Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Georges Ohnet
From The Eagle’s Talon (1913)
Translated by Helen Meyer
“…As long as Bonaparte holds the reins of State, the peace of France will hang by a thread. He thirsts for glory.The thing that he calls glory is a condition maintained by war. Violence is the basis of his power. He will involve France in a world-wide struggle, and appear before his fellow citizens as a providential saviour…”
Gorgeret, an army contractor notorious for speculations successfully carried out at the expense of the well-being of the army during the campaign of Italy, had devoted a part of the fortune made from revictualling the troops after the siege of Genoa to the acquisition of real estate…Habituated to profit by the immunity attendant upon great wealth, he had worked his will regardless of results. He had never been punished. He had pillaged in the wake of victorious armies, and sold the cattle and the flour stolen from the enemy to the French, and nothing had been done to show him that he was within the reach of justice. He had worked for the Royalists and against the reigning power with the same freedom with which he had fed the army on questionable food.
…
“Bonaparte hates us!’ said Polignac.
“He fears us!” said Cadoudal proudly.
“If he fears us, he is foolish,” declared Rivière. “France belongs to him; the people love him. Our attempt was an act of egregious folly! To make this wretched country understand that it is to her interest to return to the king, we must turn her into a burial-ground. It is probable that Napoleon will do that. France will pay for his glory by hecatombs, and his dictator’s purple will be dyed in blood.”
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