Page:Jean Jaurès socialist and humanitarian 1917.djvu/141

 by Jaurès' speech, and when he continued that now "France, with the consciousness of her liberty, and dignity, and force, and with her in- dependence in mind judges that in exchange for the influence which she assumes in Morocco she owes to other nations, she owes especially to Germany, compensation of an economic or at least a territorial order" a member called out: "No, she owes nothing at all," and another told Jaurès that he was using the language of the German Chancellor.

But in spite of the anger which he excited, Jaurès proceeded to denounce the secret treaties.

"… They nourish the solitary pride of diplomatists.… They propagate besides everywhere suspicion. People say, 'Are there no others?'… And at the same time by an inevitable result they ruin the value of treaties; the public signature that the nations exchange has no longer any value, it has a depreciated title on the diplomatic market since there are, behind and below, secret values, occult values, which run between one diplomatist and another.

"Oh, what an admirable addition to the temptation to perfidy, when there are two series of treaties, public treaties which bind you towards the nation in daylight, and secret treaties containing contrary clauses! One cannot altogether fail to keep one's word.…

"And it is a final vice of these treaties that