John II of France Quotes
Sirs, strive not: lead men courteously, and my son, to my cousin the prince, and strive not for my taking, for I am so great a lord to make you all rich
Jean the Good. It was not uncommon for wealthy nobles who were about to be defeated on the field of battle to offer bribes to the opposition soldiers to take them to their lines or headquarters. However, the leaders of the Army wanted to have charge of the important prisoners and the terms of their potential ransom. In this case the English knights started fighting amongst themselves as to who would take and ransom the French King, when two high ranking English nobles who had been dispatched by the Prince of Wales to look for the French King. They ordered the knights to desist their internal fighting, and the French King was delivered to the Prince of Wales.
Jean II, 1319-1364, King of France, Statement to the English Soldiers Who Had Surrounded Him, The Battle of Poitiers, September 19, 1356
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The “fool” was Neville Chamberlain, 1869-1940, the British Prime Minister who refused to stand up to Hitler and instead negotiated a peace pact, returned home declaring that he had preserved peace. (See {585941}.) Then Hitler invaded more of Europe and WWII was begun. Ford was a Hitler admirer and pro-German (Hitler supported him for the American Presidency--{586988}—and awarded him a medal) but he thought that England had bungled the negotiations by sending someone who was very weak. In this sense his views were the same as most who were anti-Hitler.
When he first came to Congress, there were major American problems with both France and England who were fighting each other and punishing America for not boycotting the other nation. Many argued for peace and living with the French and English impression of American seamen and confiscation of American Cargoes. Clay and others thought the appeasement price was too high and urged war. The War of 1812 followed.
See a similar sentiment by Tallyrand
John II, called John the Good (French: Jean le Bon), was King of France from 1350 until his death. When he came to power, France faced several disasters: the Black Death, which killed nearly half of its population; popular revolts known as Jacqueries; free companies (Grandes Compagnies) of routiers who plundered the country; and English aggression that resulted in catastrophic military losses, including the Battle of Poitiers of 1356, in which John was captured.
