e in the world of Islam--exception
is taken essentially on two grounds:

1. My refusal to include the German people and its military and
intellectual rulers in the same denunciation.

2. The esteem and friendship which I have for the individuals in the
country with which we are at war.

I will reply first of all without ambiguity to this second reproach.
Yes, I have German friends as I have French, Italian, and English
friends, and friends of every race. They are my wealth: I am proud of it
and keep it. When one has had the good fortune to meet in this world
loyal souls with whom one shares one's most intimate thoughts, and with
whom one has formed bonds of brotherly union, such bonds are sacred, and
not to be broken asunder in the hour of trial. He would be a coward who
timidly ceased to own them, in order to obey the insolent summons of a
public opinion which has no right over the heart. Does the love of
country demand this unkindness of thought which is associated with the
name Cornelienne? Corneille himself has given the answer:

--_Albe vous a nomme, je ne vous connais plus._
--_Je vous connais encore, et c'est ce qui me tue._

Certain letters, which I shall reproduce later, will show the grief,
sometimes almost tragic, that such friendships mean in these moments.
Thanks to them, we have at least been able to defend ourselves against a
hatred which is more murderous than war, since it is an infection
produced by its wounds; and it does as much harm to those whom it
possesses as to those against whom it is directed.

This poison I see with apprehension spreading at the present moment.
Amongst the victim populations, the cruelties and ravages committed by
the German armies have brought to birth a desire for reprisals. This,
when once in existence, is not for the press to exasperate, for such a
desire runs the risk of leading to dangerous injustice--dangerous not
only for the conquered but above all for the conquerors. France has, in
this war, the chance of playing the nobler part, the rarest chance that
the world has even seen. A German wrote to me a few weeks ago: "France
has won in this war a prodigious moral triumph. The sympathies of the
whole world are drawn towards her; and, most extraordinary of all,
Germany herself has a secret leaning towards her enemy." All should wish
that this moral triumph may be hers to the end, and that she may remain
to the end just, straightforward, and humane. I could