And our nation, weary of mourning,
Will soothe the living while praising the dead,
And nevermore will we hear the name of battle
And our children shall learn to unlearn hate.
Just as France will not accept peace without restitution, she will not
accept peace without reparation.
Germany can never make reparation for all the ruin, all the
destruction, all the sacrilege she has wrought. There can be no
reparation for the Cathedral of Rheims, for the Hotel de Ville at
Arras, for the deaths of thousands of innocent beings, for the
slaughter of women and children.
But there can be reparation for the damage done to machinery. The
treasures of art which, contrary to all law and right, Germany has
taken into her own country, can be returned. They can return the funds
illegally stolen from the vaults of municipalities, banks and public
societies. They can pay off the receipts which they themselves have
signed for the objects they have compelled the owners to hand over to
them.
Every chateau in the north of France, places such as those of the
Prince of Monaco, of Mr. Balny d'Avricourt, that of Coucy, have been
looted and pillaged. Antique furniture, paintings by the great
masters, sculptures, historic pieces of tapestry have been carried off
into Germany.
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