Tapestries, sculptures, furniture and paintings must
come back from Germany. The museums at St. Quentin and Lille have seen
their collections of value to art and science carried off; these
collections must come back. Factories have been robbed of their pumps,
of their equipment, of their trucks; other pumps, other equipment,
other trucks must be put in their place. Otherwise, nothing will
prevent that in the future other expeditions will come to ransack
other countries. A bold move towards Venice allowed base hands to be
laid on the most beautiful works of art humanity had produced. A
fortunate descent on the shores of Long Island or of New Jersey would
allow the Metropolitan Museum to be looted.
At Ham, in the Somme district, the Grand Duke of Hesse, the former
Empress of Russia's brother, one morning entered the shop of an
antiquarian and picked out a number of ancient bibelots and vases,
ordering that they be sent to his quarters. The owner thought it would
be wise to state the price of the lot:
"The price," exclaimed the Grand Duke, "there's nothing for me to pay
for! Everything here belongs to me."
But the owner protested, since, as he said, he did own the goods.
"Here," said the Grand Duke, "this will pay you for them.
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