FIGHTING FRANCE

BY

STEPHANE LAUZANNELIEUTENANT IN THE FRENCH ARMY, CHEVALIER OF THE LEGION OF HONOREDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE "MATIN, "MEMBER OF THE FRENCH MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BYJAMES M. BECK, LL. D. LATE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES

TRANSLATED BYJOHN L. B. WILLIAMS, A. M. SOMETIME FELLOW OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

D. APPLETON AND COMPANYNEW YORKLONDON

1918

Copyright, 1918, by

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Printed in the United States of America

TO

MY CHIEFSMY COMRADESMY MENWHO ARE FIGHTING FOR THE GREAT CAUSEOF LIBERTY AND CIVILIZATION

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

FOREWORD

To be Editor-in-Chief of one of the greatest newspapers in the worldat twenty-seven years of age is a distinction, which has been enjoyedby few other men, if any, in the whole history of journalism. Theremay have been exceptional instances, where young men by virtue ofproprietary and inherited rights, have nominally, or even actually, succeeded to the editorial control of a great metropolitan newspaper. But in the case of M. Stéphane Lauzanne, his assumption of duty in1901 as Editor-in-Chief of the Paris _Matin_ was wholly the result ofexceptional achievement in journalism. Merit and ability, and notmerely friendly influences, gave him this position of unique power, for the _Matin_ has a circulation in France of nearly two millioncopies a day, and its Editor-in-Chief thereby exerts a power which itwould be difficult to over-estimate. 

M. Lauzanne was born in 1874 and is a graduate of the Faculty of Lawof Paris. Believing that journalism opened to him a wider avenue ofusefulness than the legal profession, he preferred--as the eventshowed most wisely--to follow a journalistic career. In this choice hemay have been guided by the fact that he was the nephew of the mostfamous foreign correspondent in the history of journalism. I refer toM. De Blowitz, who was for many years the Paris correspondent of theLondon _Times_, and as such a very notable representative of theFourth Estate. No one ever more fully illustrated the truth of thewords which Thackeray, in Pendennis, puts into the mouth of his GeorgeWarrington, when he and Arthur Pendennis stand in Fleet Street andhear the rumble of the engines in the press-room. He likened theforeign correspondents of these newspapers to the ambassadors of agreat State; and no one more fully justifies the analogy than M. DeBlowitz, for it is profitable to recall that when in 1875 the militaryparty of Germany secretly planned to strike down France, when thestricken gladiator was slowly but courageously struggling to itsfeet, it was de Blowitz, who in an article in the London _Times_ letthe light of day into the brutal and iniquitous scheme, and by merepublicity defeated for the time being this conspiracy against thehonor of France and the peace of the world. Unfortunately the _coup_of the Prussian military clique was only postponed. Our generation wasdestined to sustain the unprecedented horrors of a base attempt todestroy France, that very glorious asset of all civilization. 

De Blowitz took great interest in his brilliant nephew and at hissuggestion Lauzanne became the London correspondent of the _Matin_ in1898, when he was only twenty-four years of age. This brought him intodirect communication with the London _Times_ which then as nowexchanged cable news with the _Matin_, and it was the duty of theyoung journalist to take the cable news of the "Thunderer" andtransmit such portions as would particularly interest France to the_Matin_, with such special comment as suggested itself. How well hedid this work, requiring as it did the most accurate judgment and thenicest discrimination, was shown when he was made Editor-in-Chief ofthe _Matin_ in 1901. 

His tenure of office was destined to be short for, when the world warbroke out, M. Lauzanne, as a First Lieutenant of the French Army, joined the colors in the first days of mobilization and surrenderedthe pen for the sword. His career as editor had been long enough, however, for him to impress upon the minds of the French public theimminency of the Prussian Peril. As to this he had no illusions andhis powerful editorials had done much to combat the spirit ofpacificism, which at that time was weakening the preparations ofFrance for the inevitable conflict. 

The obligation of universal service required him to exchange hisposition of great power and usefulness for a lesser position, but thisspirit of common service in the ranks means much for France or for anynation. The democracy of the French Army could not be questioned, whenthe powerful Editor of the _Matin_ became merely a lieutenant in theTerritorial Infantry. As such, he served in the battle of the Marneand later before Verdun, and thus could say of the two most heroicchapters in French history, as Æneas said of the Siege of Troy, "Muchof which I saw, and part of which I was. "

Having fulfilled the obligation of universal service in the ranks, itis not strange that in 1916 he was recalled to serve the FrenchMinistry of Foreign Affairs. For a time he rendered great service inSwitzerland, where from the beginning of the war an acute butever-lessening controversy has raged between the pro-German and thepro-Ally interests. 

He was then chosen for a much more important mission. In October, 1916, he came to the United States as head of the "Official Bureau ofFrench Information, " and here he has remained until the present hour. As such, he has been an unofficial ambassador of France. His positionhas been not unlike that of Franklin at Passy in the period thatpreceded the formal recognition by France of the United States and theTreaty of Alliance of 1778. As with Franklin, his weapon has been thepen and the printing press, and the unfailing tact with which he hascarried on his mission is not unworthy of comparison with that ofFranklin. No one who has been privileged to meet and know M. Lauzannecan fail to be impressed with his fine urbanity, his _savoir faire_and his perfect tact. Without any attempt at propaganda, he hasgreatly impressed American public opinion by his contributions to ourpress and his many public addresses. In none of them has he ever madea false step or uttered a tactless note. His words have always beenthose of a sane moderation and the influence that he has wielded hasbeen that of truth. Apart from the vigor and calm persuasiveness ofhis utterances, his winning personality has made a deep impressionupon all Americans who have been privileged to come in contact withhim. The highest praise that can be accorded to him is that he hasbeen a true representative of his own noble, generous and chivalrousnation. Its sweetness and power have been exemplified by his charmingpersonality. 

Although he has taken a forceful part in possibly the greatestintellectual controversy that has ever raged among men, he has fromfirst to last been the gentleman and it has been his quiet dignity andgentleness that has added force to all that he has written anduttered, especially at the time when America was the greatest neutralforum of public opinion. 

If "good wine needs no bush and a good play needs no epilogue, " then agood book needs no prologue. Therefore I shall not refer to thesimplicity and charm, with which M. Lauzanne has told the story withwhich this book deals. The reader will judge that for himself; andunless the writer of this foreword is much mistaken, that judgmentwill be wholly favorable. There have been many war books--a verydeluge of literature in which thinking men have been hopelesslysubmerged--but most books of wartime reminiscences do not ring true. There is too obvious an attempt to be dramatic and sensational. Thisbook avoids this error and its author has contented himself withtelling in a simple and convincing manner something of the part whichhe was called upon to play. 

I venture to predict that all good Americans who read this book willbecome the friends, through the printed pages, of this gifted andbrilliant writer, and if it were possible for such Americans toincrease their love and admiration for France, then this book woulddeepen the profound regard in which America holds its ancient ally. 

 JAMES M. BECK. 

CONTENTS

 PAGEI

WHY FRANCE IS FIGHTING

The declaration of war and the French mobilization--Theinvasion and the tragic days of Paris in August andSeptember, 1914: personal reminiscences--The premeditatedcruelties of Germany: new documents--The German organizedspying system in France 1

II

HOW FRANCE IS FIGHTING

France fighting with her men, her women and her children--Themen show that they know how to suffer: episodes of the Marneand of Verdun--The women encourage the men to fight and tosuffer: some illustrations--Sacred Union of all Frenchmenagainst the enemy--all, without any distinction of class orreligion, die smiling--Letters of soldiers--The organizationin the rear: the work in the factories 51

III

FRANCE SUFFERING BUT NOT BLED WHITE

Despite her sufferings, France is able to pay 20 billions ofdollars, for the war, in three years--French commerce andFrench work during the war--France is helping her allies froma military standpoint and financially--The saving of Serbia 94

IV

THE WAR AIMS OF FRANCE

Restitution: Alsace-Lorraine--Restoration: The devastated andlooted territories. Guarantees: The Society of Nations 138

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I. --HOW GERMANS FORCED WAR ON FRANCE 179

APPENDIX II. --HOW GERMANS TREAT AN AMBASSADOR 183

APPENDIX III. --HOW GERMANS ARE WAGING WAR 196

APPENDIX IV. --HOW GERMANS OCCUPY THE TERRITORY OF AN ENEMY 200

APPENDIX V. --HOW GERMANS TREAT ALSACE-LORRAINE 206

APPENDIX VI. --HOW GERMANS UNDERSTAND FUTURE PEACE 229

FIGHTING FRANCE

I

WHY FRANCE IS FIGHTING

Had you been in Paris late in the afternoon of Monday, August third, nineteen fourteen, you might have seen a slight man, whose reddishface was adorned with a thick white mustache, walk out of the GermanEmbassy, which was situated on the Rue de Lille near the Boulevard St. Germain. Along the boulevard and across the Pont de la Concorde hewalked in a manner calculated to attract attention. He approached theanimated and peevish groups of citizens that had formed a littlebefore for the purpose of discussing the imminent war as if he wantedthem to notice him. You would have said that he was trying to berecognized and to take part in the discussions. 

But no one paid any attention to him. 

Finally he came to the Quai d'Orsay, opened the Gate of the Ministryof Foreign Affairs, and said to the attendant who hastened to open thedoor for him:

"Announce the German Ambassador to the Prime Minister. "

He was Baron de Schoen, Ambassador Extraordinary and MinisterPlenipotentiary of his Germanic Majesty, William the Second. For twodays he had wandered through the most crowded streets and avenues inParis, hoping for some injury, some insult, some overt act which wouldhave permitted him to say that Germany in his person had beenprovoked, insulted by France. But there had been no violence, theinsult had not been offered, the overt act had not occurred. Then, tired of this method, de Schoen took the initiative and presented adeclaration of war from his government. 

The declaration, as history will record, was expressed in these terms:

 The German administrative and military authorities have established a certain number of flagrantly hostile acts committed on German territory by French military aviators. Several of these have openly violated the neutrality of Belgium by flying over the territory of that country; one has attempted to destroy buildings near Wesel; others have been seen in the district of the Eifel, one has thrown bombs on the railway near Carlsruhe and Nuremberg. 

 I am instructed and I have the honor to inform your Excellency, that in the presence of these acts of aggression the German Empire considers itself in a state of war with France in consequence of the acts of the latter Power. 

 At the same time I have the honor to bring to the knowledge of your Excellency that the German authorities will detain French mercantile vessels in German ports, but they will release them if, within forty-eight hours, they are assured of complete reciprocity. 

 My diplomatic mission having thus come to an end, it only remains for me to request your Excellency to be good enough to furnish me with my passports, and to take the steps you consider suitable to assure my return to Germany, with the staff of the Embassy, as well as with the staff of the Bavarian Legation and of the French Consulate General in Paris. 

 Be good enough, M. Le President, to receive the assurances of my deepest respect. 

 (Signed) DE SCHOEN. 

Immediately M. René Viviani, the French Premier and Minister ofForeign Affairs, protested against the statements of thisextraordinary declaration. No French aviator had flown over Belgium;no French aviator had come near Wesel; no French aviator had flown inthe direction of Eifel; nor had hurled bombs on the railroad nearCarlsruhe or Nuremberg. And less than two years later a German, Dr. Schwalbe, the Burgomaster of Nuremberg, confirmed M. Viviani'sindignant denial of the German accusations:

"It is false, " wrote Dr. Schwalbe in the _Deutsche MedizinischeWochenschrift_, "that French aviators dropped bombs on the railway atNuremberg. The general of the third Bavarian army corps, which wasstationed in the vicinity, assured me that he knew nothing of theattempt except from the newspapers. .. . "

But a blow had just been struck that announced the rising of thecurtain on the most frightful tragedy the universe has ever known. This announcement was contained in the brief, plain words of thedeclaration of war. 

De Schoen left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he had beencourteously received for many years, and made his way out. He wasescorted by M. Philippe Berthelot, who was at the time _directeurpolitique_ at the Quai d'Orsay. As he was going out of the door, deSchoen pointed to the city, which, with its trees, its houses, and itsmonuments, could be seen clearly on the other side of the Seine. 

"Poor Paris, " he exclaimed, "what will happen to her?"

At the same time he offered his hand to M. Berthelot, but the lattercontented himself with a silent bow, as if he had neither seen theproffered hand nor heard the question. 

It was a quarter before seven o'clock in the evening. From that timeon France has been at war with Germany. 

 * * * * *

Mobilization had commenced the previous evening. To be exact, it wason Sunday, August third, at midnight. 

How many times the French people had thought of that mobilizationduring the last twenty years, in proportion as Germany grew moreaggressive, more brutal and more insulting! Personally I had oftenlooked at the little red ticket fastened to my military card, on whichwere written these brief words:

 In time of mobilization, Lieutenant Lauzanne (Stéphane) will report on the second day of mobilization to the railroad station nearest his home and there entrain immediately for Alençon. 

And each time I looked at the little red card, I felt a bitanxious. .. . Mobilization! The railroad station! The first train! Whata mob of people, what an overturning of everything, what a lot ofdisorder there would be! Well, there had been neither disorder nordisturbance nor a mob, for everything had taken place in a manner thatwas marvelously simple and calm. 

Monday, August third, at sunrise I had gone to the Gare des Invalides. There was no mob, there was no crowd. Some policemen were walking insolitary state along the sidewalk, which was deserted. The stationmaster, to whom I presented my card, told me, in the mostextraordinarily calm voice in the world, as if he had been doing thesame thing every morning:

"Track number 5. Your train leaves at 6. 27. "

And the train left at 6. 27, like any good little train that is ontime. It had left quietly; it was almost empty. It had followed theSeine, and I had seen Paris lighted up by the peaceable morning glow, Paris which was still asleep. And I had rubbed my eyes, asking myselfif I wasn't dreaming, if I wasn't asleep. Were we really at war? Myeyes were seeing nothing of it, but my memory kept recalling the fact. It recalled the unforgettable scenes of those last days--that sceneespecially, at four o'clock in the evening on the first of August, when the crowd along the boulevard had suddenly seen the mobilizationorders posted in the window of a newspaper office. A shout burstforth, a shout I shall hear until my last moment, which made metremble from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. It was ashout that seemed to come from the very bowels of the earth, the shoutof a people who, for years, had waited for that moment. 

Then the "Marseillaise"! Then a short, imperious demand:

"The flags! We want the flags!"

And flags burst forth from all quarters of Paris, decorated in thetwinkling of an eye as if it were a fête day. Yes, all that had reallyhappened. All that had taken place. We were really at war. 

Little by little the train filled up. It stopped at every station, andat every station men got aboard. They came in gayly and confidently, bidding farewell to the women who had accompanied them and who stayedbehind the gate to do their weeping. Everybody was mixed in togetherin the compartments without any distinctions of rank, station, classor anything else. At Argentan I saw some rough Norman farmers enterthe coaches, talking with the same good natured calmness as if theywere going away on a business trip. One expression was repeated againand again:

"If we've got to go, we've got to go. "

One farmer said:

"They are looking after our good. I shall fight until I fall. "

The spirit of the whole French people spoke from these mouths. Youfelt the firm purpose of the nation come out of the very earth. 

The country side presented an unwonted appearance. I remember vividlythe view the broad plains of Beauce offered. They looked as if theywere dead or fallen into a lethargy. Their life had come to an abruptend on Saturday, the first of August, at four o'clock in theafternoon. We saw mounds of grain that had been cut and was stillscattered on the ground, with the scythe glistening nearby. We sawpitchforks resting alongside the hay they had just finished tossing. We saw sheaves lying on the ground with no one to take them away. Thevery villages were deserted; not a human being appeared in them. Youwould have said that this train that was passing through in the wakeof hundreds of other trains had blotted out all the inhabitants of theregion. 

We detrained at Alençon, arriving there about mid-day. Alençon is atiny Norman village that is habitually calm and peaceful, but on thatday it was crowded with people. An enormous wave, the wave of the menwho were mobilizing, rushed through the main street of the little townin the direction of the two barracks. I went with the current. Mycaptain, whom I found in the middle of a part of the barracks, had noteven had time to put on his uniform. He explained the situation to mewith military brevity:

"It's very simple. .. . It's now three o'clock in the afternoon. The dayafter tomorrow, at six o'clock in the morning, we entrain for Paris. We have one day to clothe, equip and arm our company. "

It is no small matter to clothe, equip and arm two hundred and fiftymen in twenty-four hours. You have to find in the enormous pile, whichis in a corner of a shed, two hundred and fifty coats, pairs oftrousers and hats which will fit two hundred and fifty entirelyseparate and distinct chests, legs and heads. You have to find fivehundred pairs of shoes for two hundred and fifty pairs of feet. Youhave to arrange the men in rank according to their heights, form thesections and the squads. You have to have soup prepared and transportprovisions. You have to go and get rifles and cartridges. You have toget funds advanced for the company accounts from the very beginning ofthe campaign. You have to get your duties organized, make up accountsand prepare statements. You have to breathe the breath of life intothe little machine which is going to take its place in the bigmachine. 

And there was not a person there to help us to do this--not a lineofficer, not a second lieutenant. The captain had to act on his own, to think on his own, to decide everything on his own. He had to doall by himself the work that yesterday twenty-five department storeheads, twenty-five shoe makers and twenty-five certified publicaccountants would have had a hard time doing. 

He did it! Every captain in the French Army did it. And the nextmorning at six o'clock our little machine was ready to go and take itsplace in the operations of the big machine. The following day, at sixo'clock, we entrained again; but no longer was it the confused anddisorganized crowd that it had been the evening before. It was acompany with arms and leaders; a company which had already made theacquaintance of discipline. That was proved by the silence reigningeverywhere. At the moment of departure the Colonel had commanded:

"Silence!"

There was not a sound. The long train, crowded with soldiers, was asilent train which passed through the open country, the towns and thevillages all the way to Paris without a sound except the puffing ofthe engine. In the evening, silent always, we detrained at Paris andmarched to a barracks situated to the north of the capital. We wereto stay there a month. 

 * * * * *

The story of Paris during the month of August, 1914, is anextraordinary one that would deserve an entire volume to itself. Thatfeverish city has never lived through hours that were more calm andpeaceful. During the first two weeks Paris seemed to be in a sweet, peaceful dream, in which the citizens listened eagerly for sounds ofvictory coming from the far distant horizon. On the twenty-fifth ofAugust Paris, which had heard only vague echoes of the Battle ofCharleroi, awakened with a jolt when it read the famous communiquébeginning with the words: "_De la Somme aux Vosges_. .. . "

So the enemy was already at the Somme, a few days' march from thecapital! But the awakening was as free from disturbance as the dreamhad been. Paris felt absolute confidence in the army, in Joffre; andthe Parisian reasoning was expressed in one phrase, "The army hasretreated, but it is neither destroyed nor beaten; as long as thearmy is there, Paris has nothing to fear. .. . " And when Sunday thethirtieth of August came, Paris was as calm and confident as it wason the first day of the war. 

I shall remember the thirtieth of August for a long time. 

They had posted on all the walls two notices. One of them was large, the other small. The large one was a proclamation of the Governmentannouncing the departure of its officials for Bordeaux:

 FRENCHMEN!

 For several weeks our troops and the enemy's army have been engaged in a series of bloody battles. The bravery of our soldiers has gained them marked advantages at several points. But in the north the pressure of the German forces has compelled us to withdraw. 

 This retirement imposes a regrettably necessary decision on the President of the Republic and the Government. To protect national safety the government officials have to leave Paris at once. 

 Under the command of an eminent leader, a French army, full of bravery and resource, will defend the capital and its people against the invader. But at the same time war will be carried on over the rest of the territory. 

