"All soldiers run
away, madam," he said; "but if there are supports for them to fall
back on it does not matter." Think of your illustrious Nelson, always
beaten on land, always victorious at sea, where his men could not run
away. You are not dazzled and misled by false ideals of patriotic
enthusiasm: your honest and sensible statesmen demand for England a
two-power standard, even a three-power standard, frankly admitting
that it is wise to fight three to one: whilst we, fools and braggarts
as we are, declare that every Frenchman is a host in himself, and that
when one Frenchman attacks three Englishmen he is guilty of an act of
cowardice comparable to that of the man who strikes a woman. It is
folly: it is nonsense: a Frenchman is not really stronger than a
German, than an Italian, even than an Englishman. Sir: if all
Frenchwomen were like your daughter--if all Frenchmen had the good
sense, the power of seeing things as they really are, the calm
judgment, the open mind, the philosophic grasp, the foresight and true
courage, which are so natural to you as an Englishman that you are
hardly conscious of possessing them, France would become the greatest
nation in the world.
MARGARET. Three cheers for old England! [She shakes hands with him
warmly].
BOBBY. Hurra-a-ay! And so say all of us.
_Duvallet, having responded to Margaret's handshake with enthusiasm,
kisses Juggins on both cheeks, and sinks into his chair, wiping his
perspiring brow.
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