thatFrancewouldgladlyhavepaidamuchlargersumthanfivemilliardsifshecouldhaveretainedAlsace—
Lorraine;thatBismarckwouldhavemadeconcessions;butthat``Molkt’’wouldnot。HeaddedthatBismarcktold``Molkt’’thathe——thelatter——had，byinsistingonterritory，madepeacetoodifficult。Saint—HilairedweltlongonthefearfullegacyofstandingarmiesleftbythepolicywhichGermanyfinallyadopted，andevidentlyconsideredagreatinternationalwarasapproaching。[16]
[16]December，1880。
DiningafterwardattheForeignOfficewithmyoldfriendMillet，whowassecondincommandthere，ImetvariousinterestingFrenchmen，butwasmostofallpleasedwithM。Ribot。HavingdistinguishedhimselfbyphilosophicalstudiesandmadeahighreputationintheFrenchparliament，hewasnaturallyonhiswaytothecommandingpostintheministrywhichheafterwardobtained。Hiswife，anAmerican，wasespeciallyattractive。
Itisathousandpitiesthatacountrypossessingsuchmenissowidelyknowntotheworld，notbythese，butbynovelistsanddramatistslargelyretailingfilth，journalistslargelygiventotheinventionofsensationallies，politicianslargelyobeyingeitheratheisticdemagoguesorclericalintriguers;andalltogetheractinglikeaswarmofobscene，tricky，mangymonkeyschattering，squealing，andtweakingoneanother’stailsinacage。SomeofthesemonkeysIsawperformingtheiranticsintheNationalAssemblythensittingatVersailles;anditsaddenedmetoseethenoblerelementinthatassemblagethwartedbysuchfeatherbrainedcreatures。[16]