that, in the time of your might there were decent people among you, which is the truth; that there were judges, like the good judge Magnaud and the good judge Sere de Rivieres, among your justices; that there were courteous presidents of the court, like the one here today, to preside over the proceedings; that there were advocates-general who did not stoop in the mud to find insults to fling at the accused; and that there were jurymen, like those of Auxerre, of Troyes, and even of ultra-patriotic Paris, who did not hesitate to acquit their political opponents.
INSURRECTION RATHER THAN WAR
And, now that I have shown you the menacing side of our revolutionary socialism—the class war—let me in conclusion, gentlemen of the jury, point out to you the broadly humanitarian side of it, so that you may point it out also to those who might be led to reproach you for our acquittal. How is it that you have not felt that it is we who form your best rampart against the German Emperor? It is not your rifles that the Kaiser fears, but the rifles of the German social democrats, those comrades who, on the other side of the Rhine, are carrying on exactly the same propaganda as we are here!
All of you, even the most ultra-patriotic, desire peace, do you not? You would much prefer to see the big financiers of your capitalist class settle their differences with the big financiers of other countries by international arbitration. But perhaps you will say to yourselves: "These arbitration tribunals are nothing but a farce. They settle petty secondary questions, but when some big affair comes up the matter is settled by cannon-shots. The Czar of the Hague Conference acted just the same as the others." Well, we have found a recipe for compelling governments, all governments, including that of the Kaiser, to settle their disputes, all their disputes, by arbitration.
Our recipe consists in propagating, on both sides of all frontiers, and particularly in France and Germany, our war-cry against war: "Insurrection Rather Than War!"
