t is what you should
have told Marshal Tesse. It is he who has chosen to make it massacre.
Why, man, he has shot and hung hundreds in cold blood in and around
Saragossa, has burned numerous villages in the neighborhood, and put
man, woman, and child to the sword."

"Then, if this be so, father, I should say, by all means hang Marshal
Tesse when you catch him, but do not punish the innocent for the guilty.
You must remember that these men have been taken away from their
homes in France, and forced to fight in quarrels in which they have no
concern. Like yourself, they are Catholics. Above all, remember how many
scores of villages are at present at the mercy of the French. If the
news comes to the marshal that you have refused quarter to his soldiers,
he will have a fair excuse for taking vengeance on such of your
countrymen as may be in his power."

"There is something in that," the priest said. "For myself I have no
pity, not a scrap of it, for these Frenchmen, nor would you have, had
you seen as much of their doings as I have, nor do I think that any
retribution that we might deal out to the men could increase Tesse's
hatred and ferocity toward us."

"Still, it might serve as an excuse," Jack urged. "Remember the eyes
of Europe are upon this struggle, and that the report of wholesale
slaughter of your enemies will not influence public opinion in your
favor."

"Public opinion goes for nothing," the priest said shortly.

"Pardon me, father," Jack replied. "The English and Dutch and the Duke
of Savoy are all fighting in your favor, and we may even boast that had
it not been for the Earl of Peterborough and the allies the chains of
France would be riveted firmly round your necks. You will tell me, no
doubt, that they are fighting for their own political ends, and from no
true love for the Spanish people. That may be so, but you must remember
that although governments begin wars it is the people who carry them on.
Let the people of England and Holland hear, as they will hear, of the
brutal ferocity of the French marshal on a defenseless people, and their
sympathies will be strongly with you. They will urge their governments
to action, and vote willingly the necessary sums for carrying on the
war. Let them hear that with you too war is massacre, that you take no
prisoners, and kill all that fall into your hands, and, believe me, the
public will soon grow sick of the war carried on with such cruelty on
both sides."

"