Christianity and Patriotism
—enfants élévés aujourd'hui dans nos écoles—qu'il appartient à venger vos pères, vaincus à Sedan et à Metz. C'est votre devoir, le grand devoir de votre vie. Vous devez y penser toujours. …
And so on.
At the bottom of the page there is a series of questions corresponding to the paragraph above. The questions are as follows:
"What did France lose in the loss of part of her territory? How many Frenchmen have been turned into Germans through the loss of that territory? Do those Frenchmen love Germany? What ought we to do to regain some day what Germany has taken from us? …" Besides this, there are "Réflexions sur le livre VII.," in which it is said that "The children of France ought to remember our defeats in 1870"; "that they ought to feel the bitterness of this memory in their hearts"; but that "this memory ought not to discourage them: it ought, on the contrary, to arouse their valour."
So that if in official speeches there is talk with great insistence about peace, the simple people, and all Russian and French people in a subordinate position, are invariably impressed with the necessity, lawfulness, advantageousness, and even glory of war.
"We are not thinking of war. We are only anxious for peace."
One is tempted to ask: Qui, diable, trompe-
29
