I fear that the victory has been bought dearly. There is not a
neighbouring village to which the war has not cost some of its children.
But they bear it admirably. You know, that in war we show the best side
of our character. If our civilians resembled our soldiers we should long
ago have been masters of Europe.
This war has never been popular, nor is it popular, yet we bear all its
cost with a cheerfulness admirable when you consider the sorrows which it
occasions, aggravated by the distress produced by the dearness of bread.
If, instead of the Crimea, the seat of war had been the Rhine, with a
definite purpose, the whole nation would have risen, as it has done
before.
But the object of the war is unintelligible to the people. They only know
that France is at war, and must be made, at any price, to triumph.
I must confess, that I myself, who understand the object for which all
this blood is shed, and who approve that object, do not feel the interest
which such great events ought to excite; for I do not expect a result
equal to the sacrifice.
I think, with you, that Russia is a great danger to Europe. I think so
more strongly, because I have had peculiar opportunities of studying the
real sources of her power, and because I believe these sources to be
permanent, and entirely beyond the reach of foreign attack.
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