The small notice was from General Gallieni, the new Governor of Paris. It had, in its brevity, the beauty of an ancient inscription:

 "I have been ordered to defend Paris. I shall obey this command until the end. "

That same Sunday, the thirtieth of August, was the first day theTaubes came over Paris. By chance I was guarding one of the city'sgates. I saw the airplane coming from a distance. I had not the leastdoubt about it for it had the silhouette of a bird of prey thatrendered the German planes so easily recognizable at that time. Forthat matter, no one was deceived by it, and from all the batteries, forts and other positions a violent fusillade greeted it. There wasfiring from the streets, windows, courts and roofs. I followed itthrough my field glass, and for a moment I thought it had been hit, for it paused in its flight. But this was an optical illusion. .. . Theplane simply flew higher, having without doubt heard the sound of thefusillade and the bullets having perhaps whistled too close to thepilot's ears. When he was almost over my post, a light white cloudappeared under its wings and, in the ten ensuing seconds, therefollowed a terrible series of sounds, for a bomb had just fallen andexploded very near at hand. But so entrancing was it to observe theflight of this pirate who, in spite of everything, continued in hisaudacious course, that I gazed at the heavens, trying to determinewhether or not I saw once more the little white cloud, the precursorof the machine of death. 

And everyone who was near me--workmen, passers-by, women, children--stayed there too, their feet firmly on the ground, theirglances lost in the limitless sky. No one ran away; no one hid; no onesought refuge behind a door or in a cellar. It's a characteristic ofairplane bombs that they frighten no one, even when they kill. Themachine you see does not frighten you; only the machine you can't seeupsets your nerves. 

However that may be, the curiosity of Paris was insatiable. Even inthe tragic hours we were living through at that time, this curiosityremained as eager, ardent and amused as ever. Every afternoon, at thestroke of four, crowds collected in the squares and avenues. Themotive was to see the Taubes! Since one Taube had flown over the city, no one doubted that a second one would come the next day. A girl'sboarding school obtained a free afternoon to enjoy the spectacle. Themidinettes were allowed to leave their work. At Montmartre, where thesteps of the Butte gave a better chance of scanning the horizon, places were in great demand. 

There was a crowd along the fortifications to see the works for thedefense on which, by General Gallieni's order, men were working. Thousands of spectators of both sexes, but especially of women, wereexamining the bases that were being put in for the guns, the openingsthey were making to serve as loopholes, the joists they were puttingacross the gates, and the paving stones with which the entrances werebeing barricaded. This crowd did not want to believe in the proximityof the enemy. Or, if it believed it, it didn't want to admit thatthere was danger. Or, if it admitted that there was danger, it wantedto share in it. Above everything it wanted to see; it wanted to see!

The last night in August I had a hard time freeing the approaches ofthe gate I was guarding. There were only women, but there werethousands of them and neither prayer nor argument could persuade themto make up their minds to go home. 

"Nothing will happen, " I told them. "Look here now, be reasonable andgo home to bed. "

"But we want to see. .. . "

"What do you want to see?"

"Want to see what kind of a reception the Prussians will get if theycome. "

Aside from this the mob was remarkably easy to get on with. A strictorder had forbidden that anyone be permitted to enter or leave Parisuntil sunrise. As a result the capital found itself cut off from thesuburbs, and lots of little working girls, who came in for the dayfrom Clichy or Levallois-Perret, couldn't get back to their homes inthe evening. They had to camp out under the stars. 

"It's very amusing, " they said, "here we are just like soldiers. "

I even heard one of them say:

"What a pity there isn't always war. "

That same night, about eleven o'clock, a heavy sound was heard comingfrom the direction of the city. Some urchins shouted:

"It's the soldiers. It's the soldiers. "

An entire Algerian division was, as a matter of fact, detraining andhurrying to fight before Paris. Behind it followed a long line oftaxi-cabs, the famous line of taxi-cabs requisitioned by GeneralGallieni to carry munitions to the battle field of the Ourcq. Theymade an incomparable spectacle, that magnificent summer night, in thebright moonlight, the long column of Algerian cavalry, with theirshining burnouses, on fiery little horses. Applause burst forth fromthe mob and reached the soldiers. The women threw kisses at them, butthey overwhelmed my men and me with reproaches:

"See, " they shrieked at us, "if we had minded you and gone home, wewouldn't have seen them. "

 * * * * *

Paris, which didn't know about the Battle of Charleroi, knew about theBattle of the Marne. Paris knew about the Battle of the Marne not onlyon account of the troops who marched through its streets, but becauseit heard the big guns roar for three days, without stopping, towardsthe north. 

What has not already been written and said about the Battle of theMarne, a conflict which will remain legendary in history? What willnot be said and written on that subject in the future?. .. Some writerswill see in it a miracle, others a strategic action engineered by agenius, others a chance stroke of destiny. The truth of the matter ismore simple and appealing than any of these explanations and, althoughthe whole truth is not yet known about the fight at the Marne, enoughis known to make clear the two or three chief reasons why victory cameto France and defeat to Germany, safety to civilization and a repulseto barbarism. 

To be sure there was a great deal of strategy in it; and the strokethat was conceived in the master brain of Joffre and carried out byGenerals Gallieni and Maunoury--a stroke which consisted in forming anew army on the extreme right of the German hordes to come and hurlitself sharply against these hordes--was a brave and bold maneuverwhich prepared the way for victory. 

But this maneuver would not in itself have sufficed to win the victoryif Maunoury had not attacked with an irresistible élan on the extremeleft, upsetting the German plan of battle; if Franchet d'Esperey hadnot supported Maunoury's attack vigorously and succeeded in breakingthe German left; if, especially, Foch, at the center, had notperformed unheard of miracles in breaking down the enemy's resistanceand not allowing his own lines to be broken; if, farther on, de Langlede Cary and Sarrail had not held off the Princes of Bavaria andPrussia before Vitry; if, on the right, de Castelnau had not helduntil the end the Grand Couronné at Nancy. The first truth is thatthey were all--Joffre, Gallieni, Maunoury, Franchet d'Esperey, Foch, de Langle de Cary, Sarrail, Castelnau, Dubail, to mention them in theorder of the battle line from left to right--absolutely incomparable. As an eye-witness said, "each man was on his own, " each man gave thevery best there was in his brain, his skill, his mind, his soul, hisheart. The battle would have been lost if a single one of them hadfailed once during the entire seven days it raged. Opposed to the Hunswas a chain forged of the finest steel, every link in which met thetest for equal and unparalleled resistance. Therein lay the miracle ofthe Marne!

And the second great truth is that behind these generals, who allshowed themselves without equal, were armies which, without exception, had kept intact their fighting spirit, that is, their faith inthemselves, in their leaders, in the destiny of their country, in thebeauty of the cause for which they fought. .. . Enough can never be saidof the elemental importance that lies in the morale of the fightingmen on the battle field. It is lamentable to hear far distantstrategists reduce the conflict of two peoples to a problem in tacticsor a list of ordnance statistics. It is enough to make angels weepwhen spectators, at a safe distance, speak of succoring a beatenpeople by sending them food stuffs, shells and men. Above all, beyondall, is that immaterial, incalculable, invaluable force which is thesole true mistress of warfare--moral force--fighting spirit!

The Frenchmen in the Battle of the Marne kept their fighting spiritintact. I remember asking many of the officers attached to the forceswhich, after the Battle of Charleroi, retreated under a broiling sun, along roads burning with heat, through a suffocating dust, how theyfelt at this disheartening time. All of them answered, "We did notknow where we were going or what we were doing, but we did know onething--that we would beat them!" One writer, Pierre Laserre, describedthis retreat in the words, "Their bodies were retreating, but nottheir souls!" This is proven by the arrival on the fifth of Septemberof Joffre's immortal order, "The hour has come to hold our positionsat any cost, and to fight rather than retreat. .. . No longer must welook at the enemy over our shoulders; the time has come to employ allour efforts in attacking and defeating him. ". .. That evening, whenthey heard their leader's appeal, the hearts of the men bounded inresponse. The next morning, at dawn, their bodies leaped up and hurledthemselves on the enemy. Therein lay the miracle of the Marne!

Finally, at the very hour when the fighting spirit of the French Armyhad never been higher, the fighting spirit of the German Army hadnever been lower. It was low because the physical strength of theGermans was low, worn out, and broken by the shameful orgies, thedisgraceful drinking which had reduced these men to the level ofswine. It was low because the German fighting men had been led tobelieve that they would have to fight no longer, that the great effortwas ended, that there was no French Army to put a stop to theirpillaging and burning. "Tomorrow we enter Paris, we are going to theMoulin Rouge, " von Kluck's soldiers said in their jargon to theinhabitants of Compiègne. "Tomorrow we will burn Bar-le-Duc, Poincaré's home town, " the Crown Prince's soldiers said. What sort ofresistance could such men oppose to Joffre's soldiers? Their spirit, granting that they had ever had any, was broken beforehand. And thatis another thing that will explain the outcome of the Battle of theMarne. 

 * * * * *

What Paris knew very quickly, very completely and very surely were thedetails of frightful looting and of the first atrocities perpetratedby the Germans, who demonstrated a premeditated intention to destroy, defile and wipe out everything in their path. And Paris was doubtlessthe first city in France to comprehend the significance of this war, which is a war of civilization against barbarism, a sacred war inwhich the forces of humanity raise a rampart of human breasts againstthe violent reappearance of primitive savagery. 

Those of us who had a hand in some part of the Battle of the Marnewere not slow to comprehend who the enemy was we were fighting and whywe had to fight him to the death. 

Among the many things that will be always engraved on the tablets ofmy memory, the deepest is of the time when I was on guard at the fieldof battle on the Ourcq, north of Meaux, on the extremity of the battleline of the Marne. Field of battle I have just written. No, it was nota field of battle but a field of carnage. I have forgotten the corpsesI met in the roads or in the fields with their grinning faces andtheir distorted attitudes. But I shall never forget the ruin that waseverywhere, the abominable manner in which the fields had been laidwaste, the sacrilegious pillage of homes. That bore the trade mark ofGerman "Kultur. " That trade mark will be enough to dishonor a nationfor centuries. 

I see again those humble villages situated along the road to Meaux, Penchard, Marcilly, Chambry, Etrepilly, where a barbarian horde hadpassed. Since there were no inhabitants remaining--men whose throatscould be cut, women who could be violated, or babies to shootdown--the horde had vented its rage on the furniture and the poorlittle familiar objects in which each one of us puts a bit of hissoul. 

I arrived in Etrepilly at the same time as a detachment of Zouaves. While they piously buried their companions who had fallen in forcingtheir way into the village, I wandered alone among the ruins. Therehad been a hundred houses there, and not a single one was untouched. Some had been hit by shells, and the shell which burst in the interiorof the house had destroyed everything. That, of course, was war, andthere was nothing to say about it. 

But other houses, which had been spared by shell fire, had not beenspared by the Kaiser's soldiery. The Barbarians had placed their clawson them. Everything had been taken out of the houses and scattered tothe four winds of heaven. Here is a portrait that has been wrenchedfrom its frame and trampled on. A baby's bathtub has been carried intothe garden, and the soldiers have deposited their excrement in it. There are chairs that have been smashed by the kicks of heavy bootsand wardrobes that have been disemboweled. Here is a fine old mahoganytable that has been carried into the fields for five hundred metersand then broken in two. An old red damask armchair, with wings at thesides, one of those old armchairs in which the grandmothers of Francesit by the fire in the evening has been torn in shreds by knifethrusts. Linen is mixed with mud; the white veil some girl wore at herfirst communion is defiled with excrement. .. . An old man is wanderingamong the ruins. He has just come back to the devastated village. Hesays to me simply:

"I saw them in 1870. They came here, but they didn't do this. They aresavages. "

A woman was there, too. She had come an hour or so ago with the oldman, and she stood on the step of her defiled, despoiled home wherethe curtains hung in tatters at the windows. She saw me pass by. Shewanted to speak to me, but her voice stuck in her throat. There shestood, her arms extended like a great cross. She could only sob:

"Look! Look!"

And she was like a symbol of the whole wretched business. 

The men who do such deeds are the men France is fighting. 

 * * * * *

Vincy-Manoeuvre was another one of the villages. It is situated nearthe border of the Department of the Oise. It was still in flames whenI entered it. On the outskirts of the hamlet there used to be a largefactory. Only the iron framework of this factory remained; the asheshad commenced to smoke, giving forth flames from time to time. Herealso every house had been destroyed and pillaged. Only the churchremained standing, and on the belfry which was silhouetted against thesky, the weather cock seemed to shudder with horror. 

Bottles covered the ground everywhere at Vincy-Manoeuvre. There werebottles in the streets, along the highways, in the fields. Theymarked the road by which the vanquished hordes had retreated. Icounted almost two hundred in one trench, where a German battery hadbeen placed. They lay pell-mell, mixed in with unexploded shells. Panic had apparently swept the gunners away. They had not had time tocarry off their shells, so they had left them behind. But they had hadtime to empty the bottles. Absinthe, brandy, rum, champagne, beer, andwine had all been consumed, and the labels lay alongside of eachother. Drunken, bloodthirsty brutes, thieving, sickening, nauseousbeasts were what had descended upon France and passed through hercountry. Ruins, ashes and filth were the traces left behind by theGerman mob. 

Some hundreds of yards from the village I noticed a woman lost in theimmense beet fields. Apparently she was unharmed. I walked in herdirection, thrusting aside with my legs corpses of men and horses, scaling the trenches, making a circuit around the craters made byshells. Suddenly what was my surprise at seeing two German soldiers, accompanied by a farmer, coming along a footpath! They stopped at sixpaces, gave me a military salute, and pointed to the white brassard ofthe Red Cross they wore on their arms. 

"Where do you come from?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"We come from that farm, where we have been for two days caring fortwo of our wounded. We didn't see any French soldier or officer. Wedon't know what to do. We want to go to the village down there, " theypointed out a hamlet two or three kilometers off, "where we left adoctor and one hundred and fifty-three wounded. "

"Very good, " I said, "follow me. "

Obediently the two orderlies marched behind me to the village they hadpointed out. It was situated on the national highway to Soissons. Inthis place were a hundred and fifty or two hundred Germans, quarteredin four or five houses under the guard of a company of Zouaves who hadjust arrived a half hour previously. The German major, informed of myarrival, stood in front of the main building. He wore gold-rimmedspectacles, his face was the type the Alsatian Hansi loves to show inhis books. He spoke very good French and even pretended that he didnot want to answer the questions I asked him in his own language. 

"Show me your wounded, " I ordered. 

He immediately conducted me everywhere, explaining the nature of eachwound. Some were suffering and groaning; others, seeing the uniform ofa French officer, tried to raise themselves up and salute. 

The German major asked:

"When they come to evacuate the wounded to Meaux or some other place, do you suppose I shall be allowed to accompany them and continue mytreatment?"

"I don't know, " I replied, "but there is one thing you can be sure of. My superiors will act in accordance with the demands of humanity. Nowyou follow me. "

I led him outside to the doorstep. I pointed out the poor homes of thevillage, ruined, reduced to dust. Everywhere were the dwellings of theentire region, with their furniture lying in the mud and ashes. 

"Look at that, " I said to him. "That is what your men have done. "

The German officer turned very pale, then very red. He answered:

"It's sad, but it is war. "

"No, " I replied, "it isn't war. It's pure barbarism and it'sabominable. "

Some few paces away from us French Zouaves were sitting beside somewounded Germans. In their own glasses they poured out a little cordialfor their prisoners; they gave them their last cigarettes. One of themhad even taken, as if he were his brother, the head of a woundedGerman in his left hand to support it. With his right hand, verycarefully, he was giving him a drink. I pointed that out to the Germanmajor, saying:

"There! That is war--at least it's war as we understand it. "

This time he made no answer. 

But all the German prisoners repeated what he had said to me as a setphrase. On the whole, when you have seen ten German prisoners youhave seen a thousand; when you have questioned one German officer youhave questioned fifty. The characteristic of the race is that theyhave abolished all individuality. You find yourself in an amorphousmass, cast in a uniform mold, not in the presence of human beings whothink their own thoughts. 

I often saw trains stop in what is called a _gare regulatrice_, wherethe prisoners are questioned and distributed. These trains bring inprisoners and their officers. The commandant of the station, inaccordance with his duty, has the officers appear before him so thathe can question them:

"Your name? Your rank?"

The German states his name and rank, offering of necessity hisidentification card. 

"Your regiment?"

"Such and such a regiment. "

"Your army corps?"

"Such and such an army corps. "

"Who is the general in command?"

Like an automaton the officer replies:

"_Das sage ich nicht. _" ("I can not answer that. ")

And you know that it would be an easier matter to make the stonebeneath your feet talk than one of these prisoners. 

However, the commandant frowns slightly, glances over his notes, andsays coldly:

"I know who your general is. If you belong to such and such an armycorps, the general in command must be General von Bissing. ". .. 

"I have nothing to say. "

As a general thing one of the staff had something to say. Theinterpreter, the convoy officer or the station master would get a lotof fun out of reciting to the German passages from von Bissing'sfamous and ferocious proclamation ordering that no quarter be givenand that the troops should not encumber themselves with prisoners. Then he would ask:

"What would you say if we were to put such a principle into practice?"

The German often became very pale. He would content himself with ashrug of the shoulders--the shrug of the brute who knows that he issafe among civilized men. 

The men I questioned were often doctors who ranked as majors or heldsome commission in the German medical corps. They were less stiff andautomaton-like than the officers and sergeants of the line service. Their attitude varied in accordance with the number of stars they hadon their epaulette. If their rank were inferior to mine, they wereexaggeratedly obsequious, holding their hands along the crease in theseam of their trousers with their fingers close together--at strictattention. If their rank were superior to mine, they were defiant andinsolent. Nevertheless, they showed themselves more communicative thantheir comrades of the line service. Most of them spoke French--wellenough, though not perfectly. All of them had been in Paris, and oneand all repeated this phrase:

"We know your beautiful country well. We have been in your beautifulcapital often. .. . "

For my part, I invariably spoke to them of the atrocities their menhad perpetrated in that beautiful country, or of those they hadperpetrated in the country of our beautiful neighbor. .. . Rheims, Ypres, Louvain, Andenne, were the names that always returned to mylips. I hoped each time that I would get from those men who, in spiteof everything, were men of science, members of humanity's mostgenerous profession, if not a word of contrition at least a banal wordof regret. Since they had not ordered the sacrileges or the massacres, they need not keep silent. But it was all in vain. They also excused, justified and explained. .. . 

The explanation was simple and stereotyped. For the battered Cathedralof Rheims, for the total destruction of Clermont, for the systematiclaying-waste of Louvain, for the frightful company of old men, womenand children who were dragged off into captivity, three words were thejustification--the three words of the German major at Vincy:

"_Das ist Krieg. _" ("It is war. ")

For the blackened ruins of Senlis, for that charming city of Louvain, razed to the ground in one night as completely as if the scourge ofGod had passed through it; for Andenne, assassinated in cold bloodwith not one of its houses being granted mercy by the assassins; forTermonde, where General Sommerfeld, seated in a chair in the midst ofthe Grande Place, gave the order that it be burned and replied to theentreaties of the mayor:

"No. Burn it to the ground!"

Five other words sufficed to explain everything:

"Civilians fired on our troops. "

Not one village in flames, not one desecrated monument, not oneorganized killing, not one tortured city that does not fall under thescope of one or the other of those justifications, "War is war, " or"Civilians fired on our troops. "

Doctors, savants, officers, Bavarians, Saxons, and Prussians haveadopted the double excuse with a marvelous unity: they advance it in acertain tone of voice. It is firmly embedded in what is left of theirconsciences as firmly as the iron cross is riveted on their necks. 

Besides, it was all planned, wished for, arranged in advance. Germanfrightfulness formed a part of the plan of campaign. It is enough toread the manual called "Kriegesgebrauch in Landkriege" (MilitaryUsage in Landwarfare) to be very much edified. Every German officerhas had this manual in his hands since the days of peace. It comprisedhis rules of warfare. It was a part of his war equipment, the same ashis field glasses and his staff-officer's card. And here is what hereads on the very first page:

 War carried on energetically can not be directed against the inhabitants and fortified places of the hostile state alone; it will endeavor, it ought to endeavor to _destroy equally all the enemy's intellectual and material resources_. Humanitarian considerations, that is, consideration for the persons of individuals and for the sake of propriety, can have no recognition unless the end and nature of the war allow it. 

