I want to make it a platform from which we shall demand each day before Europe our rights and our ravished provinces. France is at the mercy of Germa… - Léon Gambetta

The Republic should not mean the privileged rule of a few; it should be a tool that all may handle... Let us shelve the discussion of theories and keep for the time being to questions of conduct, let us tend the Republic with all possible care while it is still in the bud, let us watch over the young tree with loving devotion.

What we have lacked is what people who have allowed themselves to be enslaved for too long always lack: faith in themselves and a proper hatred of the foreigner. Let us never speak of the foreigner, but let it be clear that we always think of him. Thus you will be on the road to revenge.

Those who imagine that it is the duty, or that it lies within the power, of the Government to secure the happiness of all, are pursuing a mirage. Strictly speaking, there is only one thing that a Government owes to all, and that is, justice. Every man being his own master, it rests with him to make himself happy or unhappy by using his freedom to good or bad purpose. The State does no more than guarantee an equality of rights to everyone, be he rich or poor, high or low. What we want is not an aristocratic or a middle-class or a proletarian Republic, but a national Republic.