LOGOMACHY

Among the beautiful sentences that were said the day before yesterday, here are two, which are from Mr. Colrat.
The Keeper of the Seals, says Le Temps, “expressed himself in particular thus”, and this seems, in fact, very notable to us: “France first” will be our motto, as it was that of our dead. We will make peace as they made war. We will win the peace as they won the war It sounds good, and it must have an effect, when it is said a little quickly. But what exactly does that mean? “We will make peace as they made war. » No, this is a very bad way to proceed, assuming it is possible, and, coming from the mouth of a Minister of Justice, the statement is particularly surprising. War is one thing, peace is another. To proclaim that we make peace as we make war is to recognize unnecessarily and clumsily that in reality, after having pretended to conclude peace, we continue the war. “But perfectly! exclaims Mr. Colrat; since Germany has not kept its commitments, we are still at war with it! Imprudent admission.
So, the occupation of the Ruhr is indeed an act of war, an expedition, a conquest? What becomes of the Treaty of Versailles in these conditions? And what happens to the second sentence of Mr. Colrat himself: “We will win the peace as they won the war”? So our heroes haven't won the war, since it continues? And what is winning the war if not winning the peace? Obviously, in Mr. Colrat's mind, peace is only a second form of war; a war which has changed its name and which we call peace momentarily to avoid monotony, but war always, easier, more discreet, as if pearly. It is also unfortunately true that Mr. Colrat's two sentences, which are reminiscent of the eloquence of Rabagas, do not agree well with reason, but are strictly in conformity with sad reality. For the moment, war and peace are almost synonymous and interchangeable: the distinction between genders is abolished. Will we be reduced to trying to conceive of a third state, which would be neither peace nor war, but where men, having finally lost the habit of breaking their faces and even showing their fists, would cultivate their garden? without hatred and without worry? Or will the eternal struggle only end for lack of children? Disappointing prospect...
In any case, under penalty of no longer being understood, it will become essential to find a new term to say what the word peace once meant. But when will we have the opportunity to use it?

Gustave Téry