And, a little farther on, he reads there:

 Profound study of the history of war will make the officer guard against exaggerated humanitarian concessions, will teach him that war can not take place without certain harshness, _that true humanity consists in proceeding without tenderness_. 

Farther along in that book, he reads:

 All the methods invented by the technic of modern warfare, the most perfected as well as the most dangerous, _those which kill the greatest number at once, are permitted_. These last are conducive to the quickest end of the war; they are, if you consider matters carefully, the most humane methods. .. . Prisoners may be killed in case of necessity if there is no other means of guarding them properly. .. . The presence of women, children, old men, the sick and the wounded in a beseiged city can hasten the place's fall; in consequence it would be very foolish of the beseiger to renounce this advantage. .. . They will force the inhabitants to furnish information concerning their army, military resources and secrets of their country. The majority of writers in all nations condemn this usage. _It will be used none the less_--very regretfully--for military reasons. 

Finally, on the volume's last page, is found this extraordinary maxim:

 "Any wrong that the war demands, however great it may be, is allowed. "

Therefore the horrors which the Germans performed from the war's verybeginning, which provoked an expression of great indignation from allthe civilized world, were not perpetrated in a moment of orgy ormadness. They have been perpetrated coldly, deliberately, intentionally. 

Besides, not only the officers and the common soldiers have beentaught to make war in this barbarous fashion. It has been taught tothe entire German people. This precept proves the case. It emanatesnot from a soldier but from a poet, who is not addressing the militaryclass but the civilians, the women, the children, and all Germany. Itis the "Hymn of Hate" by the poet Heinrich Vierordt, which, before thewar, was recited in even the German kindergartens:

 Hate, Germany! Slit the throats of your millions of enemies. Raise a monument of their smoking corpses that will rise to the heavens!

 Germany, arm yourself with brazen armor and pierce with your bayonet the heart of every enemy. Take no prisoners! Strike them dumb. Transform into deserts the lands that lie near you!

 Hate, Germany! Victory will come from your anger. Shatter their skulls with blows from your ax and the butt of your musket. These brigands are timid beasts. .. . They are not men. .. . May your fist perform the judgment of God!

It is useless to say what this spirit has brought about. Germany hascarried on the war with vigor, has armed herself with brazen armor!She has transformed neighboring lands into deserts! She has slitthroats, laid waste fields, shattered skulls, she has destroyed allthat lay in her path! She has tried to impress the terror she holdssalutary upon the souls of inoffensive old men and women and children!

This is the first of all the reasons why it is necessary now to fight, and to fight to the death; because these men will understand theabominable nature of "frightfulness" only when they see that"frightfulness" does not pay; only when they see the uselessness ofunchaining horror and of beginning another war. Let an assassin go atliberty and he will commence his killing all over again; send him tothe electric chair and he will regret his crime. 

 * * * * *

Just as France and Paris were not long in understanding what war meantin Germany's mind, France and Paris were not long in accounting forthe danger they had passed through on account of the German spysystem, on account of the formidable web of espionage the Germanagents had woven around all France. 

People felt that this German spy system was there, speculated about itand talked about it for years and years, but it was only in the firstdays of the war that they really appreciated how diabolical it was andhow far it had penetrated into the heart of France. 

What happened at Amiens at the beginning of September, 1914, isespecially characteristic of this. 

Amiens was occupied twice by the enemy. To use the expression of amilitary historian, it seemed as if "the French and the Germans wereplaying hide-and-seek around the town. " As soon as the blue caps ofthe French appeared over the horizon, the yellow pointed helmets ofthe Germans disappeared, rapidly. German occupation meant the samething it did everywhere else--exactions, brutalities, rape. Immediately after he had entered the Prefecture, the German governorlevied a war contribution of one million francs. He also demanded thatthe citizens furnish his troops with wine, cigars, and tobacco; drewup a list of hostages; and arrested all the men between the ages ofseventeen and twenty years. Within twenty-four hours they were ledaway under guard. 

Nothing of all this surprised the brave Picard city. Proudly shesubmitted to her fate. But one thing moved her, or rather angered her, and that was the surety and speed with which the German authoritieswent directly to all the places they should occupy. They did nothesitate an instant about the street to follow or the door at which toknock. The arrest of the fifteen hundred young hostages occurred withan unheard-of rapidity. It seemed as if an invisible but exceedinglyclever hand guided each step, regulated each movement of the invaders. Who could it be who directed, advised and commanded the Germans frombehind a veil?

Doubtless the mystery would never have been solved if, during thesecond occupation, the citizens had not been warned that the next daythey would have to keep their shades down and close all shuttersbecause His Imperial Highness, Prince Eitel Friedrich, the Kaiser'sson, would then make a formal entry into the capital of Picardy. Theshutters were closed; automatically the streets were emptied. 

Into a deserted city, to the sound of trumpet and drum, preceded by astaff gleaming with gold braid and mounted on spirited steeds, theGerman army entered in state. All the shades were drawn in the city. However, behind some of them drawn faces peered forth in sorrow or inanger. In a house on the principal street was a lady whose husband wasat the front. Her father, an aged general who had fought bravely inthe war of 1870, was with her. Through the drawn shades of her homeshe was watching the hated scene. And her glorious old father, however indignant he felt, was watching by her side. 

When the parade was passing by, he made a sudden gesture and said:

"Look at that man on the horse, there, now!"

The man in question seemed to have a horse that pranced a little morethan the others. He rolled around in his saddle a little more than theothers. And the two onlookers had no trouble in recognizing thisaide-de-camp of Prince Eitel's as one of the former directors of alanguage school that had had a branch at Amiens!

There is a sequel to the story . .. For on the afternoon of thatunhappy day Madame X and ten other society ladies of Amiens atdifferent times heard a ring at their doors and saw that sameindividual, in full regalia, booted and spurred, enter their drawingrooms. He came to call on them, to pay his respects, as if it were themost natural thing in the world that he should be there in thatcostume. They all had to restrain the feeling of disgust and angerthis spy aroused in their breasts. It was for the sake of the safetyof their homes, for the lives that were dear to them, that they didthis. And he, entirely unconscious in his vileness, was suave andpolite, played the man about town, recalled one thing or another, mentioned dances and parties. .. . 

So we once more find justification for the famous definition of Germancontained in Schopenhauer's famous phrase: "The German is remarkablefor the absolute lack of that feeling which the Latins call'verecundia'--sense of shame. "

The essence of this feeling which is found among the most savagepeoples is entirely lacking in the Teutonic race. And once more wefind an abominable ambush placed for French culture, good faith andgenerosity. 

This is not an isolated incident. When the whole truth is known, therewill be even more surprised indignation felt than there is at present. Inquiries will have to be made. It will be necessary to know why theenemy, in certain places, has rushed in as if he came out of a trapdoor. It will be necessary to know why, in certain ravaged districts, some houses have been entirely destroyed and others carefully spared. It will be necessary to know why tennis courts have been put incertain places and why certain masses of rhododendrons have beenplanted in certain parks. .. . 

For we know that the tennis courts have helped the Germans carry outtheir schemes, and that the flower beds have had a place in themachinery of war they were developing, which they kept alive untilthey were at our gates. A tennis match seems a mere nothing--somethingvery innocent in the way of pleasure, far from being war-like. Andthen, one fine day the discovery is made that the tennis court has afoundation of reinforced concrete twenty centimeters thick, fit tosupport a house six stories high and, consequently, a heavy gun!

A clump of rhododendrons is very lovely, something very gracious, charming, most poetic. And one day the discovery is made that theclump conceals a platform set in concrete on which an entire batterycan be aligned. 

All that will have to be investigated. All that will have to bestopped. .. . And it makes another reason why it is necessary to fighttoday, to fight to the death. For these Germans will understand theinanity of their Machiavellian scheming and of their spy system onlywhen they shall see these methods fall to pieces, when they shall seetheir system fail absolutely. 

In conclusion we may say that France fights for two reasons. The firstreason is because on the third of August at a quarter before seveno'clock war was declared on her; she was forced to fight; herterritory was invaded, her cities burned to the ground; her fieldsravaged; her citizens massacred. The second reason is because she doesnot want to have to fight in the future; she does not wish this horrorto be reproduced a second time; she wishes, in the immortal words ofWashington, "that plague of mankind, war, banished off the earth. "

To accomplish this the engine that makes war must be destroyed. Theengine that makes war is "made in Germany. " War is the nationalindustry of the Germans, it has been developed and made perfect inGermany, it is dear to all German hearts. They are proud of it andhave faith in its power. The machine must not only be stopped; it mustbe broken and destroyed, thrown out as scrap iron to prevent thepieces from being reassembled, readjusted and put in running orderonce again. 

That is why France is fighting, why the whole world ought to fight tothe end, to death or until victory crowns its efforts. 

II

HOW FRANCE IS FIGHTING

Two words, courage and tenacity, will serve the future historian inhis description of how France fought, when the time shall have comefor telling the entire story of the world war. 

No one has ever doubted French courage throughout all the centuries ofher tormented history; but skeptical remarks have been made in timespast of the tenacity of the French people. 

Ten epigrams do not describe this war; nor do three. But one aloneserves this purpose--know how to endure. No more thoughtful words haveever been spoken than those of the Japanese, Marshall Nogi: "Victoryis won by the nation that can suffer a quarter of an hour longer thanits opponent. "

During the four years of war, France has proven that she knew how tosuffer and was able to suffer a quarter of an hour longer than herenemies. 

They knew how to suffer, those soldiers of General Maunoury's army inthe Battle of the Marne. And they turned the tide of battle in favorof French arms. They marched, fought and died for five days and fivenights, in the passing of which some battalions marched forty-twokilometers and did not sleep for more than two hours at a time. Themobility of the fighting units was such that the commissary departmentwas absolutely unable to supply them with rations. For three days manyof them had no bread, no meat, nothing at all! They subsisted oncrusts they had with them, or on the food they were able, by thefortunes of battle, to pick up in the villages where they happened tobe. In spite of all this, whenever the order was given to charge, theycharged the enemy with a sort of inspired madness. 

"The fight has been a hard one, " Marshall Joffre wrote in an order ofthe day that will be famous throughout eternity. "The casualties, thenumber of men worn out by the exhaustion due to lack of sleep--andsometimes of food--passed all imagining. .. . Comrades, the commander inchief has asked you to do more than your duty, and you have respondedto this request by accomplishing the impossible. " That is the finestword of praise that has been given fighting men since the world began. 

 * * * * *

They knew how to suffer, those other soldiers of the Battle of theMarne who were a part of General Foch's army at Fère-Champenoise. Fivetimes they attacked the Château de Mondement, and five times they weredriven back. Their officers were consulting as to the best thing todo; and the men surrounded the officers, begging them with tears intheir eyes to lead them to the assault for the sixth time. For thesixth time the attack was sounded, and at the sixth assault Château deMondement fell. 

That officer at Verdun knew how to suffer. He will remain a figurefor the legends of the future for, running to transmit an order, hereceived a bullet in the eyes which shattered his optic nerve. He wascompletely blinded. Nevertheless, he continued to advance, trying togrope his way through the night that had fallen upon him. Heencountered something lying on the ground--a something that was a manjust as badly wounded. The blind man besought him for help. 

"How can I help you, " said the wounded man, "a shell has broken bothmy legs. "

"What difference does that make, " shouted the blinded man, "I am goingto carry you on my back. My legs will be yours, and your eyes will bemine. "

And, one supporting the other, the blinded man and the lamed mancarried on!

 * * * * *

That officer knew how to suffer whom one of my brothers met on thebattle field of Lorraine. An artillery officer, his arm was shattered, a few bits of flesh barely holding it fast to his shoulder. Mybrother, when he saw the man painfully dragging himself along, askedhim whether or not he needed help. 

"I don't need help, " replied the wounded man, "but my battery downthere does. It is retreating. "

"If it is retreating, it can't be helped and it is a waste of time forme to get it ammunition. .. . "

"No, " begged the lieutenant, "get the munitions. We Colonials fightuntil the last man falls. .. . "

He offered to guide my brother, mounted beside him on the artillerycaisson, and stayed there all day. For after he had supplied his ownbattery, it was the battery next it, and then the one next to that, which he wanted to supply. .. . Finally, in the evening, at nightfall, they came to take him off in the ambulance. The major looked at hisshattered arm, examined his frightful wound, and muttered:

"You are in a bad way. Couldn't you have come here sooner?"

The lieutenant replied humbly:

"Pardon me, I lost a lot of time on the way. "

 * * * * *

Those men I saw for months fighting and dying to the south of Verdun, at the Butte des Eparges, knew how to suffer. 

The Butte des Eparges dominates the great plain of the Woevre, andfrom the very beginning it has been the theater of a frightful andlong drawn out battle of the kind one seldom sees in this war. TheGermans have been entrenched on the left side of the Butte, the Frenchon the right. And day and night for four years there has been anincessant battle over its summit of grenades, bombs and shells; aterrible hand-to-hand fight in which neither one of the contestantsyields an inch of ground. A brook of blood runs its interrupted courseon each slope. On the south slope it is red with German blood; withFrench blood on the north. 

The two slopes of the Butte have been so raked by firing that theyhave not a single tree, bush, or blades of grass on them; they standout sinister and frightful in their nakedness, seeming to cry out tothe men of the plain:

"See, all of you, the scourge of God has passed over this place. "

They are dented, furrowed and blown into crevasses by the explosionsof mines; they are sown over with the enormous funnels in which thefighters take shelter; they are covered with an incessant smoke fromthe projectiles that plow them up. 

As for the summit, it is a no man's land, that belongs to the dead menwhose bodies cover it. The summit stopped being a battle field tobecome a charnel house. The number of men who have fallen there willnever be known. The most fantastic figures come from the lips of thosewho come down . .. 5, 000, 8, 000, 10, 000 . .. It will never be known. Butwhat is known is that the dead are always there. They form a parapetabove which the living fight on. These dead rot in the sunshine and inthe rain. In accordance with the wind's being from the east or thewest, the frightful odor of all this rotten flesh strikes the Germansor the French. They lie there, an indistinguishable mass on theground, and the men are unlucky who watch by night in the listeningposts or the trenches. They think they are stumbling against a stone, and it is a skull their feet are touching; they think they are pickingup the branch of a tree, and they have hold of the arm of a corpse. 

However, in the shadow of this human charnel house, at the edge ofthis bloody sewer, some little French soldiers come and go, eat andsleep for months at a time. The dreadfulness of the sights, the stenchin the air, the tragic presence of death has not gripped their souls, their courage or their nerves. They are no less confident and merrythan the others and, in the evening, when the setting sun adds thepurple of its shadows to the red of all the blood that has been shedon the Butte, they sing from the depths of their charnel house sweetlove songs. .. . This is the most regally beautiful sight I have seen inthis war; it is the most splendidly moving example I know of whatpersonal sacrifice for one's country's sake can do. 

One day, in a rest village in the neighborhood, I met a soldier fromone of the battalions which was encamped in the charnel house. He wasa boy twenty years old, who hurried along with a flower in hisbuttonhole, whistling a tune. .. . He was so joyful that I asked him:

"You seem as happy as you can be. "

"I have leave, Sir, " he answered, "and in a week I shall go to thecountry to see my mother. But, for the present, I have to go and takethe trench at Eparges. .. . "

As he mentioned the name of the accursed Butte, I could not repress amovement. He saw it and said:

"Sir, I am glad to go there. "

And he told me his name and the number of his company. Then he hurriedaway. 

It chanced that precisely one week later I met one of his officers. Iasked him about the merry fellow. 

"That man? He was killed the day before yesterday at Eparges. "

And my comrade added in a low voice:

"He was shot down at my side, struck with a bullet square in thechest. The death agony set in at once. As I was trying to do somethingfor him, passing my hand gently across his forehead, I said to him:

"Courage, my boy, courage. "

He murmured the reply:

"Oh, I'm glad to die. "

Glad . .. The same phrase, the same words I had heard a week ago, whichcan be heard everywhere on the French front--and they are glad to gointo all the trenches and into all the charnel houses, and it is witha happy heart that they rest in peace. 

 * * * * *

But France has not only fought with all her courage, with all hersoul, with all her tenacity. She has fought with all her livingstrength, with her men, her women, even her children. 

What can I say which has not already been said about the men? When Ithink of my own men, when I think of all the men floundering andfighting in this mud, I can find no other means of expression thanthe words that have already served the Commander in Chief of theFrench Army, General Pétain, on the evening of his great victory atthe Chemin des Dames. In receiving the American newspapermen, he saidto them:

"Do not speak of us, the generals and the officers. Speak only of themen. We have done nothing; the men have done everything. Our men arewonderful; we, their leaders, can only kneel at their feet. "

 * * * * *

The women have been no less wonderful. And I want to write a few wordsabout them. 

The women who are at the front have fought like the men. Can youimagine a more beautiful deed of arms than that of a young girl, twenty years old, named Marcelle Semer, whose heroic story a FrenchCabinet Minister, M. Klotz, told recently at one of the MatinéesNationales at the Sorbonne. 

In August, 1914, there lived at Eclusier, near Frise, a young girlwith gray eyes and blonde hair named Marcelle Semer. She was twentyyears old at the time and kept accounts in addition to overseeing thework of a factory. At the time of the August invasion, after theBattle of Charleroi, the French tried to halt the Germans at theSomme. Not being in sufficient force, they retreated, crossing theriver and the canal. The enemy immediately pursued. Marcelle Semer, who was following the French troops, had the presence of mind, afterthe last soldier had crossed the Somme Canal, to open the drawbridgein order to prevent the Germans from crossing it, and to hurl the keyto the bridge into the canal in order that they might not take it fromher when they came up. An entire enemy army corps was thus detainedfor twenty-four hours by this young girl's presence of mind; and itwas only on the following day that the enemy, having found some boatson the Somme, made a bridge of them and passed over the canal. But theFrench soldiers were already far away. 

The Germans were masters of the neighborhood for some days. Theyseized the inhabitants as hostages and shut them up in a cave. Marcelle Semer secretly carried them food. She also carriedsustenance to other inhabitants who had hidden in the woods or incellars. She succored and concealed the soldiers whom wounds orfatigue had prevented from following the main body of troops. Shecontrived that sixteen of them, dressed as civilians, escaped. Thenshe was apprehended by the Germans, arrested and led into the presenceof a court-martial. The judgment was summary, and after a quarter ofan hour's questioning Marcelle Semer was condemned to death. 

"Do you admit, " asked the presiding officer, "that you helped Frenchsoldiers to escape?"

"I certainly do, " she replied. "I managed it so that sixteen of themescaped, and they are beyond your reach. Now you can do what you wantto me. I am an orphan. I have only one mother--France. She does notdisturb me when I'm dying. "

This was one time when God intervened. Marcelle did not die. Broughtto the place of execution, at the very moment when they were about toshoot, the French reëntered the village and, by a miracle, she escapedher executioners. Today she wears the Croix de Guerre and the medal ofthe Legion of Honor. 

 * * * * *

They were Frenchwomen and fighters, these women whose names and deedsare to be found in the columns of the "Journal Officiel. " Read, forexample, this citation concerning Madame Macherez, President of theAssociation des Dames Françaises de Soissons:

 She willingly assumed the responsibility and the danger of representing the city before the enemy, and defended or managed the interests of the population in the absence of the mayor and the majority of the members of the town council. In spite of an intense bombardment which partially ruined the city, she took the most effective means possible to maintain calm in the city and to protect the lives of the inhabitants. 

