and good, as she seemed! There are some ardent lovers so
blinded that they can forget all the joy and love of former days, and
see only the change in the loved one, and the harm that she has done
them. If it were only possible for me to be like that! But I cannot;
it is impossible for me to forget. I must see thee always as I
loved thee, when I trusted, and saw in thee my guide and my best
friend.--Oh, my Country! why hast thou deserted and betrayed me? If I
were the only one to suffer, I could hide the sad disenchantment under
the memory of my former affection; but I behold thy victims, these
trusting devoted youths.--I see myself in them, as I was.--And how
greatly thou hast deceived us! Thine was as the voice of fraternal
love, thou calledst us, that we might all be united, all brothers,--no
more isolation. To each was lent the strength of millions of others,
and we were taught to love our sky, our soil, and the work of our
hands, that in them we should love each other more, for thy sake. Now
where have we been led? Did we unite to increase, and grow stronger to
hate and destroy? We had known too much of these isolated hatreds in
the past. Each had his load of evil thoughts, but at least we knew
them to be evil. But now our souls are poisoned, since thou hast
called these things sacred...._

_Why these combats? To set us free? But thou hast made slaves of
us. Our conscience is outraged, our happiness gone, our prosperity
destroyed. What need have we of further conquests, when the land of
our fathers has grown too wide for their children? Is it to satisfy
the greed of some among us, and can it be that the Country will fill
their maw at the cost of public misfortune_?

_Patriotism, sold to the rich, to those who traffic in the blood of
souls and of nations! Partner and accomplice, covering your villainies
with an heroic mantle, look to thyself! The hour is coming when the
peoples will shake off the vermin, the gods and masters by whom they
have been deceived. They will drive out the guilty from among them. I
shall strike straight at the Head whose shadow is over us all.--Thou
who sittest impassively on thy throne, while multitudes slaughter
each other in thy name, thou whom they worship while they hate their
fellow-man, thou who hast pleasure in the bloody orgies of the
nations, Goddess of prey, Anti-Christ, hovering over these butcheries
with thy spread wings, and hawk's talons;--who will tear thee from
our heaven?