
Napoleon, after the treaty of Campo Formio, returned to Milan to
complete the organization of this new State, and the administrative
measures of its army. He bade adieu to the Italian people in an address,
wherein he told them, that they were the first who had ever acquired
liberty without a revolution. “_We_ have given liberty to you; know how
to keep it. You are, after France, the most populous and the richest
republic. Prove yourselves worthy of your destiny, by enacting wise and
moderate laws, and by enforcing them with energy.” He told them to be
sure that they had a sufficient sense of the dignity which attaches to a
free people and promised them the protection of the French nation should
they be attacked by neighboring States.
[Illustration: THE CISALPINE REPUBLIC.]