Page:The Prime Minister by Hall Caine.djvu/165

Rh  Yes, what cruel, heartless, fiendish treachery!  A natural-born British subject, too!  It must have been in the man's blood. When his hour of temptation came the wretched creature couldn't resist it.  [With intense feeling.] None of them can. Haven't they been doing as much all along—all the world over—ever since the war began? They are working their evil ways in secret now, but if they succeed they'll do it openly. Once let them land on these shores as conquerors and there's nothing before any of us but a dog's life, a dog's death, and a dog's burial. [Moving across the room, then returning.] O God, what a lesson to such of us as have been dreaming dreams of universal brotherhood—seeing visions of a liberated world—when the enemy rulers have been set aside and we can safely make peace with the people! Folly! Madness! Suicide! People and rulers are all alike. Only one peace can be made with either of them, and that is the peace of Victory.

 But there are good and bad in all nations, Robert, and even among our enemies there must be loyal, faithful, unselfish souls——  Show me one—one person born of that race who is capable of an act of loyalty, fidelity, self-sacrifice——