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Page 83
Peace. The world belongs to those who are in the right. Since,
however, you will not listen to me, you shall hear the Dead themselves,
and see if they agree with you. (_Turns to the_ Dead.) Arise,
my children; come and confound those who wish to fight with the bones of
the departed.
_The_ Dead _rise_.
Grenadier. I have slept a long time since Austerlitz. Who are
you, comrades?
Hussar. I come from the battle-field of Leipsic, where the
great German race broke the yoke which your Emperor had laid upon it.
Grenadier. You were left upon the field?
Hussar. I am proud to say so.
Grenadier. And you are right, old fellow; every man owes
himself to his country. We others have done just the same. If you had
let us alone in '92 we should not have come to you.
Cossack. I was killed under the walls of Paris, where great
Russia went to return the insult she had received at Moscow.
Highlander. I fell at Waterloo, avenging the great English
people for the threats of the camp at Boulogne. I drowned in my blood
the last effort of your Imperial Eagle.
Grenadier. Well! we are well matched. My blood reddened the
plain of Austerlitz, where the great French nation was avenged on
Brunswick and Souwaroff. We have all perished, buried in a triumph. We
can shake hands upon it.
Cossack. Brave men are equals, in whatever dress. Let us shake
hands.
Hussar. We have all died for our country. Let us be brothers.
Highlander. Let us be brothers. The hatreds of earth do not
extend beyond the grave.
[_They join hands._
Grenadier. And now Peace is proclaimed, let us tell each other
what we used to do before we became warriors.
Cossack. I cultivated a piece of ground in the steppes and took
care of my old mother.
Highlander. I brought up my daughter by farming a piece of
ground which I had cleared on my native heath.
Hussar. I lived with my wife on the piece of land which we
cultivated.
Grenadier. I tilled a piece of ground also, and supported my
sister. It seems that we were all four of the same way of life. How did
we come to kill one another?
Cossack. The Czar spoke, and I marched.
Highlander. Parliament voted for war, and I marched.
Hussar. Our princes cried, "To arms!" and I marched.
Grenadier. As for me, my comrades cried, "To arms!" and I put
on my best sabots. But after all, what have we against each other? Where
was the quarrel between our respective ploughshares? (_To the_
Hussar.) You, for instance, who began, what did you come into
my country for?
Hussar. We came to destroy brigands.
Grenadier. Brigands! That is to say, my unfortunate self, and
other labourers like you and me. After this, well might we be made to
sing about
"Vile blood soaking our furrows!"
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