The idea of destroying the cathedral haunted them for a hundred years, at least. Three dates, three texts, three proofs:
April, 1814, Jean-Joseph Goerres, an illustrious professor, the pious author of a "Christian Mysticism," in four volumes, wrote, in the Rheinische Merkur:
"Reduce to ashes that basilica of Rheims where Klodovig was anointed, where that Empire of the Franks was born—the false brothers of the noble Teutons; burn that cathedral!..."
Sept. 5, 1914, we read in the Berliner Blatt:
"The western group of our armies in France has already passed the second line of defensive forts, except Rheims, whose royal splendor, which dates back to the time of the white lilies, will not fail to crumble to dust, soon, under the fire of our mortars."
Jan. 1, 1915. In the artistic and literary supplement of the Berlin Lokal-Anzeiger M. Rudolf Herzog sings an ode "in honor of the destruction of the Cathedral of Rheims":
"The bells sound no more in the cathedral with two towers. Finished is the benediction!... With lead, O Rheims, we have shut your house of idolatry!"
A lyric cry of the heart, when the national wish, a century old, is at last accomplished.
No comment on these three texts—it suffices to bring them together.
AUGUSTE DORCHAIN.