“The Champ de Mars is the sole monument left of the Revolution. The Empire has the Arc de Triomphe. Royalty has its Louvre and its Invalides. The feudal Church of 1,200 has its throne in Notre Dame.
“But the Revolution has alone for its monument an empty space.
“This monument is sand, and desert as the plains of Arabia. A mound to the right, a mound to the left, like those which the Gauls erected in memory of their fallen heroes.
“Though the plain be dry, and the grass be withered, still a day will come when it shall be again clothed in green.
“For mingled with this earth is the sweat of the brow of those who on a sacred day raised these hills—on a day when, awakened by the cannon of the Bastille, France poured in from the north and south—on a day when three millions as one man swore eternal peace.
“Ah! poor Revolution, so confiding in the first blush of thy youth, thou hast invited the world to love and peace.
“Oh, my enemies! said’st thou, there are no longer enemies.
“Thou heldest out thine hand to all—thou hast offered the cup to drink to the peace of nations, but they would not.”