In this department, a lay instructress, Mlle. Cheron, merited acitation which does not contain the least over-praise:

 She evidenced the greatest energy in difficult circumstances. Charged with the duties of Secretary to the Mayor, and alone at the time of the arrival of the Germans, she was not disconcerted by their threats, and kept her head in the face of their demands with remarkable calm and decision. When our troops returned, she assumed responsibility for the service and feeding of the cantonment. She personally took the steps necessary for the identification and burial of the dead. Finally, she was able to prevent panic at the time of the bombardment by the force of her example and her encouragement of the populace. 

Those three nuns were also Frenchwomen and fighters of whom the"Journal Officiel" in the general order spoke as follows:

 Mlle. Rosnet, Marie, sister of the order of St. Vincent de Paul, Mother Superior of the Hospice at Clermont-en-Argonne, remained alone in the village and showed during the German occupation an energy and coolness beyond all praise. Having received a promise from the enemy that they would respect the town in exchange for the care the sisters gave their wounded, she protested to the German commander against the burning of the town with the observation that "the word of a German officer is not worth that of a French officer. " Thus she obtained the help of a company of sappers who fought the flames. She gave the most devoted care to the wounded, German as well as French. .. . 

 Mlle. Constance, Mother Superior of the Hospice at Badonvillers, during the three successive German occupations in 1914, assisted the sisters and remained bravely at her post night and day, in spite of all danger, and was busy everywhere with a devotion truly admirable. .. . 

 Mlle. Brasseur, Sister Etienne, Mother Superior of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul in the Hospital at Compiègne, from the war's beginning at the head of a staff whose tireless devotion has deserved all praise, has given the most intelligent and enlightened care to numerous wounded men. During the time of the German occupation, her coolness and energetic attitude assured the safety of the establishment she directed. Her brave initiative allowed several French soldiers to escape from captivity. 

The modest postmistress and telegraph operator was a Frenchwoman and afighter, who, in the little village of Houpelines, in the north of thecountry, deserved this citation in the orders of the day, of whichthousands of soldiers would be proud:

 Refusing to obey the order that was given her to leave her post, she remained in spite of the danger. On the first of October the Germans entered her office, smashed her apparatus and threatened her with death. Mlle. Deletete, who had put her valuables and accounts in safe-keeping, gave evidence of the greatest calmness. From the seventeenth on she endured the bombardment. Her office having been damaged severely by the enemy's fire, she took refuge in the civil hospice, where four persons were killed at her side. She resumed her duties on the twenty-third, since which date she has continued to perform them in the face of frequent bombardments which have found many victims. 

The women behind the lines have been worthy of their sisters at thefront. 

In the forges, the foundries, the factories and the munition plantsthey have not feared to don the blouse of the workingman, and on thisblouse they wear as insignia a large grenade like that on the brassardof the mobilized men. Note these figures. On the first of February, 1916, the civil establishments of war, the munition plants, and theMarine workshops employed 127, 792 women. The number has increased, andon the first of March, 1917, they numbered 375, 582 women. On the firstof January, 1918, the women working in the factories manufacturing warmaterial amounted to 475, 000; that is to say, in round numbers, a halfmillion. 

Others, in the hospitals, ambulance and dispensaries have devotedthemselves to the wounded, the mutilated, the sick and the suffering, to the sacrifice of their health, their youth, and sometimes theirlife itself. Here again the figures are eloquent--they speak forthemselves. Three great societies, constituting the French Red Cross, have carried on this work of charity and devotion--the Société deSecours aux Blessés Militaires, the Union des Dames de France, and TheAssociation des Dames Françaises. At the war's outbreak the Société deSecours aux Blessés had 375 hospitals with 17, 939 beds; today it has796 hospitals with 67, 000 beds and 15, 510 graduated nurses, threethousand of whom are employed in military hospitals. On thethirty-first of December, 1916, the Union des Dames de France had 363hospitals with 30, 000 beds and more than 20, 000 graduate or volunteernurses. From August, 1914, to March, 1917, the Association des DamesFrançaises had raised the number of its hospitals from 100 to 350, andfrom 5, 000 to 18, 000 the number of its beds; the number of itsgraduate nurses from 5, 000 to 7, 000. 

On the thirty-first of December, 1916, the three societies countedabout 42, 000, 000 days of hospital work, 25, 000, 000 for the Société deSecours aux Blessés alone. From the beginning of the war, this societyhas expended for equipment the sum of 38, 700, 000 francs. 

Aside from these there are other figures which show the materialeffort of the Frenchwomen which I can not pass over in silence. Theyshow the civic devotion of which they are capable. The Société deSecours aux Blessés has been granted one cross of the Legion of Honor, 94 Croix de Guerre, 119 Medailles d'Honneur des épidémies. TheAssociation des Dames Françaises has won 17 Croix de Guerre and 80Medailles des épidémies. The Union des Femmes de France has won 39Croix de Guerre. And last comes the glorious list of martyrs of thesocieties: 110 nurses have died in the devoted performance of theirduties. 

The heroism of these valiant women, many of whom remained in theoccupied territories, will be the eternal pride of France. MadamePerouse, President of the Union des Femmes de France wrote to M. LouisBarthou telling him the number of women who had risked their liberty, their life, their honor even, to protect in the face of the ferociousenemy the sacred rights of the French wounded. It is fitting to addthat, if they have taken care of the German wounded as well as theFrench wounded, they can always recall the reply of a devoted teacherof the Marne district, Mlle. Fouriaux, to a German major:

"Sir, we have only done our duty as nurses, never forgetting that weare Frenchwomen. "

Mlle. Joulin, a nurse at Douai, did not forget her duty as aFrenchwoman. She was held a prisoner by the Germans for a year in thecamp at Holzminden, in which she took the place of the mother of fivechildren who had been put down on the list of hostages drawn up by theGerman barbarians. 

And if you would know where these heroic women have poured out theircourage, their coolness and their physical resistance, which they haveput in the service of their country and of humanity, you have but tolisten to the declaration of one of them, Mlle. Canton-Baccara, whohas been made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, for having shownbravery and exceptional devotion in the face of the greatest danger:

"The wounded soldier who suffers, " said Mlle. Canton-Baccara, "thesoldier who is complaining or the peasant who is weeping for the farmthat has been pillaged, a woman's smile ought to console and her voiceought, under all circumstances, to be ready to recall to him thatabove these sufferings and troubles, above the paltry struggles ofinterest and ambition, there is, above all this, France, our France, which matters before all else. "

Still other women, who were neither in the hospitals, at the front, nor in the factories, have been admirable fighters. They fought, according to Mlle. Canton-Baccara's words, with their heart and withtheir smile. They fought by the example of abnegation they gave, bythe moral force with which they inspired the men in the trenches. 

Madame de Castelnau is a glorious figure, she, the wife of the Generalwho saved Nancy and stopped the rush of the barbarians on the GrandCouronné!. .. Madame de Castelnau had, before the war broke out, foursons. Three fell on the battle field. The fourth is actually still aprisoner in the hands of the Germans. On the lips of their fatherthere is never the slightest word of complaint; on the lips of themother there are these admirable words, which the children in theschools will repeat later on. .. . Madame de Castelnau was in a littlevillage when her third son was killed. The curé of the village had thepitiful task of telling the already mourning mother of this new blowthat had struck her. The curé found Madame de Castelnau, and, in thepresence of her great sorrow, he hesitated and was overcome withembarrassment:

"Madame, " he said, "I come to bring you another blow. But know wellthat all the mothers of France weep for you. "

Madame de Castelnau knew the truth at once. She interrupted the priestand, looking him straight in the eye, replied:

"Yes, I know what you are going to tell me. .. . God's will be done. Butthe mothers of France would be wrong in weeping for me. Let them envyme. "

Those are the words of a Frenchwoman of noble descent. But you canplace on the same high level the words of an old woman, a humble soul, whom the gendarmes found one night crouched on a grave that was stillfresh. It was up near Verdun. She told the gendarmes:

"I come from La Rochelle. Five of my sons have already fallen in thewar. I have come here to see where the sixth is buried--the sixth--mylast son. "

Moved by the tragic grandeur of the sight, the gendarmes rendered hermilitary honors and presented arms. The mother rose and uttered thewords her dead and her heart inspired:

"Even so, Vive la France!"

All of them, mothers of noble birth and of peasant stock, rich andpoor, wives, sisters, and fiancées are the first to exhort their sons, husbands and brothers to fight to the end. All have the same words ofsacrifice and abnegation on their lips. All of them find words whichbest fortify, exalt and console their men. 

Read this letter I picked up on the field of battle, a letter writtenby a humble peasant woman whose heart, after centuries of noble andwise discipline, was in the right place:

 MY DEAR BOY:

 We got your letter, which gave us great pleasure. We waited anxiously for it. You wrote it two days ago. Since that time things have changed. Did you get my letter? I hope so. I must reassure you about your father the very first thing. He was away only three days, time enough to guide a detachment to Bourges. So there is only one vacant place at the fireside, but how big that one is. 

 My dear boy, you speak to me of sacrifice; yes, it is one. And I can tell you it is the greatest one that has ever been asked of me. However, I keep calm. I tell myself sometimes that I have deserved it. I am ready to pay, but I wish so much that you might not pay. 

 My dear boy, you speak to me of duty and of honor. I have never doubted that you would do what you ought to. Yes, my son, a soldier's honor lies in being on the battle field when the country is in danger. Go, then, my son, with the blessing of your mother and your father, and with that most mighty one of your country and of heaven. 

 You tell me to accept my lot courageously. Alas, sometimes it fails me. However, I shall try to be resigned and I hope to see you again in spite of everything. If that should not happen, say to yourself, my dear boy, when you close your eyes, that you have all the love and all the sweetest kisses of your mother, who would like to fly to you. 

The sisters are worthy of their mothers. Here is a letter written bytwo young girls who live in Lorraine, near Nancy. Plutarch never wroteanything more beautiful:

 MOYEN, 4 SEPTEMBER, 1914. 

 MY DEAR EDOUARD:

 I have heard that Charles and Lucien died on the twenty-eighth of August. Eugène is badly wounded. As for Louis and Jean, they are dead also. 

 Rose has gone away. 

 Mother weeps, but she says that you are brave and wishes that you may avenge them. 

 I hope that your officers will not refuse you that. Jean won the Legion of Honor; follow in his footsteps. 

 They have taken everything from us. Of the eleven who went to war, eight are dead. My dear Edouard, do your duty; we ask only that. 

 God gave you life; he has the right to take it away from you. Mother says that. 

 We embrace you fondly, although we would like to see you. The Prussians are here. Jandon is dead; they have pillaged everything. I have just returned from Gerbevillers, which is destroyed. What wretches they are!

 Sacrifice your life, my dear brother. We hope to see you again, for something like a presentiment tells us to hope. 

 We embrace you fondly. Farewell, and may we see you again, if God grants. 

 (Signed) YOUR SISTERS. 

 P. S. It is for us and for France. Think of your brothers and of your grandfather in 1870. 

And this next letter is sublime. It was addressed to M. Maurice Barrèsby a lady from the city of Lyons, which is perhaps the most mysticcity in all France. In the newspapers mention had been made of the mendisabled by war, and of all the unfortunates who were mutilated, whoselimbs had been amputated, who were helpless or blinded. The questionwas raised of knowing what ought to be done to help them. Then thelady wrote as follows to M. Barrès:

 SIR: One of these recent days, when our troubles have been so hard to bear, I went to regain my courage into one of the beloved sanctuaries of Notre Dame. .. . A lady dressed in black came in beside me and, as all mothers are sisters in these trying days, I asked after her men at the front. She told me sadly that she was a poor widow, and that the war had taken away her two sons, her sole means of support. One of them had had an arm amputated--the right arm--and the hands of the other were cut off at the wrists. She came from seeing them to pray to the Mother of Sorrows for her children and herself. 

 I was deeply moved by her sorrow and by her not complaining. I sought means to console her. This is the means I have found, sir, and I tell it to you now. .. . 

 Let us ask the Virgin, I said to her, to create young women in France so brave, so strong, and so devoted that they will gladly and proudly consent to marry the poor, injured men and to be not only their hearts but the limbs which will aid them to make their daily bread; leaving to the men the privilege of loving them, of respecting their presences and of guiding their lives. 

 The poor woman understood me. We separated. My own youngest daughter was in my thoughts; and do you not think that the men who have a wider audience could stir the hearts of the young women, twenty years of age in France, if they asked them to perform this act of devotion, and to be the companions of the mutilated, maimed men of France?. .. 

Then, too, the women who had only their dignity and their high spiritto defend themselves against the grossness and the insults of thePrussians, have been the incarnation of the spirit of France. 

An old woman who dwelt in a village on the Aisne was spattered withmud by the Kaiser as he passed by on horseback. He made a gestureexcusing himself. She fixed her eyes on him and said simply:

"It doesn't matter, sir. That mud can be washed off. "

A great lady in one of the châteaux in the invaded regions, had toreceive one of the Kaiser's sons. The day of his departure he sent forher to thank her for the hospitality she had shown him. The old lady, looking at him, contented herself with replying:

"Do not thank me, sir. I did not invite you here. "

And she reëntered her house with all dignity. 

 * * * * *

Because the women of France have been all this and have done all this, France has been able to fight on, and will be able to fight to theend. Because the women of France have been all this and have done allthis, the soldiers, in the mud of the trenches, revere them asMadonnas. 

The historian Tacitus tells somewhere how, on a hot spring day, aslave, panting and worn out, entered one of the gates of the EternalCity. He crossed the Forum without stopping and, in his course, mounted the Hill of Mars. Finally he came to one of the greatesthouses of the patrician section of the city. His cries and shoutsfilled the house:

"Alas, alas!" he cried. 

A lady hastened to him. She was the mistress of the house, the famousCornelia Graccha. 

"What news do you bring?" she asked. 

"Alas, alas, " repeated the slave, "in the battle down there in Umbria, two of your sons have been killed. "

"Fool, " was the reply, "I do not ask that. Have the Barbarians beenconquered?"

"They have, Cornelia. "

"Then what matters the death of my sons if my country is victorious!"

Those wonderful words have been handed down from generation togeneration as a symbol of what ancient Rome was. Those words thousandsof French women have uttered for the last four years, and they stillutter them today. Other voices answer them. They rise from thetrenches, and they say:

 "Be without fear, women of France. For you we will fight to our last gasp, we will shed our last drop of blood. Know that if for months we have held our heads below the level of the muddy trench and offered our breasts to death, it is that you may be freed from the wild beasts that have burst forth from the German forests. For your sakes our homes are not in ruins and our towns are not vassals to the enemy. It is all for you, so that when we shall return you need not throw your arms around conquered necks. Our country, women of France, is made up of our homes, our churches, and our fields, and of your beloved faces. Throughout the tragic periods of its history, our country has always been incarnated in your faces, whether they called themselves St. Geneviève or Jeanne d'Arc. And in our building, to personify the cities that are dear to us, we have always taken your bodies, your foreheads, and the folds of your gowns--see, in Paris, that statue in the Place de la Concorde, in the shadow of the Tuileries, which for days has worn a crêpe veil. .. . Well, today is the same as yesterday. In our trenches our country appears to us in those visions wherein are mingled your faces. We shall believe that our country has been well served only when, on your beloved faces, we shall have caused a smile to appear because the palms we have placed at your feet are the palms of victory. "

Future historians will state that France has fought not only with allher courage, her tenacity and her soul, with all her men, women andchildren: they will also state that these men, women and children, inspite of the terrible times, their suffering and their mourning, haveremained firmly united, forming a firm rock from which not a singlestone has been splintered. 

In that tormented, feverish France where the ardor of the Revolutionstill boils, there were, before the war, different parties, cliques, groups and churches. The war has leveled, united and bound them alltogether. 

In some admirable pages, consecrated to the "Effort of FrenchWomanhood, " M. Louis Barthou has painted the picture of the sacredunion there is among all the French women:

 I have seen [he writes] our women at the front and behind the lines, in the hospitals, the railway stations, the automobile service, the canteens, the factories, in relief work and in charity work. I have met nurses, unmoved under a bombardment. I have tested the spirit of fellowship which unites them, including as it does the names of the most aristocratic French families and the most modest citizens. There is no false pride among those in high places nor envy among those lower in the social scale. They wear the same garb, the same cap, with the same cross on their foreheads. For the soldiers there is the same uniform, and when you say uniform you mean equality in devotion, in the risk of life, and in loyalty to duty. Between the classes of society there is no contention, there is only emulation. I do not know whether or not, in times of peace, they had all and everywhere escaped the local passions which have poisoned national life, but the war has given them sacred union for a countersign, and they, as disciplined soldiers, have respected this countersign. 

 The French nurse's smile will have served the nation's defense well, but I emphasize this when I think how well it will have served the nation's unity in the aftermath that shall follow war. What rancors it will have appeased! What jealousies it will have blotted out! What petty prejudices it will have conquered! These society women and women of the middle class who have leaned over the beds of sick or wounded peasants, and these young girls who have tended their hurts, bound up their wounds, and calmed their sufferings have, with their delicate hands, so expert in the worst treatments, laid the foundations of a France that is united and fraternal, where envy and hate have no place. All eyes have opened to broader vistas of revealed clearness, to which they have hitherto remained closed through prejudice, or obstinacy. They will have learned that bravery, devotion to the right, loyal and tried disinterestedness, heartfelt and wise knowledge can dwell in the simple soul of the peasant and the workingman. The peasants and the workingmen who have come out from their care will have learned that luxury does not exclude goodness, that beauty is not always a sterile gift, that youth is not altogether callow, that a woman can be pretty and generous, delicate and courageous, rich and sympathetic, and that the mothers whose children are dead excel in lavishing the care of their hands and the tenderness of their hearts on the wounded children who are suffering far from their mothers. 

The sacred sense of union that reigns among the men is no less firm. It is only necessary to read the letters written on the eve of theirdeaths--in that hour when a man, alone, face to face with himself, lets his soul speak--by the fighters who gave their heart's blood forthe sacred cause. 

They all say the same things. 

Here is a letter a Jew wrote, named Robert Hertz, a second lieutenantof the 330th infantry regiment, who fell on the 13th of April, 1915, at Marcheville:

 MY DEAR: I remember the dreams I had when I was a little child. With all my soul I wished to be a Frenchman, to be worthy to be one, and to prove that I was one. .. . Now the old, childish dream comes back to me, stronger than it ever was. I am grateful to the officers who have accepted me for their subordinate, to the men I have been proud to lead. They are the children of a chosen people. I am full of gratitude towards our country which has received me and heaped favors upon me. Nothing would be too much to give in payment for that, and for the fact that my little son may always hold his head high and never know, in the reborn France, that torment which has poisoned many hours of our childhood and of our youth. "Am I a Frenchman?" "Would I deserve to be one?" No, little boy, you shall not say that. You shall have a native land and your step may sound on the earth, nourishing you with the assurance, "My father was there and he gave all he had for France. " If recompense is necessary, this is the sweetest one there is for me. 

This is the letter of a Protestant, second lieutenant MauriceDieterlin, who was killed on the sixth of October, 1915, and who, onthe eve of the Champagne offensive, wrote these last words they wereto read from him, to his family:

 I saw the most beautiful day of all my life. I regret nothing and I am as happy as a king. I am glad to pay my debt that my country may be free. Tell my friends that I go on to victory with a smile on my lips, happier than the stoics and the martyrs of all time. For a moment we are beyond the France that is eternal. France ought to live. France will live. Get ready your loveliest gowns, keep your best smiles to welcome the conquerors in the great war. Perhaps we shall not be there, but there will be others in our places. Do not weep, do not wear mourning, for we shall have died with a sweet smile on our lips and a lovely superhumanity in our hearts. Vive la France! Vive la France!

What wonderful enthusiasm! But still more beautiful is this prayer, that of a little Protestant soldier from the Montbéliard country, whodied in the Gare d'Amberieu hospital:

 "Lord, may Thy will and not mine be done. I have consecrated myself to Thee since my youth, and I hope that the example I have offered may serve to glorify Thee. 

 "Lord, Thou knowest that I have not desired war, but that I have fought to do Thy will; I offer my life for peace. 

