Orazione a Bonaparte pel Congresso di Lione (Oration to Bonaparte for the Lyon Congress)

The discourse was written between December 1801 and January 1802 on commission from the Cisalpine Government, which intended to pay homage to Bonaparte for the Lyon Congress, the assembly called by the French and Italian governors to formulate a new constitution for the Cisalpine Republic, which was subsequently called the Italian Republic. Foscolo only subscribed in part to the encomiastic intent recommended by his client and flanked the eulogy of  Napoleon with a polemical assessment of the state of Cisalpine and an appeal for new legislation to take account of the specifics of the Italian situation and of the need for an government that was autonomous from France.

The work is split into 10 chapters; after denouncing the corruption and degradation of Cisalpine, which was blamed on the Directorate that was incapable of governing and guaranteeing a proper constitution, Foscolo addresses Bonaparte directly in formulating some proposals that derive from the debate of those months and the radical, pro-independence positions that the writer expressed in many contemporary works. First of all, Foscolo called for guarantees of autonomy and independence for Italy; then he formulated a series of requests concerning the formation of a national army, the signing of an agreement with the Church, the creation of a body of legislation that acted as a guarantor for the whole population, and the order and sovereignty of the State. The solutions proposed were meant to safeguard the reputation of the hero, whose future glory was linked to the solution of the Italian problems. The eulogy of Bonaparte, who was called The First, Legislator, Captain, Father, Perpetual Prince etc. was placed within a polemical discourse that primarily hit out at the Cisalpine government. Therefore the oration was bound to provoke resentment from the members of the government and, even though it was concluded in January 1802, it was not until August that year that it was printed anonymously.