What then would have been the results had she paid us an official visit?  We have already seen that none of the alternative schemes for this journey could work to Germany’s detriment; we need, therefore, not be astonished at the publicity given by the Count von Muenster to all the comings and goings of the Empress, and at the determination shown by Her Majesty to investigate the quality of our patriotism in all its various aspects.  The memories which the Empress went to recall at Saint-Cloud and at Versailles were the same as those which she compelled us to call from the past:  memories glorious for her but unforgettably sad for us, memories which, in reminding her of victory, were meant to remind us of a defeat to which our conquerors have added cruelty.

I watch with fervour the expression of our patriotism.  A race which forgets the brutal insults of superior force deserves slavery.  Italy would never have reconquered Milan and Venice had she resigned herself to see them pass under the yoke of the stranger.  Forty years and more had passed since the 2nd of May, [5] when Prince Napoleon thought fit to send Prince Jerome as Ambassador to Madrid.  He was forced to leave it.  Princess Murat was in no way responsible for what the French Generals had done.  She came in the suite of the Empress Eugenie, but Spain found a way to make her displeasure manifest without any lack of courtesy.  To the Empress Frederick, France has shown a melancholy kind of astonishment rather than dislike, and has displayed an infinite courtesy.  Not a single demonstration, not a gesture, not a word from the population of Paris has done anything to detract from the city’s world-wide reputation for hospitality.

The Emperor William I and Bismarck, who pretended to make war only against the Empire, would have shown themselves to be great and far-seeing political minds had they left Republican France in possession of the whole of her territory.  Although beaten at Sedan, she would have remembered Jena, and Germany’s revenge would have quickly been forgotten.

Let us remember the words of the Emperor of Germany—­

“I would rather that all my people should fall upon the field of battle than give back to France a single clover-field of Alsace-Lorraine.”

The Post of Strasburg, recalling this declaration, adds—­

“The French bourgeoisie is too cowardly to begin a war.  It is willing to smile at the words of Deroulede, but does not move.  The people of Alsace-Lorraine have done quite rightly in turning away from these talkers.  We have permitted them to become Germans, why then, should they refuse the privilege?”