 "Lord, I pray Thee for the welfare of my people. Thou knowest how greatly I love them all, my father, my mother, my brothers and my sisters. 

 "Lord, return manyfold to these nurses the good they have done me; I am but a poor man but Thou art the dispenser of riches. I pray to Thee for them all. "

This prayer, in which the little soldier had put his last livingthoughts, was received by a Catholic sister who had cared for him, and sent by her to his sorrowing family--a touching proof of sacredunion. 

All of them, Catholics, Protestants and Jews, speak of God and pray toHim. .. . Read this letter from Captain Cornet-Acquier, that captain towhom his wife wrote, "I would urge you on with my voice if I saw youcharging the enemy. " He tells this little incident:

 "A Catholic captain was saying the other day that he said his prayers before each battle. The commanding officer remarked that that was not the proper moment and that he would do better to make his military arrangements. 

 "'Sir, ' he replied, 'that does not prevent me from making my military arrangements and from fighting. I feel better for it. '

 "Then I said:

 "'Captain, I do the same thing you do. And I find I get along pretty well. '"

This is the letter a young Catholic wrote the evening before a battleto his fiancée:

 MY DEAR JEANNE:

 Tomorrow at ten o'clock, to the sounds of "Sidi Brahim" and the "Marseillaise" we charge the German lines. The attack will probably be deadly. On the eve of this great day, which may be my last, I want to recall to you your promise. .. . Comfort my mother. For a week she will have no news. Tell her that when a man is in an attack he can not write to those he loves. He must be content with thinking of them. And if time passes and she hears nothing from me, let her live in hope. Help her. And if you learn at last that I have fallen on the field of honor, let the words come from your heart that will console her, my dear Jeanne. 

 This morning I attended mass and communion with faith. It was held some yards away from the trenches. If I am to die, I shall die a Christian and a Frenchman. 

 I believe in God, in France and in Victory. I believe in beauty and youth and life. May God guard me to the end. But, Lord, if my blood is useful for victory, may Thy will be done. 

Finally, here is a priest, Father Gilbert de Gironde, secondlieutenant in the 81st infantry, who was killed on the seventh ofDecember, 1914, at Ypres, writing his last letter. .. . For of thetwenty-five thousand priests who went off at the beginning of themobilization, three hundred were called military chaplains, the restwere officers, stretcher-bearers, or common soldiers--and note the4, 000 citations in the army orders which the "Journal Officiel" haspublished, which report the acts of courage and of bravery done bythese priests on the battle field:

 To die young. To die a priest. To die as a soldier in the attack, marching to the assault in full sacerdotal garb, perhaps in the act of granting an absolution; to shed my blood for the Church, for France, for her Allies, for all those who carry in their hearts the same ideal I do, and for the others also, that they may know the joy of belief . .. How beautiful that is, how beautiful that is!

Catholics, Protestants, Jews, priests, ministers and rabbis, that iswhat they write. It is a belittling, a profanation, that, in spite ofmyself, I have separated and differentiated among them. For downthere, in the bloody mud of the trenches, they are one body whichlives together and dies together. 

There was a little Breton who, on the Battle field of the Marne, wasshot in the chest. The death agony at once set in, and in his agony heasked for a crucifix. No priest happened to be on the spot, there wasonly a Jewish rabbi. The rabbi ran to get the crucifix, he brought itto the lips of the dying man, and he, in his turn, was killed!. .. 

In a little barrack in the hollow of one of the depressions at Verdunlived together a priest, a minister and a rabbi. We often saw theplace. On the evening after a frightful battle, they were all three inthe charnel house where the dead bodies are brought. They weresurrounded by stretcher-bearers, who said to them:

"We do not dare throw earth on the bodies of our comrades without aprayer being said over them. "

The Catholic priest asked to what faith they belonged. 

"We do not know. How can we find out? But can't you arrange amongyourselves?"

"Well, we shall bless them one after the other. "

And there in the bleeding night was seen the incomparable sight of thethree men side by side, the Catholic, the Protestant and the Jew, reciting the last prayer and disappearing. .. . 

M. Maurice Barrès, the celebrated French writer, from whosemagnificent book, "The Spiritual Families of France, " I have borroweda great number of the letters I have quoted, has pointed out that allFrench churches are fighting in this hour, forming one great church. Yes, every church and every saint is fighting! These saints belong toall beliefs, some of them to no belief. But one religion has unitedand solidified them all--the religion of their country, the religionof Liberty, the religion of civilization. All speak the same prayer, all have the same faith in their hearts, all fall martyrs in the samecause. 

The old walls which, in times of peace, separated parties and men, have crumbled into dust at the same time when the German shellscrumbled into dust the little village churches. An infinitecathedral, a cathedral that is invisible and great has risen on high. It is the cathedral of the faith of France, in which all faithscommune in the same hope--a cathedral which time and suffering anddeath itself shall not destroy. 

III

FRANCE SUFFERING BUT NOT BLED WHITE

Listen to the man in the street when he speaks--that man in the streetwho reflects public opinion whether it is just or unjust, genuine orsophisticated. Listen to him when he speaks and you will hear him say:

"Yes, we know. France has a well tempered spirit. But the blood isgone out of her body. France would like to fight on, to fight to thebitter end, but France is suffering. France is worn out. France isbled white. "

France is suffering . .. That is true. In the cataclysm that she didnot wish for, that she did not start, that she did not prepare, shehas lost more than a million men. And what men they were! The EcoleNormale, which is the preparatory school for the French university, lost seventy per cent of its pupils. That means that three-quartersof the thinkers, the literary men, the scientists, the philosophers, the professors of the France of tomorrow have been wiped out. Theywere the flower of her youth, the élite of her intelligence. Add tothat seven departments, roughly 20, 000 square kilometers in area, which have been invaded, devastated, ruined and pillaged. In theseseven departments all the machinery, all the raw materials, all themerchandise, all the furniture even to the door-knobs and the boardsin the floors have been taken away. These departments were among therichest and most prosperous of those on which France prided herselfmost industrially. 

Add to that the cultivation that has been destroyed, the soil that hasbeen made untillable, the trees that have been cut down, the roadsthat have been torn up and the bridges that have been destroyed. Allthe misery, all the mourning, all the sickness: a million wounded andinjured men who have been lost as living forces by a nation which didnot have too many inhabitants. Add the hundred thousand prisonersGermany sends back to us who have been made tuberculous, paralytics, nervous wrecks or lunatics because they have been physicallymaltreated. Yes, France is suffering. 

But it is not true that she is worn out. It is not true that she isbled white. The horrible hope Germany had formed of emptying France ofher strength, of leaving her, fighting for breath and conquered, beaten to the earth for centuries to come, has not been realized. France always stands upright, her arm is still strong, her musclesvigorous and her blood rich. 

To destroy the lie that France is bled white, we must let figures, facts, statistics and definite proofs speak. The public shall judgefor itself. .. . 

A nation that is worn out and bled white has no army to defend itself. France not only still has an army, but she has an army that isnumerically and materially stronger than it was at the war'sbeginning. In 1914, at the Marne, France had an army of 1, 500, 000 men;today, after four years of war, France has on her battle front, inthe war zone, an army of 2, 750, 000 men. 

But the value of fighting men today lies only in the artillery theyhave to support them behind the lines. It lies in the shells theartillery is able to fire, in all that material that makes up thesinews of war of the present day. Here we find the most extraordinaryand marvelous effort that history records. France, invaded, occupied, weakened; France that had no munitions industry prior to 1914--or asmall munitions industry at best--that France has built up a warindustry that is doubtless the best in the world, which is equal tothe German war industry and on which the Allies can draw in the commoncause. 

Listen to these figures and keep them in your heads. They are vouchedfor by M. Millerand, who was minister of war during the first year ofhostilities:

 The Battle of the Marne emptied our storehouses. 

 On the seventeenth of September, 1914, the minister of war, who had then been scarcely three weeks in office, was informed that munitions threatened to fail our artillery, and that it was necessary without delay to bring to the front 100, 000 shells per day instead of 13, 500 for the . 75 guns. This was merely a beginning. Three days later, on the twentieth of September, the minister assembled at Bordeaux the representatives of the munitions industry and divided them up into regional groups. At the head of each one he made one establishment or one individual the responsible person. In the face of difficulties which could not be conceived unless they had been overcome, with establishments diminished in personnel as well as in raw material, inexperienced for the most part in the complex and delicate operations which were expected of them, the manufacture of shells for the . 75's mounted from 147, 000 which it had been in the month of August, 1914, to 1, 970, 000 in the month of January, 1915, and then to 3, 396, 000 during the month of July, 1915. 

 222 . 75 guns per month have been constructed since the month of May, 1915. 227 were constructed in the month of July, 407 in the month of January, 1916. For this construction, as for all the others, once a start was made, there was no stopping it. 

 All orders for heavy guns had been countermanded at the beginning of August, 1914. They were resumed in the month of September, 1914. Seventy-five per cent of the orders for heavy guns, on which we got along until April, 1917, had been given out between September, 1914, and the thirty-first of October, 1915. In the first seven months of the war, from September, 1914, to April, 1915, there were constructed three hundred and sixty pieces of heavy artillery. On August first, 1914, we had only sixty-eight batteries. A year later, to the day, on the first of August, 1915, we had two hundred and seventy-two batteries of heavy artillery. 

Now consider these figures, given out by M. André Tardieu, HighCommissioner of the French Republic at Washington, in a letter to theHon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War:

 In the matter of heavy artillery, in August, 1914, we had only three hundred guns distributed among the various regiments. In June, 1917, we had six thousand heavy guns, all of them modern. During our spring offensive in 1917, we had roughly one heavy gun for every twenty-six meters of front. If we had brought together all our heavy artillery and all our trench artillery, we would have had one gun for every eight meters in the battle sector. 

 In August, 1914, we were making twelve thousand shells for the . 75's per day, now we are making two hundred and fifty thousand shells for the . 75's and one hundred thousand shells for the heavy guns per day. 

 If you wish to consider the weight of the shells which fell on the German trenches during our last offensives, you will find the following figures for each linear meter:

 Field artillery 407 kilos Trench artillery 203 kilos Heavy artillery 704 kilos High Power artillery 12 kilos ---- Total 1442 kilos

 And these are the figures for the monthly expenditure in munitions for the . 75's alone:

 July, 1916 6, 400, 000 shells September, 1916 7, 000, 000 shells October, 1916 5, 500, 000 shells

 During the last offensive the total expenditure amounted to twelve million projectiles of all calibers. 

This incomparable war industry has permitted us not only to fight, todefend ourselves and to attack the enemy, but also to supply ourfriends, our Allies, with the munitions necessary to fight. Up toJanuary, 1918, these are the amounts of munitions France was able tohand over to the nations fighting at her side in Europe:

 1, 350, 000 rifles800, 000, 000 cartridges 16, 000, 000 automatic rifles 10, 000 mitrailleuses 2, 500 heavy guns 4, 750 airplanes

And to France has come the honor of making the light artillery for theAmerican Army--amounting to several hundred guns per month. 

 * * * * *

A nation that is worn out and bled white has an empty treasury and isno longer able to obtain taxes from its ruined citizens. Let usconsider what France had done in a financial way in this war. 

From the first of August, 1914, to the first of January, 1918, theFrench Parliament voted war credits amounting to twenty billions ofdollars. Of this enormous fund only two billions have been borrowedfrom outside sources; all the remainder has been subscribed or paidfor by taxation or by loans in France herself. More than a billiondollars has been loaned to her Allies by France. 

In 1917 France had the heaviest budget in all her history. The singleitem of taxes was raised to six billion francs ($1, 200, 000), and thesetaxes were paid to the penny, although ten million Frenchmen weremobilized in the Army, in the factories, and on the farms, or wereuntaxable in the occupied regions. 

In 1915, 1916 and 1917 France raised three great national loans. Thatof 1915 amounted to exactly 13, 307, 811, 579 francs, 40 centimes, ofwhich 6, 017 millions were paid in hard cash. That of October, 1916, amounted in round numbers to ten billions francs, of which more thanfive billions were paid in hard cash. That of December, 1917, amountedto 10, 629, 000, 000 francs, of which 5, 254 millions were paid in cash. 

Thus, in spite of the war, her invaded territories, and her mobilizedcitizens, France has in three years raised three national loans ofalmost seventeen billions francs in hard cash. That is three times theamount of the war indemnity she paid Prussia in 1871. 

A nation worn out and bled white has no more monetary reserve, no morefunds in its treasury, and has been brought into bankruptcy. The Bankof France, which is probably the leading national bank in the world, whose credit has never weakened in the gravest hours of the nation'shistory, declared on the first of January, 1918, a gold reserve of5, 348 millions of francs, an increase of 272 millions over the gold inhand on January first, 1917. This is the greatest deposit the bank hasever had. All this came from the national resources: the weeklypayments are still a million and a half francs, which are paid withoutcompulsion and without legal processes. 

The individual deposits in the great credit establishments of Francewhich, on the thirty-first of December, 1914, amounted to only 4, 050millions of francs, amounted to 6, 050 millions on the thirty-first ofDecember, 1917. 

And during the first three months of the year 1918, from the first ofJanuary to the thirty-first of March, the surplus deposits made by thepeasants and the working classes in the National Saving Bank wasseventy-five millions of francs, an excess of more than eight hundredthousand francs daily. 

 * * * * *

A nation that is worn out and bled white is incapable of manufacturingand sees its commerce and industry perish. Here is the statement of M. Georges Pallain, Governor of the Bank of France, representing theaccounting of the Counsel General of the Bank for 1917:

 From the industrial and commercial point of view, a satisfactory amelioration is noticeable. The investigation of the Minister of Industry in July last permits the statement that the percentage of factories and business houses rendering a periodical accounting, of which the advantage is not yet established, is only twenty-three per cent; it was fifty-five per cent in August, 1914. 

 An indication of the development of industrial activity is furnished by the continued increase of the demand for coal. 

 Operations for mining ore have been pushed with vigor. Coal production increased greatly in 1914. On the whole it still remains less than it was before the war, since the invasion has deprived us of the valleys in the north and the richest portion of Pas-de-Calais; but in the regions where mining is still possible the production exceeds by about forty per cent the figures for 1913. 

 This remarkable increase has compensated to a certain extent for the falling off in the importations of coal from England; nevertheless it leaves our supply of coal less than our demand for it. 

 To remedy this insufficiency and, at the same time, to give our national industry greater independence, researches and experiments have been equally intensified with a view to employing our hydraulic resources. In the Alps, in the Pyrenees and in the central Massif new installations are under way, and they have already attracted important metallurgic and chemical plants. 

 The development of industrial production has had the result of an increase in the volume of commercial transactions. These continue to look after themselves and, for the most part, they are on a cash basis. The gradual resumption of credit operations, which former years signalized, is still on the increase. In 1917 the receipts from commerce were thirty-seven per cent greater than in 1916. There is a notable progression of discounts, while the total of our delayed payments has been brought back to 1, 140 millions. 

A nation that is worn out and bled white is unable to bind up itswounds or relieve its bed of suffering. France has not waited for theend of the war and the evacuation of her territory to bring in lifewhere the Germans thought they had left only death. 

In eighty-four of the liberated cantons the work of reconstruction hasalready commenced. Commissions have been appointed. These commissionshave proceeded already to the evaluation of the damage done and, without waiting for authorization, the administration has paidadvances amounting to a not inconsiderable figure. Thus a sumtotalling more than one hundred and forty millions francs has beenexpended for the reconstruction of the liberated regions. Seventeenmillions have been expended in cash for repairs; in advances to thefarmers for work or supplies, twenty millions; in advances to workmen, a half million; for the circulation of funds to the farmers, merchantsand small manufactures, two millions; under the heading ofreconstruction of buildings or the rapid reinstallation of theevacuated population, one hundred millions. 

An _Office National de Reconstruction_ for the villages has beenestablished, and an agricultural _Office National de Reconstitution_has been organized; great things have already been realized fromprivate organizations. This is the account of what one of them, theorganization of National Nurseries, sent in 1914 to the front and intothe liberated regions:

 6, 717, 575 cabbage plants 1, 980, 000 turnip and rutabaga plants 41, 000 radish plants 27, 200 cauliflowers 270, 250 white beets 5, 340, 500 leek plants 1, 836, 800 chicory and endive plants 104, 500 celery plants 105, 000 tomato plants 16, 900 tarragon plants 9, 569, 450 onion sprouts 26, 009, 175 total plants of various kinds. 

 These plants have been divided up into 2, 436 shipments, and they have sufficed to nourish not only the people who have returned to the devastated villages but also the troops at the front. 

 * * * * *

A nation that is worn out and bled white has no colonies, or, if shehas, these same colonies are likewise bloodless and worn out. TheFrench colonial empire remains intact while the German colonial empirehas disappeared from the face of the earth. The support the coloniesbrought to the mother country is wonderful and deserves a separatestudy on its own account. 

Here is the picture the celebrated German colonial empire offers. 

In 1914 Germany possessed a colonial empire two million squarekilometers in area. It represented approximately four times the areaof the German Empire, and before the war its exports amounted to aboutone hundred millions of francs or twenty-five millions of dollars. There were German Southwest Africa, 35, 000 square kilometers inextent, with 1, 750 kilometers of railroads, with its copper anddiamond mines, its metals which were worth commercially thirty-sevenmillions of marks in 1911; German East Africa, twice as big as theGerman Empire, having 1, 225 kilometers of railroads, with its harborswhere nine hundred and thirty-three merchant ships had touched in1911; German New Guinea, as large as two-thirds of Prussia, with itsrich deposits of gold and coal, its maritime commerce of 240, 000 tons;the Samoan Islands, one single port of which, Apia, was visited by onehundred and ten steamers in a year; Tsing-Tao which, in 1911, hadexported 32, 500, 000 marks' worth of merchandise, whose maritimeinterest was represented by five hundred and ninety steamers whichcarried a million tons of freight. All that has fallen away; all thatis actually in the hands of the Allies. 

The conquest was difficult; it was finished only in 1916. An order ofthe day of General Aymerich, commander-in-chief of the troops whichconquered Kameroon, points with brief eloquence to some of thedifficulties which have been overcome:

 Officers, Europeans and troops who are natives of Africa and Belgian Congo. 

 At the cost of hardship and unheard-of efforts, you have just wrenched from the Germans one of their best and richest colonies. 

 Followed without a minute's respite from possession to possession, the enemy has been obliged to abandon the last bit of Kameroon. For eighteen months you have experienced the torrid heat of the days and the cold dampness of the nights without a change, you have been under the torrential equatorial rains, you have traversed impassable forests and fetid marshes, you have without a rest taken the enemy's positions one after another, leaving dead in each one a number of your comrades. Lacking food and often without munitions, with your clothing in tatters, you have continued your glorious march without complaint or murmur, until you have attained the end for which you set out. 

In this conquest France played a large part, just as was the case inthe conquest of Togoland, with her Senegalese Tirailleurs, the famousTirailleurs, so much decried and discussed before the war, who were towin the admiration of the English generals under whose orders theyfought. 

It is appropriate to cite here the order of the day of the commandingofficer of these troops, because it shows us a side of the colonialwars, about which little has been said:

 An English detachment under the command of Lieutenant Thomson having been strongly repulsed in an attack on the post at Kamina, was reinforced by a group of the Senegalese Tirailleurs made up of a sergeant, two corporals, and fourteen Blacks. From the beginning of the encounter at eleven o'clock, the mixed detachment found itself exposed to a lively fire from positions that were solidly established and supported by mitrailleuses. After the artillery had commenced firing Lieutenant Thomson, considering that the preparation was sufficient, bravely led his troop on to the attack. This courageous initiative failed under a severe fire from fifty meters of German trenches. Lieutenant Thomson fell mortally wounded. However, the Senegalese Tirailleurs, faithful to that tradition which has already proved its value in our colonial epic by such famous exploits, refused to abandon the body of the unknown leader their captain had given them and continued to hold their position. When the fight was over and the enemy was in flight, the bodies of the sergeant, the two corporals, and of nine dead and four wounded Tirailleurs were found stretched out alongside the English officer and an under officer who was also English. In the very spot where they were found, their tomb surrounds that of Lieutenant Thomson. United in death, they still seem to watch over the strange officer--unknown to them--for whom they sacrificed their lives because their leader had given them orders to do so. 

