454 JAMES WATT. 



sion, imposes on me the duty of being methodical. In 

 order that my sentiments may not be mistaken, I will at 

 once declare aloud that independence, that national lib- 

 erty, are in my opinion the greatest possible good ; that 

 to defend them against foreigners, or against internal 

 enemies, is our first duty ; and that to have defended 

 them at the cost of our blood, is the highest title to pub- 

 lic gratitude. Raise, raise splendid monuments to the 

 memory of the soldiers who fell on the glorious ramparts 

 of Mayence, on the immortal fields of Zurich, of Marengo, 

 and certainly my offering shall not be waited for ; but do 

 not require me to do violence to my reason, to the senti- 

 ments that Nature has implanted in the human heart ; do 

 not hope that I will ever consent to place all military 

 services on the same level. 



What Frenchman possessed of a heart, even in the 

 reign of Louis XIV., would have sought for an example 

 of courage either among the scenes of cruelty in the 

 Dragonnades, or among the whirlwinds of flame that 

 devoured the towns, the villages, and the rich country 

 of the Palatinate ? 



Not long since, after a thousand prodigies of patience, 

 of cleverness, of bravery, our valiant soldiers penetrated 

 into the half-destroyed Saragossa, and reached the door 

 of a church where the preacher was still making the ears 

 of the resigned crowd ring w^ith these magnificent words : 

 " Spaniards, I am going to celebrate your funerals ! " I 

 know not, but I think that at such a moment the true 

 friends of our national glory, comparing the various 

 merits of the conquerors and the vanquished, would 

 willingly perhaps have inverted the address ! 



But I consent to your laying aside the question of 

 morality. Submit the personal claims of some gainers 



