“Better be at the mercy of the sea than at the mercy of the French.
“This price we must pay for our liberty.”
“My noble lords, I leave you to deliberate on what I have said. As you are patriots and believers, you will sacrifice yourselves to your fatherland and your faith, than which no nobler things to die for can be found.”
The dusky-coloured sunlight rested on his face and covered his slight figure in its appointments of war; it picked him out against the background of dark panelling and gleamed dimly in his cuirass.
His eyes were solemn but his lips smiled proudly.
The Assembly stirred and breathed—
“Open the sluices; cut the dykes!”