Of the German colonial empire, four times as big as the fatherland, not a spot exists that is not in the hands of the Allies today. England holds the greater part; Japan has Tsing-Tao; France aconsiderable part of the African possessions. 

Now let us look at the picture the French colonial empire offers. 

In 1914 France ruled, in the north of Africa, over five and a halfmillions of natives in Algiers, two millions in Tunis and fourmillions in Morocco. When the war broke out there was not a singleGerman in Morocco who was not certain that the natives would rise inrevolt against France. 

"Not a single Frenchman, " wrote, in peace times, the correspondent ofthe _Cologne Gazette_, "should escape alive. " The German Governmentwas convinced of the fact that the revolt of the inhabitants and themassacre of the French would be followed by an appeal of all theMoroccans for the intervention of the Kaiser. But nothing of the sorttook place. In Algiers the most perfect calm continued to reign; inTunis there was a little trouble that was soon suppressed; in Moroccothere was a man, diplomat and soldier at the same time, who was ableto keep peace and hold the country firm to France. He was GeneralLyautey. 

During the early days of August, 1914, the question was raised whetheror not it would be necessary to abandon the outposts in the interiorof Morocco and withdraw toward the coast cities. General Lyauteydeclared that he would abandon nothing and advised the FrenchGovernment to that effect. He sent troops, the famous Moroccanregiments, the best fighting units there were in 1914, to the battlefields of Flanders, receiving in exchange territorial divisionsrecruited for the most part from the Midi. However, with theseterritorial divisions General Lyautey assured the safety of all thatportion of the empire that was in his care; he finished the operationshe had commenced; he maintained French prestige and, some months lateron, he found means to open at Casablanca a Moroccan exposition whichshowed the marvelous work that had been accomplished in thatcountry--French for a few years only. 

The French colonies not only remained incomparably calm and peacefulbut they also made a marvelous effort in coming to the aid of themother country both with men and with their commerce. 

M. Ernest Roume, Governor General of the Colonies, in charge at thewar's beginning of the government of Indo-China, sent to France morethan sixty thousand native soldiers and military workers in eighteenmonths. They were recruited from the Asiatic possessions of France. In Senegal, in Soudan and in Morocco men volunteered by hundreds ofthousands. Moroccans, Kabyles and blacks came to fight by the side ofthe French troops on the Champagne and Lorraine fronts. 

Besides, North Africa largely took care of the feeding of France. 

In 1914 the cereal crop had been notably deficient in Algiers andespecially in Tunis. However, Algeria did not hesitate to give themother land all the grain she asked for; 50, 000 quintals of wheat and500, 000 quintals of barley and oats were thus hastened to continentalFrance, and in addition, 40, 000 quintals of wheat went to Corsica and130, 000 to Paris. In 1915 the colonies made an even better showing:Algeria furnished France with 1, 625, 000 quintals of wheat, 918, 000quintals of barley, and 77, 000 quintals of oats. In 1916 this figurewas passed and the total exports amounted to four million quintals ofgrains. As for Morocco, it exported in 1914, 90, 000 quintals of wheatand 130, 000 quintals of barley; in 1915 it exported 200, 000 quintalsof wheat and a million quintals of barley; in 1916 it exported morethan two million quintals of grains. Add to that the 900, 000 sheepAlgeria furnished for the French commissariat and more than 40, 000sheep furnished to the English commissariat to feed the Hindoo troopsstationed at Marseilles. Then add in the cattle exported from Algeriaand Morocco by the thousands, add for Algeria the wines and thevegetables, and for Tunis the olive oil. In 1916 the confederation ofAlgerian winegrowers gave the French poilus fifty thousand hectolitersof wine. 

Everywhere in the colonies buildings have been built, agriculture hascontinued, public works have been constructed. In the midst of warAlgeria has opened up railroads; Tunis has opened the line from Sfaxto Gabès; Morocco the lines from Casablanca to Fez and from theAlgerian frontier to Taza. 

General Lyautey said, "A workshop is worth a battalion in Morocco. "

Workshops have been opened everywhere. There was never so much workdone. The colonial empire was never more prosperous, more active andmore glorious. 

 * * * * *

A nation that is worn out and bled white has passed the stage where itcan come to the aid of others. In her death agony, she has no morethan her own strength to last her during the last hours. France hasbeen able to come to the aid of the other Allies. She has lent them astrong helping hand, she has been able to save them from totalextinction. French troops have fought and are still fighting on allthe battle fronts; in Italy, the Balkans, Palestine and CentralAfrica. It is almost to France alone and to France especially that thesalvage of the remnant of the Serbian Army has been due. 

We remember what happened in September, 1915. At the time when thedual offensive was attempted in Artois and in Champagne, the GermanArmies invaded Poland, Volhynia, Lithuania and Courland, deliveredAustrian Galicia and commenced to submerge Serbia beneath theirinnumerable legions. Invaded by three armies, the German, Austrianand Bulgarian, all of them amply supplied with heavy artillery andasphixiating gas, poor little Serbia was doomed beforehand. But, tenacious to the end, her heroic defenders preferred to leave theircountry rather than submit to a hated yoke. Step by step the Serbians, always facing the enemy, retreated to the sea. It was a terribletragedy. Their retreat will remain a matter of legend, like that ofthe Ten Thousand under Xenophon. As they retreated, the Serbianscalled, in their despair, for help. 

Who went to Serbia's aid? It was not Russia, whose armies were quiteworn out. It was not England, who feared an attack on Egypt and whowas still fighting at the Dardanelles. It was not Italy, whose specialefforts were directed towards preventing the junction of Austria withGreece, and who was satisfied with establishing herself at Valona andthus driving a wedge between her two rivals on the Adriatic coast. 

But France, France who is represented as worn out and bled white, heard Serbia's call for help and decided to respond to it. 

Supplies were first landed at San Giovanni di Medua and Antivari inthe smaller French boats. But it was soon evident that these supplieswould be insufficient and that the Serbs could not maintain theirpositions in the Adriatic ports even with French help from the sea. The complete evacuation of an entire army, piece by piece, had to beundertaken. The transporting of entire Serbia beyond the seas, toanother country, had to be considered. Where were they to go? Wherewere the thousands of worn out soldiers, of sick and wounded men, tobe transported?

Once again France answered. France held Tunis, France held Bizerta. Tunis and Bizerta would shield temporarily the remains of Serbia. Fromthe end of November, 1915, the smaller French ships, torpedo boats, trawlers and transports made the trip from Durazzo to San Giovanni diMedua to embark the Serbian Army. Great steamers, such as the _Natal_, _Sinai_, and _Arménie_, and a flotilla of armored cruisers followedthem. Thirteen thousand men were transported in this fashion. 

But the situation grew worse. The Serbs along the seacoasts werepressed harder and harder by the Austrians and by Albanian bands. Besides, the transporting to Tunis was too slow when the progress ofthe enemy was considered. Finally the appearance of typhus and cholerarendered more dangerous the removal of the unfortunate troops to agreat distance. A new plan was arranged. The remaining Serbs were tobe transported not into Tunis, which was so far away, but to a land asnear as possible to the scene of disaster. Corfu was there; Corfu, only sixty miles away from the farthest point of debarkation; Corfu, whose climate was marvelously suited to the recovery of sick men;Corfu which offered a very safe harbor. It was decided to occupyCorfu, prepare the island, transport the entire Serbian Army thitherand assure that this army would be built up there. And France wascharged with carrying out this operation. 

On the seventh of January, 1916, the first French organization of tentrawlers set out from Malta to make a preliminary reconnoissancearound Corfu, to drag for mines and to clear out the submarines. Asecond flotilla followed it forty-eight hours later. On the eighth ofJanuary the armored cruisers _Edgar Quinet_, _Waldeck-Rousseau_, _Ernest Renan_, _Jules Ferry_ and five torpedo boats, which werelocated at Bizerta, received orders to embark a battalion of Alpinechasseurs with their arms, baggage and mules and to take up theirpositions to be ready at the first signal. 

On the night of the tenth, the French consul at Corfu woke up theGreek prefect in order to announce to him the imminent arrival of oursquadron and what it was going to do. After he had received the formalprotest of this functionary, he went down to the port, where there wasno longer any doubt in anyone's mind of what was going to happen. Withhim went guides and automobiles to finish everything quickly beforethe Germans could offer any opposition. Some minutes later, on time atthe rendezvous agreed upon, the French cruisers came into the harborand immediately disembarked their contingent of Alpine Chasseurs. Before daybreak the principal vantage points as well as the mostimportant positions on the island were occupied. Suspected personswere seized in their beds, a doubtful post of T. S. F. Was seizedalso. Corfu, which went to sleep half German, woke up entirely Frenchto the tune of the martial music that was to inform the inhabitants ofthe little change that had taken place over night. 

The question remained of _Achilleion_, the property of William ofGermany, which was about nine miles from the city. If _Achilleion_ hadbeen a French property and German soldiers had paid a visit, whatpillage, what defilement, what orgies there would have been!

But _Achilleion_ was a German property, and the French have a methodof procedure that is peculiarly their own. This is what happened, according to the narrative of a young naval officer who was on thespot:

 At four o'clock in the morning an automobile set out from the dock, carrying a squad of twelve marine fusilliers under the command of one of the ship's lieutenants. A half hour later he presented himself at the gate of the palace and demanded that he be admitted. There was no response. He was insistent. Finally a door opened and an angry voice cried out in the darkness: "This isn't the time for visitors. " For the owner, who found that there are no such things as small profits, permitted a visit for the sum of two francs per person. Surprised, the occupant of the palace submitted, and our detachment entered _Achilleion_, whose occupants it assembled--the watchman and two red-haired chambermaids--_en déshabillé_, also a mechanic and an entomologist who wore spectacles. Pale with fear, the latter threw himself on his knees before the officer. "If I must die, I ask that it may be here, " said he. He was left in peace. A company of the Chasseurs arrived and the marines, with their lanterns in their hands, went back to the ships. The Tricolor floated over the Kaiser's villa, which was to become a hospital for the Serbs. 

 * * * * *

At eleven o'clock in the morning it was all over, and the Frenchcruisers put out to sea on the return trip to Bizerta. 

But the easiest thing had been done. The most difficult was about tobegin. It was not only a question of occupying Corfu; it was also amatter of arranging to receive a worn-out and decimated army. It was adifficult task that many would have judged out of the question. Everything was lacking; there was nothing on hand. 

A writer on naval matters, who has been the historian of the FrenchNavy in this war, M. Emile Vedel, has painted in the pages of_Illustration_ an unheard-of and unique picture of what thispreparation of Corfu consisted:

 It was nothing less than a question of improvising all means that were necessary for disembarking; gangways, landing stairs, roads to and from various points on the island where the expected troops were to be concentrated; of uniting and collecting together the numerous boats--large and small--eighteen tugs (among them the _Marsouin_, _Rove_, _Iskeul_, _Marseillais 14_, _Audacieux_, _Requin_), twenty-seven smaller boats, nine barges, and a dozen mahonnes and small craft of all sizes, without counting the supply ships, floating tanks, unloading cranes and so forth--which the rapid unloading and revictualing of the new arrivals demanded; of isolating the sick who were infected with typhus and cholera; in a word, of putting on their feet the diverse offices that come under the heading of direction of the port, all the machinery of which was yet to be created. At the same time it was necessary to maintain and repair the booms of the harbor, to test the channels, make arrangements concerning piloting, anchorage, and new supplies of water, provisions and coal for the always hurried transports which arrived, unloaded and sailed away at all hours of the day and night; constantly to clear out and drag the waters near the island; establish observation posts around it, station batteries in suitable positions, and finally to protect the channels around Corfu and the Albanian coast, in which the English aided us effectively by sending a hundred drifters (a sort of little fishing boat which we call "cordiers" at Boulogne), which, beating against the wind under full sail, dragged a cable a thousand meters long to snare submarines. Thanks to a pair of floating docks, which were placed between the extreme end of Corfu and the neighboring coast, a distance of but two or three kilometers, our vessels were soon in position, in a line thirty miles in length so that they could execute all the movements necessary for the landing of the Serbs and also have gun drill, launch torpedoes and sea planes, and perform the rest of the maneuvers that are indispensable. 

 Furthermore, fresh water in sufficient quantities had to be procured. For if the springs on the island could supply eighty thousand inhabitants, they now had to triple their output and give out a far greater supply to meet the demand of one hundred and fifty thousand more mouths. Every bit of flour had to come from outside, from Italy, France or England since Corfu has very few resources and we did not wish to encounter the hostility of a population to which it was necessary for us to show firmness more than once. The most recalcitrant were forced to give in, not without ceasing to rob us very much in the dealings they had with us. Oranges went up to ten francs a dozen, and small shopkeepers realized fortunes by doing money changing at fantastic rates. 

 And all that will furnish only a very incomplete idea of the innumerable obligations the aquatic anthill, from an industrial and military standpoint, which is called a naval base, has to meet. 

On the ninth of January, 1916, the situation of the Serbian Army wasprecisely as follows: In the neighborhood of San Giovanni di Meduathere were twelve hundred officers, twenty-six thousand foot soldiers, seven thousand horses and two thousand cattle; at Durazzo there werethirty-six hundred officers, sixty-nine thousand soldiers, twentythousand horses and four thousand cattle; on the roads that led toValona some fifty thousand men including officers, two thousand horsesand three hundred cattle. 

In these three principal groups were forty-one field pieces, theglorious remainder of the Serbian artillery. 

Add to that twenty-two thousand Austrian prisoners whom the Serbscarried along with them in their exodus towards the coast and also thepitiable troop of refugees, sick men, old men, women, children who, desiring at any cost to escape slavery and servitude, followed theretreating army. 

The evacuation of this indomitable people was made at San Giovanni diMedua. The soldiers were sent to Corfu. The civilians were sent toAlgiers and Tunis, the Austrian prisoners to Sardinia. But where werethe typhoid and the cholera patients to be transported? No one wantedthem; and in this stampede of a people, cholera and typhus had madetheir appearance and spread with alarming rapidity. A certain numberof cholera patients had been taken to Brindisi; and everyone, naturally, refused to take them in. 

Since this was the case, a French trawler, the _Verdun_, commanded byLieutenant d'Aubarède, brought the sick to Corfu. And, as M. EmileVedel tells it, this was perhaps one of the most beautiful episodes ofour navy's activity, for there are few deaths as hideous as that towhich they exposed themselves in taking in their arms poor beingstouched with a malady essentially so contagious, and so dirty andcovered with vermin that they made everyone shudder. With precautionand care that brothers do not always have for their own brothers, these near-corpses were taken to Corfu, where doctors and nurses fromthe French Navy saved some of them and made the end more easy for therest. 

In twenty-two days everything was almost over. The troops at SanGiovanni and Valona and Durazzo had been evacuated, as had theAustrian prisoners. All the money of the Serbian treasury had beentransported to Marseilles in the cruiser _Ernest Renan_. It amountedto about eight hundred million francs. 

However, on the twentieth of January, about two thousand men stillremained at San Giovanni di Medua. There were also a certain number offield pieces. After so many men and guns had been saved, were these tobe abandoned? No. Everything must be saved. The last man must be savedand the last gun must be saved, whatever may be the risk, the fatigueand the hard work. 

On the morning of the twentieth of January, Captain Cacqueray, commanding the French naval forces, had two young naval officers ofthe French fleet come aboard his ship, the _Marceau_, EnsignsCouillaud and Augé, who commanded the little trawlers _Petrel_ and_Marie-Rose_. He ordered them to return once more to San Giovanni andbring back with them all they could. 

"You must succeed and you will succeed, " Captain Cacqueray saidsimply. 

Some few minutes later the two trawlers were out in the Adriatic, headed for San Giovanni. Here we must quote Ensign Augé's words. Hecommanded the _Marie-Rose_, and we must be satisfied with citing fromthe eloquent brevity of the ship's log:

 From the peaceful docks of Brindisi, we passed through the winding channel of the outer port and then out of the harbor, gliding between the buoys. Then the mine fields were to be traversed, although the night was black and foggy. As we approached the Albanian coast the wind freshened, and in a veritable tempest, with hail and icy rain we entered the Gulf of Drin, whose water is very turbid. More watchful than ever, since submarines had been sighted in the neighborhood, we finally arrived at Medua. Almost blocked off by the sand bars, the little harbor was further encumbered by a dozen wrecks, boats which the Austrians had sunk. The question was where to pass through this mess, on the top of the water, with masts and spars pointing every way. After having rounded the line of mines and the _Brindisi_, an Italian vessel that had struck a mine some days before, we made the port. Ten houses and a wretched wharf on worm-eaten piling at the end of a funnel of mountains with terrible rocks is all there is of Medua. 

 An empty sailboat was moored to the end of the wharf, which facilitated our operations. The _Petrel_, which was of lighter draft than my boat, managed to get alongside and, by vigorous efforts, we were able to join her. Ashore there were soldiers in muddy clothes and worn-out shoes. The gangway and the sailboat were soon filled by a chilly cold wind, which tried to blow it offshore and which nothing could restrain. It was impossible to locate any responsible person and out of the question to make one's self understood. Everyone thought only of escaping from that Hell. Finally some Serbian officers came up who succeeded somewhat in controlling their impatient troops. They made us bring up the first cannon, which was pushed over the shaking planks of the wharf. With great effort and by the use of triple tackles the gun was got aboard the _Petrel_, and the carriage and wheels on the _Marie-Rose_, whose hatch was wider. The beginning was slow, but, after the second cannon, the embarking went along smoothly. 

 There was not enough time. Everyone stamped in the mud. With the completely washed out Serbian uniforms mixed the brilliant colors of those of the Montenegrin guard. Seated on a stone, King Nicholas sat stoically in the falling rain, awaiting the arrival of the Italian torpedo boat that was to place itself under his orders. Soldiers from the French mission arrived and did police duty. The radio-operators from the Italian post arrived and put their baggage on board. An officer of the Serbian Army was there with all the state archives. A crowd of people instinctively pressed towards us and got mixed up with the soldiers who were supposed to keep order. In spite of the tempest which thwarted everything, we managed to embark eighteen . 75 guns and three 100 howitzers, as well as a hundred cases of projectiles. The weather grew more dreadful, with hail stones in the icy rain. Blows were necessary to prevent the crowding aboard of that mob of people whom neither shouts nor threats could stop. We allowed as many as possible to embark--about a hundred on the _Petrel_ and twice as many with us--Serbs, Montenegrins and Allies, of all classes and conditions, and, despairingly we shoved off to stop the crowd that remained. We were the last hope of these poor people--there were about fifteen hundred of them, whose only hope now was to face the frightful paths, marshes and swollen rivers that separated them from Durazzo. 

 Night was falling; there remained only time to get away. Cases of preserves were quickly opened. All our bread and biscuits were used, and some bowls of boiling tea comforted our guests. But leaving the harbor, the sea grew heavier and torrents of spray put the finishing touch to the inextricable disorder that prevailed aboard ship. The storm stayed with us until we made Brindisi, where we arrived at seven o'clock on the morning of the twenty-second. When Italy was sighted, the tiredness and discouragement disappeared as if by magic. Hand clappings, praise of France, promises of victory and of revenge, and absurd efforts to disembark everything at once--passengers and material. (Journal of Ensign Augé, Commander of the _Marie-Rose_. )

Is that all? No; it is not. For if French effort is limitless, thetonnage of the trawlers is not. And, in spite of every effort, theywere unable to get everyone aboard. Down there in the mud at Meduasome Serbs still waited, turning anxious eyes towards the high seas tosee whether or not the tricolor would appear on the horizon. .. . Well, it did reappear, for France never gives up the fight. The French mottohere, as everywhere else, was "to the bitter end. " On thetwenty-fourth of January the _Petrel_ and the _Marie-Rose_ started onthe final trip. Will they arrive in time? Probably not. In themountains that surround San Giovanni rifle shots and the rattle ofmitrailleuses were heard; the road to Alessio was deserted, the beachseemed deserted, Medua harbor was covered with wreckage of all sorts, rendering navigation impossible. However, the tiny craft entered theharbor and approached the shore. Finally they saw some Serbs there. The news was as disturbing as possible. The Austrians were only a fewkilometers off. There was fighting on the outskirts of the town. Thelast able-bodied Serbs struggled manfully to hold off the Austrianadvance guard, which pressed them hard. Not a minute was to be lost ifa last salvage was to be made. 

