indignant? Are there not cases
where insurrection rises to the dignity of duty? What was there that was
degrading for the son of Colonel Pontmercy in the combat which was about
to begin? It is no longer Montmirail nor Champaubert; it is something
quite different. The question is no longer one of sacred territory,--but
of a holy idea. The country wails, that may be, but humanity applauds.
But is it true that the country does wail? France bleeds, but liberty
smiles; and in the presence of liberty's smile, France forgets her
wound. And then if we look at things from a still more lofty point of
view, why do we speak of civil war?

Civil war--what does that mean? Is there a foreign war? Is not all war
between men, war between brothers? War is qualified only by its object.
There is no such thing as foreign or civil war; there is only just and
unjust war. Until that day when the grand human agreement is concluded,
war, that at least which is the effort of the future, which is hastening
on against the past, which is lagging in the rear, may be necessary.
What have we to reproach that war with? War does not become a disgrace,
the sword does not become a disgrace, except when it is used for
assassinating the right, progress, reason, civilization, truth. Then
war, whether foreign or civil, is iniquitous; it is called crime.
Outside the pale of that holy thing, justice, by what right does
one form of man despise another? By what right should the sword of
Washington disown the pike of Camille Desmoulins? Leonidas against the
stranger, Timoleon against the tyrant, which is the greater? the one is
the defender, the other the liberator. Shall we brand every appeal
to arms within a city's limits without taking the object into a
consideration? Then note the infamy of Brutus, Marcel, Arnould von
Blankenheim, Coligny, Hedgerow war? War of the streets? Why not? That
was the war of Ambiorix, of Artevelde, of Marnix, of Pelagius. But
Ambiorix fought against Rome, Artevelde against France, Marnix against
Spain, Pelagius against the Moors; all against the foreigner. Well, the
monarchy is a foreigner; oppression is a stranger; the right divine is
a stranger. Despotism violates the moral frontier, an invasion violates
the geographical frontier. Driving out the tyrant or driving out the
English, in both cases, regaining possession of one's own territory.
There comes an hour when protestation no longer suffices; after
philosophy, action is required