Page:The cry for justice - an anthology of the literature of social protest. - (IA cryforjusticea00sinc).pdf/614

 patrie! La patrie of the poor! It is a fable, a symbol, an inscription upon a military-list or a school-book—the most bitter derision! Your right, unhappy ones—it is to suffer and defend the soil, which belongs to your master, to him who possesses. For him, for him alone, our France devotes each year a billion francs for army and navy

"It is necessary purely and simply to suppress the budget of the army and navy," thundered Rougemont, with such force that he broke the tumult. "France must give all at once, without hesitation, the example of disarmament. And that would be a thing so grand and so beautiful that the entire universe would applaud, that all humanity would turn toward her. From that day alone we should be at the head of the nations, and our country would become the country of free men!"

"Under the heel of Wilhelm!"

"A Poland!"

"Guts for the cats!"

"Sold! Rubbish! Meat for sheenies!"

" living in boiling water like lobsters!"

All at once, the tumult sank. The voice of the orator forced itself upon the ear, high as a bell, precise as a clarion. "Free, superb, and triumphant! Queen of the peoples, goddess of the unfortunate! If we should disarm, before ten years, France would become a land of pilgrimage, the Mecca of men. Before twenty years, the other nations would have followed her example. As for making of us a Poland, let them try it! Have you then forgotten the teachings of history? Do you not know that our grand armies, our innumerable victories—we have won as many victories as all the rest of Europe together—have only ended in the crushing of Waterloo and the collapse of Sedan? On the contrary, Italy, dis