After a brief consultation, the two young commanders decided to takeoff everyone in their old boats, aided by a huge lighter which theytook in tow. A grave responsibility if the weather did not hold; butthe man who risks nothing will gain nothing. 

They worked with feverish haste. The hope of not being abandoned gavewings to the weak. By four o'clock in the afternoon everything waspractically ready . .. Four "seventy-fives, " ten artillery caissons, two radio outfits, a thousand new rifles, hundreds of cases of shells, cartridges and grenades and likewise large quantities of harness wereloaded on the trawlers. All the men who were in the town, itsoutskirts or on the beach were assembled and embarked on the boats. Not one was left behind. This time, safe from the rifles in thedistant mountains, everyone was saved. 

 At four-fifty in the afternoon [writes Ensign Augé] our little boats cleared the harbor for the last time and made the open sea. Suddenly we see a trail of foam hastening on us with a mad rush. It started three or four hundred meters off on our right. There is a lightning flash and we see the torpedo cross our bows, too low, fortunately. A submarine has tried to attack us but has missed. We describe a great circle in order to avoid a second attack. Fortunately night falls to end the chase, and we make for the Italian coast. Although the sea is smooth, the third boat is lurching terribly. About midnight I hear terrible cries from this boat. It is dark as pitch and impossible to make out anything in the darkness. The cries continue: sparks burst forth. Something is thrown into the sea. It is impossible to know what is happening. So much the worse. The most dangerous thing would be to stop. Let us go on. 

They went on and finally arrived in sight of Italy the next morning. The incident of the night before had been a little thing which hadstarted a panic on board the boat. Little by little the roofs andtowers of Brindisi appeared in the distance. The entire squadron ofAllied ships was there, ranged in battle formation. When they saw thetwo little boats which were bringing in the last Serbs with their lastguns, they rendered military honors to the heroic saviors, the crewscheering and the colors saluting. Supreme and unprecedented homage wasrendered two nations: France and Serbia. 

 * * * * *

In January, 1918, M. Vesnitch, Serbian Minister to France, on amission to the United States, during an after-dinner speech, in avoice that did not conceal his emotion and with a different mannerfrom his usual downcast one, told some of the details of this Passion. And he added:

"We are grateful to everyone, but Serbia's heart will remain attachedthrough all centuries to come to France. "

I repeat these words, which are France's sweetest reward, because theyattest in history what France, the nation "worn out and bled white"has done to save and succor her little ally. 

Finally let me say that the men are wrong who believe France iswithout strength and resources. Beneath her torn garments, in rags, under flesh that is cruelly bruised, there beats a virile heart whichfights on and on. And there is young, red blood which still flows andis always ready to flow for the immortal principles of Liberty, Justice and Humanity. 

IV

THE WAR AIMS OF FRANCE

A French statesman, Mr. Louis Barthou, has summed up the War aims ofFrance in the three words: "Restitution, Reparation, Guarantees. "

Restitution means the surrender of all occupied territories, of theterritories occupied by force during forty-seven months, as well asthe territories occupied by force during forty-seven years. Betweenthe five departments forming Flanders-Argonne and the five departmentsforming Alsace-Lorraine, France is unable to make any distinction. France wants Metz back on the same ground upon which she wants Lilleback. If Germany is to keep Metz she might as well keep Lille. Herclaim to Strasbourg is not better than her claim to Cambrai. 

And this is a thing which "the man in the street" fails sometimes tounderstand. He says: "Yes, we know, Alsace-Lorraine was taken fromFrance forty-seven years ago by violence, without the people of theoccupied territories being consulted. But how did France acquireAlsace-Lorraine in previous times? Was it not also by force aftersuccessful wars? Is it not a fact that Alsace-Lorraine, in days ofyore, belonged to Germany, and that, historically, Alsace is a Germanland?"

No, it is precisely not a fact. It is the contrary of a fact and oftruth. And this must be made clear, once for all. 

When France demands Alsace-Lorraine, she does not do so because shewill have some more departments in her geographical configuration, butbecause these territories belonged to France during centuries andcenturies, because they were taken from France by force forty-sevenyears ago, because the people of these territories not only were neverconsulted, but also protested against Prussian domination--because, ina word, it is a question of right. 

In a speech, which he delivered on the 24th of January, 1918, beforethe Reichstag, Count von Hertling, the Imperial German Chancellor, expressed himself as follows:

 Alsace-Lorraine comprises, as is known, for the most part purely German regions which by a century long of violence and illegality were severed from the German Empire, until finally in 1779 the French Revolution swallowed up the last remnant. Alsace and Lorraine then became French provinces. When in the war of 1870, we demanded back the district which had been criminally wrested from us, that was not a conquest of foreign territory but, rightly and properly speaking, what today is called disannexation. 

It is doubtful that Count von Hertling will ever leave in history thememory of a great Chancellor; but, if he does, it will be no doubt inthe History of Ignorance and Falsehood. Never has a statesman in sofew words uttered with such impudence so many untruths!

Historically speaking, there are in Alsace-Lorraine three parts: thereis Lorraine, there is Alsace, and there is the southern part ofAlsace including the town of Mulhouse. 

As regards the town of Mulhouse, the question is most simple andclear. The town never, at any time, belonged to Germany or to theGermans. It belonged to Switzerland and, at the end of the 18thcentury, during the French revolution, the town, after a referendum, decided to become French. A delegation was sent to Paris, to theFrench Parliament, then called the _Conseil des Cinq-Cents_, and thedelegation expressed publicly, officially, the desire of Mulhouse tobe part of the French territory. There was a deliberation, andunanimously the _Conseil des Cinq-Cents_ voted a motion couched in thefollowing terms: "_The French Republic accepts the vow of the citizensof Mulhouse. _"

A few weeks later the French authorities, among scenes of unparalleledenthusiasm, made their entry into the town, and the flag of Mulhousewas wrapped up in a tricolor box bearing the inscription: "TheRepublic of Mulhouse rests in the bosom of the French Republic. "

Alsace--the rest of Alsace--became French in 1648, more than twocenturies before the war of 1870. It became French according to atreaty. The treaty was signed by the Austrian Emperor, because Alsacebelonged to the Austrian Imperial Family. And it is not withoutinterest to quote an article (article 75) of the treaty:

 The Emperor cedes to the King of France forever, _in perpetuum_, without any reserve, with full jurisdiction and sovereignty, all the Alsatian territory. The Austrian Emperor gives it to the King of France in such a way that no other Emperor, in the future, will ever have any power in any time to affirm any right on these territories. 

When today one reads that treaty, one has the impression that morethan two centuries ago the Austrian Emperor had already a sort ofapprehension that later on another Emperor would interfere in thematter and create mischief!

Fifty-three years after that treaty, the Prussians, who dislike seeinganything in some one's else possession, tried to recover Alsace. Theirown ambassador tried to dissuade them, and in 1701 Count Schmettau, ambassador of Prussia in Paris, wrote to his king:

"_We cannot take Alsace, because it is well known that her inhabitantsare more French than the Parisians_. .. . "

Could anything answer better the affirmation that "Alsatians are ofGerman tendency?"

Lorraine became French in 1552, more than three centuries before thewar of 1870. Lorraine became French not after a war and as the resultof a conquest, but according to a treaty signed by all the ProtestantPrinces of Germany, in which we find the following sentence, which isreally worthy of meditation: "_We find just that the King of France, as promptly as possible, takes possession of the towns of Toul, Metz, and Verdun, where the German language has never been used. _" So thatthe Germans themselves put on the same line the towns of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and recognized that the town of Metz was not German. 

All this is extremely simple and clear. What happened severalcenturies later is equally clear. 

When, in 1871, on February 16th, the deputies of Alsace-Lorrainelearned that their provinces would be given up to Germany, theyassembled, and in an historical document which was signed by all ofthem--there were thirty-six--they protested in the following terms:

 Alsace and Lorraine cannot be alienated. Today, before the whole world, they proclaim that they want to remain French. Europe cannot allow or ratify the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine. Europe cannot allow a people to be seized like a flock of sheep. Europe cannot remain deaf to the protest of a whole population. Therefore, we declare in the name of our population, in the name of our children and of our descendants, that we are considering any treaty which gives us up to a foreign power as a treaty null and void, and we will eternally revindicate the right of disposing of ourselves and of remaining French. 

And, three years later, in January, 1874, when for the first timeAlsace and Lorraine had to elect deputies, they reiterated the sameprotest. They elected fifteen new deputies; some were Protestants, some were Catholics, one of them was the Bishop of Strasbourg, butthey unanimously signed a declaration which was read at the Tribune ofthe German Reichstag. The declaration was the following:

 In the name of all the people of Alsace-Lorraine, we protest against the abuse of force of which our country is a victim. .. . Citizens having a soul and an intelligence are not mere goods that may be sold, or with which you may trade. 

 The contract which annexed us to Germany is null and void. A contract is only valid when the two contractants had an entire freedom to sign it. France was not free when she signed such a contract. Therefore our electors want us to say that we consider ourselves as not bound by such a treaty, and they want us to affirm once more our right of disposing of ourselves. 

I beg to call the attention of the reader to two sentences of thisprotestation:

"Europe cannot allow a people to be seized like a flock of sheep, "wrote the deputies of 1871. "People are not mere goods which may besold or with which you may trade, " proclaimed the deputies of 1874. Now you will find, nearly word for word, the same thought expressedin the message of President Wilson to Congress, when he wrote: "Noright exists anywhere to hand peoples about from sovereignty tosovereignty as if they were property. "

That right does not exist, and it is because that right wasoutrageously violated in 1871 that France wants Alsace-Lorraine tocome back to her. It is because, in 1871, Right has been wronged thattoday Right must be reinstated. 

Some people have spoken of a referendum. Why a referendum? Was thereany referendum in 1871? And how could there be a referendum? How couldyou include in this referendum the hundreds of thousands of Alsatianswho have fled from German domination? How could you exclude from thisreferendum the hundreds of thousands of Germans who have come toAlsace?

The referendum was rendered by Mulhouse in 1798. Will that town beobliged to vote again? And how many times will it be obliged to votefor France? The referendum was rendered by the whole of Alsace andLorraine in 1871 and 1874, by their elected deputies, when theyunanimously protested against the German annexation. 

It was rendered twenty years ago by the census which was taken by theGermans themselves in Alsace. According to that census, in 1895, notwithstanding the fact that the teaching of French was prohibited inthe public schools, there were 160, 000 people in Alsace speakingFrench. And five years later, in 1900, according to another censusthere were 200, 000 people in Alsace speaking French. And of these200, 000 people, there were more than 52, 000 children. 

The referendum was also rendered by Alsatians who, before this war, engaged themselves in the French Army, and became officers. Accordingto the official statistics of the French War Department, there were in1914 in the French Army 20 generals, 145 superior officers, and 400ordinary officers of Alsatian origin. On the other side, in the GermanArmy in 1914, there were four officers of Alsatian origin. 

And finally the referendum was rendered only one year before thepresent war, in 1913, when Herr von Jagow, then Prefect of Police inBerlin, made the following extraordinary declaration: "We Germans areobliged in Alsace to behave ourselves as if we were in an enemy'scountry. .. . " What better referendum could you wish than such anadmission by a German statesman?

Moreover, the question of Alsace-Lorraine is not only a Frenchquestion, but also an international question. It is not only Francewho has sworn to herself to recover Alsace-Lorraine--it is all theAllies who have sworn to France that she should recover it. 

"We mean to stand by the French democracy to the death, " solemnlydeclared Mr. Lloyd-George on the 5th of January, 1918, "in the demandthey make for a reconsideration of the great wrong of 1871, when, without any regard to the wishes of the population, two Frenchprovinces were torn from the side of France and incorporated in theGerman Empire. "

And, three days later, using nearly the same words, President Wilson, in his luminous message to Congress, said: "_The wrong done to Franceby Prussia in 1871, in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which hasunsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years should berighted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in theinterest of all. _"

All the statesmen who have spoken since the beginning of the war inthe name of the Allied Powers have attested that this war is not onlya struggle for the liberty of nations and the respect due tonationalities, but also an effort toward definite peace. Their wordsonly appeared fit for stirring up the enthusiasm of the crowds, andfortifying their will of sacrifice, because they gave expression totheir feelings and prayers. If they are forgotten by those who utteredthem they will be remembered by those who heard and treasured them. 

In September, 1914, Winston Churchill said: "We want this war toremodel the map of Europe according to the principle of nationalities, and the real wish of the people living in the contested territories. After so much bloodshed we wish for a peace which will free races, andrestore the integrity of nations. .. . Let us have done with thearmaments, the fear of strain, intrigues, and the perpetual threat ofthe horrible present crisis. Let us make the regulation of Europeanconflicts just and natural. " The French republic, of one mind with theAllies, proclaimed through its authorized representatives that thiswar is a war of deliverance. "France, " said Mr. Stephen Pichon, Foreign Minister, "will not lay down arms before having shatteredPrussian militarism, so as to be able to rebuild on a basis of justicea regenerated Europe. " And Mr. Paul Deschanel, the President of theChamber, continued: "The French are not only defending their soil, their homes, the tombs of their ancestors, their sacred memories, their ideal works of art and faith and all the graceful, just, andbeautiful things their genius has lavished forth: they are defending, too, the respect of treaties, the independence of Europe, and humanfreedom. We want to know if all the effort of conscience duringcenturies will lead to its slavery, if millions of men are to betaken, given up, herded at the other side of a frontier and condemnedto fight for their conquerors and masters against their country, theirfamilies, and their brothers. .. . The world wishes to live at last, Europe to breathe, and the nations mean to dispose freely ofthemselves. "

These engagements will be kept. But they will have been kept only whenAlsace-Lorraine--the Belgium of 1871, as Rabbi Stephen Wise has calledit--has been returned to France. Then, and only then, will there bereal peace. Then, and only then, will the "Testament" of PaulDerouléde have been executed:

 When our war victorious is o'er, And our country has won back its rank, Then with the evils war brings in its train Will disappear the hatred the conqueror trails. 

 Then our great France, full of love without spite Sowing fresh springing-corn 'neath her new-born laurels, Will welcome Work, father of Fortune, And sing Peace, mother of lengthy deeds. 

 Then will come Peace, calm, serene, and awful, Crushing down arms, but upholding intellect; For we shall stand out as just-hearted conquerors, Only taking back what was robbed from us. 

 And our nation, weary of mourning, Will soothe the living while praising the dead, And nevermore will we hear the name of battle And our children shall learn to unlearn hate. 

Just as France will not accept peace without restitution, she will notaccept peace without reparation. 

Germany can never make reparation for all the ruin, all thedestruction, all the sacrilege she has wrought. There can be noreparation for the Cathedral of Rheims, for the Hotel de Ville atArras, for the deaths of thousands of innocent beings, for theslaughter of women and children. 

But there can be reparation for the damage done to machinery. Thetreasures of art which, contrary to all law and right, Germany hastaken into her own country, can be returned. They can return the fundsillegally stolen from the vaults of municipalities, banks and publicsocieties. They can pay off the receipts which they themselves havesigned for the objects they have compelled the owners to hand over tothem. 

Every château in the north of France, places such as those of thePrince of Monaco, of Mr. Balny d'Avricourt, that of Coucy, have beenlooted and pillaged. Antique furniture, paintings by the greatmasters, sculptures, historic pieces of tapestry have been carried offinto Germany. Tapestries, sculptures, furniture and paintings mustcome back from Germany. The museums at St. Quentin and Lille have seentheir collections of value to art and science carried off; thesecollections must come back. Factories have been robbed of their pumps, of their equipment, of their trucks; other pumps, other equipment, other trucks must be put in their place. Otherwise, nothing willprevent that in the future other expeditions will come to ransackother countries. A bold move towards Venice allowed base hands to belaid on the most beautiful works of art humanity had produced. Afortunate descent on the shores of Long Island or of New Jersey wouldallow the Metropolitan Museum to be looted. 

At Ham, in the Somme district, the Grand Duke of Hesse, the formerEmpress of Russia's brother, one morning entered the shop of anantiquarian and picked out a number of ancient bibelots and vases, ordering that they be sent to his quarters. The owner thought it wouldbe wise to state the price of the lot:

"The price, " exclaimed the Grand Duke, "there's nothing for me to payfor! Everything here belongs to me. "

But the owner protested, since, as he said, he did own the goods. 

"Here, " said the Grand Duke, "this will pay you for them. "

And he handed the man his card with the words "good for so manyfrancs" written on it; also his signature. 

The number of francs mentioned on the Grand Duke of Hesse's card willhave to be paid in full after the war. So will the thousands ofrequisitions signed by persons of less importance--governors, generals, colonels, majors, men who thought they could ransack allBelgium and the north of France with impunity, giving in exchange merescraps of paper. 

The great cities of Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Laon and Mezières havebeen compelled to pay exorbitant levies for war purposes, which haveamounted to billions of francs. This was contrary to all internationallaw and to the Hague Tribunal's regulations. The funds thus illegallyextorted will have to be repaid in full. No indemnities--that isunderstood and is perfectly just. It is precisely because there willnot have to be any indemnities that the indemnities already extortedwill have to be made good. 

 * * * * *

Finally, just as France cannot make peace without receivingrestitution and reparation, she cannot make peace without receivingcertain guarantees. 

Here we approach one of the most complex and difficult aspects of theentire problem, because we find ourselves in the presence of thefamous League of Nations. President Wilson, one of the most noble andgenerous spirits, one of the greatest figures that has appeared in theentire war, launched if not the idea at least the first definitestatement thereof. .. . And this statement has awakened in all hearts, tired of carnage and slaughter, the same infinite hope that words ofgoodness, liberty and fraternity always awaken, which evoke thethought of the supreme end towards which humanity tends. The statementhas done better than merely move men's emotions, it has moved men'sthoughts. It has kindled in them a ray of hope which tends to shinemore brightly every day in that they know that the civilized worldwill be truly a civilized world only when it is formed and fashionedin the likeness of a civilized nation. In a civilized nation no onehas the right to kill another man, to obtain justice by using force, to commit murder, nor to raise armed bands to shoot, blow up or killwith poisoned gas other men. Tribunals exist to appease differencesand to prevent fighting; every citizen is associated with every othercitizen in the common cause of security and progress. 

In a civilized world no nation has the right to massacre, no nationought to have the right to resort to the use of force to obtainjustice, no nation ought to have the right to attack, harm, ordestroy another nation. There ought to be tribunals to appease thedifferences of peoples as well as those of individuals; every nationought to be associated with every other nation to assure the progressof the entire world. 

This theory is not only appealing, it is irrefutable. But it is a lawfor this earth that the most profoundly just and true theories, thosewhich have been most scientifically demonstrated, encounter, when putinto practice, obstacles which have not been surmounted and are ofteninsurmountable. 

President Wilson, who is not only a great jurist and a noble idealist, but who also has that genius for realization which is a characteristicof all America, has not failed to appreciate the difficulties whichthe League of Nations would encounter were it put into practice. Andif, in his messages, he has insisted with a force that is every daymore eloquent on the necessity of tackling the problem; he has nevergiven a detailed solution for it. 

