Gentlemen, it is not sufficient to do honour only to the victims fallen on the field of battle. We must also salute the civil population, innocent victims, who until now have always been protected by the international laws of warfare—[prolonged cheers]—and whom the enemy has captured or massacred in order to terrify a nation that has remained and will remain unshaken. With regard to their dependents, it has been an easy thing for the Government to do its duty—but the country's debt has not been paid. [Hear, hear.] Owing to the invasion, some departments have been occupied and are in ruins. The Government takes in your presence a solemn pledge, and which it has in part already carried out, in asking you for a first vote of credit for 300 millions. France will set up again these departments by means of the indemnity which we will exact—[loud cheers]—and in the meantime, by the help of a contribution which the whole nation will pay—proud, in the hour of distress of a number of her children, to fulfil the duty of national responsibility. [Loud cheers.] Thus rejecting the form of help which savours of charity the State takes to itself the right to make amends to those who have suffered as regards property from acts of war—[renewed cheers]—and it will fulfil its duty to the widest limits that the financial capacity of the country will permit and under conditions that a special act of Parliament will determine in order to avoid any injustice. [Hear, hear.]
Gentlemen, the day of decisive victory has not yet arrived. The task will be hard. It may be long. Let us be courageous. Heirs of the most formidable burden of glory that a people can bear, this country assents in advance to all sacrifices. Our Allies recognize this fact. The neutral nations know it, and it is in vain that an unbridled campaign of false news has tried to obtain from them the sympathy which they feel for us. If Germany pretended to doubt this at first, she doubts no longer. Let her realize once more that the French Parliament after more than four months of warfare revives in the sight of the world the spectacle which it offered when, in the name of the nation, it picked up the challenge. Parliament has full authority to accomplish the work in front of it. The Parliament has been both the expression and guarantee of our liberties for forty-four years—[hear, hear]—it knows that the Government accepts with respect its necessary control, that its confidence is indispensable—[hear, hear]—and that its sovereignty will always be obeyed.
