Page:Coubertin - France since 1814, 1900.djvu/38

 extracts from articles published in the German papers :

" The French imagine that they have not been conquered ; we must convince them that they are. It is only by taking from them for a century all desire to enrich themselves by war, that we shall prevent this turbulent nation from annoying its neighbours. . . . We did wrong to treat with the French ; we should have exterminated them. This band of brigands must be exterminated. . . . This time partition must be made of France. . . . There will be no peace for the world as long as a French people exists. Let us make it a people of Neustria, of Burgundy, of Aquitaine. . . . No more treaties ! The proscription proclaimed by the Congress against the leader must be extended to the nation at large. We must exterminate them — kill them like so many mad dogs."

This was not the mere passing exaltation of a press excited by the prospect of war ; it was the sentiment of the majority of Germans, and signs of a similar though less violent feeling were to be found amongst other nations. This Gallophobia was the natural result of Napoleon's monstrous scheme for subjugating Europe and the entire world ; it has been kept Up till the present day by the shocks and