He has done better than that, for he has swept aside certain factorswhich would have made it absolutely impossible. On the second, ofApril, 1917, in his immortal declaration of war, he formally declaredthat "no autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within apartnership of nations or observe its covenants. It must be a leagueof honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitalsaway; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what they wouldand render account to no one, would be a corruption seated at its veryheart. Only a free people can hold their purpose and their honorsteady to a common end, and prefer the interests of mankind to anynarrow interest of their own. "

These are admirable words of truth and of philosophic depth, wordswhich deserve to be graven in stone. No autocracy, then, in the Leagueof Nations, no German militarism nor Austrian imperialism in it. Nouniversal league of nations, even, but a limited society, a society ofdemocracies!

Certain hasty critics have observed neither the same prudence norlogic as President Wilson. They have been farther from the truth, muchfarther from the truth. They have falsified his text, as do allcommentators. They have desired to build complete in all details theLeague of Nations, which only existed in outline. They have succeededin showing how difficult the construction would be, and they have onlybeen able to set up a house of cards which the first breath of windwould knock down. 

For example, this is how one of the most eminent French socialists, M. Albert Thomas, a man who has given abundant proof of his practicalexperience and actual talents, formerly the French Minister ofMunitions, depicts the League of Nations:

 Let us suppose [he wrote on the twenty-fifth of December, 1917], as the mathematicians say, that the problem is solved. Let us suppose that the society of nations, made up of all the nations, had been created by common accord about the year 1910 or 1912. What would it have accomplished? After the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Hague Tribunal, or perhaps the Washington Tribunal, would have made inquiry into the conditions of the murder. It would have taken certain steps. And if Austria, still dissatisfied, had invaded Serbia for the sake of revenge or to give scope to her ambitious designs, if Germany had joined with her in this, then all the other allied nations, in the performance of their duty, would have entered into a war against the central powers in order to force them to respect the liberties and the integrity of little Serbia. For there can be no rule without sanction therefore. No international law is possible if there does not exist at the service of this law the "organized force that is superior to that of any nation or to that of any alliance of nations" of which President Wilson speaks. 

 If the society of nations had existed in 1914 and if Germany had violated its laws, the entire world would have taken military action against Germany by means of war, economic action by means of blockade and of depriving her of the necessities of life. The entire world would have been at war with her and her allies. And in order that the league of nations might continue to exist, in order that the rule of justice, scarcely outlined, could have continued to exist, the victory of the entente powers would have been as necessary as it is today. Mr. Lloyd-George and President Wilson would have said, as they say today, "No league of nations without victory. "

 The difference is that in 1914 a verdict in the case would have been handed down by the common tribunal of the nations, and that there would have been no possible discussion of the violations of right committed by Germany nor on the responsibility for having caused the war. 

 The difference would have been that in place of seeing the neutral nations hesitating, frightened by German force, disturbed by German lies, rallying only under the protection of one of the Entente armies, at the moment when they had seen on which side lay right, they would all, at the very beginning, have entered into the battle in fulfillment of their obligations not only on account of their moral responsibility but on account of their clearly understood interests. 

 Finally the difference is that, the rights of the peoples having been defined clearly, there would have been no moment's uncertainty nor hesitation concerning the ends of the war. 

 And it is impossible to doubt that the present situation of the war would have been decidedly different from what it is today. 

I have cited the passage at length in order to give the critic'sargument its widest scope. But, alas, who does not see the argument'sfallacy? Who does not perceive that this reënforced skyscraper is acardboard column liable to fall with the first push that is given it?

Moreover, from the very beginning, the originator of the idea of thesociety of nations admits the hypothesis of a war and presupposes allthe nations in the league are making war against another nation. Evenwith the society of nations there will still be wars. Even with thesociety of nations there will be no guarantee of absolute peace. 

So we are shown the spectacle, in case of war, of all the nationsmaking war at once, without the least hesitation, without delay, without any discussion, against the people that disturbs the peace ofthe world. Is it a certainty that this unanimity would result? Is it acertainty that there would be no falling away, no delay? And, grantingthat there would be none of this, is it a certainty that irremediablecatastrophes could be avoided? To consider once more M. Thomas'example of the war of 1914, let us suppose that there had been at thattime a society of nations, that England had had an army, that theUnited States had had an army, and that the Anglo-American army hadnot lost a day nor an hour. Is it a certainty that they would haveprevented the Germans from being at the gates of Liège on the seventhof August, in Brussels on the nineteenth of August, and before Parison the second of September? And if today France, England, America, Italy, Japan and four-fifths of the civilized world, in spite of thetreasure of heroism and effort that has been expended, have not beenable to prevent the present result, is it possible that this wouldhave been obtained with the assistance of Switzerland, theScandinavian nations, Holland and Spain?

"The difference, " continues M. Thomas, "is that there would not havebeen the possibility of any discussion of the violation of rightscommitted by Germany, nor upon what nation rests the responsibilityfor causing the war. " But is that so sure? How was there anydiscussion in 1914 of the violation of Belgium by Germany? Did notGermany herself, in the teeth of all the world, hurl the avowal ofthis violation when von Bethmann-Hollweg, in the Reichstag, cynicallydeclared: "We have just invaded Belgium. .. . Yes, we know that it iscontrary to international law; but we were compelled by necessity. Andnecessity knows no law. " What international tribunal's verdict couldhave the force of this avowal from the lips of the guilty man?However, the world has not moved, the world has not trembled, theworld is not now up in arms. And who would guarantee that another timewhen the case will be perhaps less flagrant, the crime more obscure, the aggressor less cynical, the world will tremble and rise in arms?

Moreover, is it always possible to determine the responsibility forwar's origin? Is it always possible, before an international tribunalof arbitration, to throw the proper light and all the light on thecourse events have taken? Will the judges always be unanimous?

Take the case of the last Balkan War in 1912. Is it possible today, from a six years' perspective, to establish with any degree ofcertitude the reasons for its outbreak and determine withouthesitation the responsibility for it? Can you affirm with any degreeof certainty that a court composed of American, European and Asiaticjurists would be unanimous in condemning Turkey and exoneratingBulgaria? And tomorrow, if the Ukraine should suddenly hurl itselfagainst the Republic of the Don, or if Finland invaded Great Russia, with your international court would you be really in a way topronounce a verdict within five days? And if Sweden took Finland'spart and Germany took Great Russia's, could you guarantee thatArgentina, Japan, Australia and even France would consent to mobilizetheir fleets and their armies to settle the question of a frontier onthe banks of the Neva? Can you guarantee that every war of every Slavrepublic would have for a correlative the mobilization of the entireworld?

And then are you certain that the idea of a society of nations isexactly a new one? Are you certain that there did not exist a societyof nations before the outbreak of the present war? Have you neverheard that, on the fifteenth of June, 1907, at The Hague, forty-fournations of the civilized world (and Germany was one of the number)assembled and met together to form such a league? Have you never heardof the treaty that was signed then which, according to the wording atthe treaty's head, had for its object "fixing the laws and usages atwar on the land"? Have you never read the terms of this convention, have you never glanced through the sixty-odd articles which today, inthe presence of the nameless horrors in which we lend a hand, offer aprodigious interest to actuality?

Glance over these articles--and let us see how they have been applied:

 ARTICLE 4 provides that "_prisoners of war must be humanely treated. All their personal belongings, except arms, horses, and military papers, remain their property_. " Now all the prisoners held by Germany have, without exception, been spoiled of their money, of their portfolios, of their rings, of their jewels, of their eyeglasses. 

 ARTICLE 6 says that "_the state may employ as workmen the prisoners of war_, " but it is careful in stipulating "_that the work must not be excessive and must have nothing whatever to do with operations of war_. " ARTICLE 7 says that "_prisoners of war shall be treated as regards board, lodging, and clothing on the same footing as the troops of the Government who captured them_. " Each of these two articles has been violated since the beginning of the war by the Germans. After the Battle of the Marne, when the advancing French troops of Joffre arrived on the Aisne they found French civilians captured by the Germans and compelled by them to work in the trenches. Moreover, an official report emanating from Mr. Gustave Ador, President of the International Red Cross, now member of the Swiss Federal Council, called the attention of the belligerents as soon as October, 1914, to the bad treatment of the French prisoners in Germany. Each French officer had, as prisoner, a salary of one hundred marks per month, which was not even half of the pay of an under-officer. 

 ARTICLES 23, 25, 27, and 28 are so interesting that they must be quoted _in extenso_:

 ARTICLE 23. In _addition to the prohibitions provided by special conventions, it is especially forbidden_:

 (a) _To employ poison or poisoned weapons. _

 (c) _To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defense, has surrendered at discretion. _

 (d) _To declare that no quarter will be given. _

 (e) _To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering. _

 (f) _To make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag, or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention. _

 (g) _To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war. _

 (h) _A belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war. _

 ARTICLE 25. _The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited. _

 ARTICLE 27. _In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes. _

 ARTICLE 28. _The pillage of a town or place, even when taken by assault, is prohibited. _

 It seems that the men of The Hague, when they wrote those articles, had a sort of prescience of the future cruelties of war and that they wanted to avoid them. Let us see how far they have succeeded. 

 It was forbidden to employ poison or poisoned weapons. No later than last spring when the Germans evacuated certain parts of the north of France instructions emanating from the German general headquarters were found in the pocket of many German prisoners or on the dead, and those instructions indicated how the water of the wells was to be poisoned: "Such and such a soldier, " ran instructions, "will be in charge of the wells, will throw in each one a sufficient quantity of poison or creosote, or, lacking these, all available filth. "

 It was forbidden to declare that no quarter would be given. And here is the order of the day issued on August 25, 1914, by General Stenger, commanding the Fifty-eighth German Brigade, to his troops: "After today no more prisoners will be taken. All prisoners are to be killed. Wounded, with or without arms, are to be killed. Even prisoners already grouped in convoys are to be killed. Let not a single living enemy remain behind us. "

 It was forbidden to pillage a town or locality, even when taken by assault. And on the corpse of the German private Handschumacher (of the Eleventh Battalion of Jägers, Reserve) in the very earliest days of the war, was found the following diary: "August 8, 1914. Gouvy (Belgium). There, as the Belgians had fired on the German soldiers, we at once pillaged the goods station. Some cases, eggs, shirts, and all eatables were seized. The safe was gutted and the money divided among the men. All securities were torn up. "

 In fact, pillage and robberies went on on such a high scale during the first months of the war that considerable sums of money were sent from France and Belgium to Germany. A German newspaper, the _Berlin Tageblatt_, of November 26, 1914, implicitly avowed it when, in a technical article on the military treasury ("_Der Zahlmeister im Felde_"), it wrote: "It is curious to note that far more money-orders are sent from the theater of operations to the interior of the country than _vice versa_. "

 ARTICLE 50 of this Hague Convention states that "_no general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which they cannot be regarded as jointly and severally responsible_. " Side by side with this article, it is interesting to reproduce an extract from a proclamation of General von Bülow, posted up at Liège on August 22, 1914: "The inhabitants of the town of Andenne, after having protested their peaceful intentions, treacherously surprised our troops. It is with my full consent that the general in command had the whole place burned, and about a hundred people were shot. " Moreover, here is an extract from a proclamation of Major-Commander Dieckmann, posted up at Grivegnée on September 8, 1914: "Every one who does not obey at once the word of command, 'Hands up, ' is guilty of the penalty of death. " And finally here is an extract from a proclamation of Marshal Baron von der Goltz, posted up in Brussels on October 5, 1914: "In future all places near the spot where such acts have taken place [destruction of railway lines or telegraph wires]--no matter whether guilty or not--shall be punished without mercy. With this end in view, hostages have been brought from all places near railway lines exposed to such attacks, and at the first attempt to destroy railway lines, telegraph or telephone lines, they will be immediately shot. "

 ARTICLE 56 of the Hague Convention provides that "_the property of municipalities, that of institutions dedicated to religion, charity, and education, to the arts and sciences, even when state property, shall be treated as private property. All seizure of, destruction, or willful damage done to institutions of this character, historical monuments, works of art and science, is forbidden, and should be made the subject of legal proceedings. _"

 Four names, which will be eternally remembered, are here sufficient to answer: there is Rheims and its Cathedral, Louvain and its library, Arras and its Town Hall, Ypres and its bell tower. 

In the course of this war, Germany has disavowed her signature anynumber of times and has broken her pledges just as often as she hasmade them. Germany is a proven perjurer not only in the eyes of thenations at war with her, but also in the regard of the forty-fourcountries signatory of the Hague Convention. However, we have neverheard that a single one of these nations lodged a protest against heractions. The Hague Convention has been torn into shreds, and not oneof its signers has entered the slightest protest. 

Is the next society of nations to be modeled on the same principles?Is the next society of nations going to draw up articles of the samekind as the Hague society? Is the future society of nations to acceptamong its members the same Empire of Germany which in 1914 declaredbankruptcy? Will the future act of the society of nations be a simplescrap of paper, like the last act of 1907?

But let us cease asking these questions. There is no gain in askingcertain questions to gain certain replies. There is no gain inexamining certain problems to make the difficulties of the solutionmore apparent. 

There is no doubt that the society of nations will exist some day. Forthe honor of humanity we must hope that it will exist. But it is notone day's work, nor the speaking of a single discourse nor the writingof one article that will build it. In M. Clemenceau's words, right cannot be firmly established as long as the world is based on might. Tobring about the rule of Right, Might must be destroyed and driven outas the very first move in the campaign for ultimate liberty. 

German Might will not be destroyed by international compacts to whichGermany will be party. Recall the treaty guaranteeing Belgium'sintegrity, which was one that Germany signed. Recall the HagueConventions, signed by this same Germany. The men are fools who willnot recall these things, who will not profit by them as examples. German might will only be destroyed by international agreements towhich Germany is not a party, and which shall place German mightbeyond the regions in which it can play a dangerous part. 

Now we are not building this upon sand, but upon a foundation of solidrock. 

Germany needs two things to continue her national existence. She mustimport from other countries certain products necessary to herexistence. For example, there is wool, of which she was obliged toimport 1, 888, 481 metric quintals in order to manufacture her sixteenthousand grades of woolen fabrics. There is copper, of which Germanyimported 250, 000 tons in 1913 (200, 000 tons came from America), inorder to sell the merchandise she finds has a good market in foreigncountries. Considering all Germany's exports for the period from1903-1913, we find that their total has passed from 6, 400 millions to12, 600 millions, an increase of nearly one hundred per cent. 

There lies the best, the true, indeed the only means whereby theAllies can compel Germany to disarm. We do not demand that theeconomic war shall continue after the actual warfare is at an end, butwe can demand that the Allies shall not lay aside their economic armswhen the Germans shall have laid aside their fighting arms. In otherwords, we can demand that the Allies do not give Germany wool, copperand money if they know that this wool, money and copper are to feedthe war machine. This war machine cost the German Empire nearly fourhundred millions of dollars according to the budget of 1914. Supposethe Allies said to Germany, "As long as you have a military and navalbudget of four hundred millions of dollars, we regret that we shall beunable to sell you wool and copper. We regret that we shall be unableto buy anything from you. But, if you reduce this budget by half, weare willing to give you one million metric quintals of wool and125, 000 tons of copper. Likewise, we are disposed to make purchasesin your market totalling one billion dollars. If your military andnaval budgets fall to nothing, we are willing to go much farther andbuy and sell everything with you in unlimited quantities. " Suppose theAllies make these proposals to Germany. Suppose they are put intoeffect. Will they not be a better guarantee of universal peace thanall the Conventions and all the courts of arbitration in the world?

Then let no one disturb the peace of the world for his selfishpurposes. Left to themselves, the little Balkan States and Slav Stateswill not start great, long wars, just as the lone robber posted at theedge of a woods will not endanger a province's communications for verylong. The formidable thing is the great country that is arranged andplanned along the lines of war, where everything is organized with aview to war; just as the formidable thing for a city is the small bandof malefactors who are able to terrify half the citizens by the use ofhighly perfected arms. 

There will be no lasting peace until the most terrible war machinethe world has ever known shall have been destroyed, reduced to animpotent state of non-existence. Ideals will not destroy this machine, but practical means and getting down to the facts of the case will doso. Pasteur did not overcome hydrophobia by writing treatises anddissertations. He met poison with poison, he injected the healingserum into the veins of the maddened dog. Now Germany is the mad dog, and Germany must be inoculated. After that there will be time to passhygienic measures for the regiment of the entire world. Today Germanymust be killed or cured. Germany is the cancer that must be cut out, lest it eat up the world. 

It has been a matter of life and death for Liberty and Civilization. Both of them have been sick unto death. Clutched foully by the throat, they have heard their own death rattle; they themselves thought theymight not survive. Now they stand on their feet, so weak, so pale, andso feeble that their life might still be despaired of. If we do notobtain definite guarantees against the monster who has barely failedto strangle them and to force the entire world back into the darknessof slavery, we shall have failed in our task, and the blood shed inthe fight for Liberty will have been shed in vain. 

 * * * * *

APPENDICES

The following irrefutable documents, selected from among thousands ofothers which history will record, prove better than any other meanshow the Germans understand war and peace. They deserve a place in thisvolume because they demonstrate why and against what France isfighting. 

APPENDIX I

HOW GERMANS FORCED WAR ON FRANCE

Answering to the Pope, in September, 1917, Kaiser Wilhelm II declared"_that he had always regarded it as his principal and most sacred dutyto preserve the blessing of Peace for the German people and theworld_. " More recently, driving through the battlefield of Cambrai, the Kaiser, according to the war correspondent of the Berlin_Lokalanzeiger_, exclaimed: "God knows what I have not done to preventsuch a war!"

A document made public by M. Stephen Pichon, French Foreign Minister, shows exactly how, in the last days of July, 1914, the Kaiser tried"to preserve the blessings of Peace for the German people and theworld" and what he did "to prevent such a war. "

Speaking at the Sorbonne, in Paris, on March 1, 1918, M. Pichon said:

 I will establish by documents that the day the Germans deliberately rendered inevitable the most frightful of wars they tried to dishonor us by the most cowardly complicity in the ambush into which they drew Europe. I will establish it in the revelation of a document which the German Chancellor, after having drawn it up, preserved carefully, and you will see why, in the most profound mystery of the most secret archives. 

 We have known only recently of its authenticity, and it defies any sort of attempt to disprove it. It bears the signature of Bethmann Hollweg (German Imperial Chancellor at the outbreak of the war) and the date July 31, 1914. On that day Von Schoen (German Ambassador to France) was charged by a telegram from his Chancellor to notify us of a state of danger of war with Russia and to ask us to remain neutral, giving us eighteen hours in which to reply. 

 What was unknown until today was that the telegram of the German Chancellor containing these instructions ended with these words:

 _If the French Government declares it will remain neutral your Excellency will be good enough to declare that we must, as a guarantee of its neutrality, require the handing over of the fortresses of Toul and Verdun; that we will occupy them and will restore them after the end of the war with Russia. A reply to this last question must reach here before Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock. _

That is how Germany wanted peace at the moment when she declared war!That is how sincere she was in pretending that we obliged her to takeup arms for her defense! That is the price she intended to make us payfor our baseness if we had the infamy to repudiate our signature asPrussia repudiated hers by tearing up the treaty that guaranteed theneutrality of Belgium!

It was explained that the above document has not previously beenpublished, because the code could not be deciphered: the FrenchForeign Office succeeded only a few days before in decodifying thedocument. 

Moreover, Herr von Bethmann Hollweg, on March 18, 1918, acknowledgedthe accuracy of M. Pichon's quotation and contented himself to declarethat "his instructions to Von Schoen were justified. "

APPENDIX II

HOW GERMANS TREAT AN AMBASSADOR

This document is quoted from the French "Yellow Book, " page 152:

 _From Copenhagen_ _French Yellow Book No. 155_

 M. Bapst, French Minister at Copenhagen, to M. Doumergue, Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

 COPENHAGEN, AUGUST 6, 1914. 

 The French Ambassador at Berlin, M. Jules Cambon, asks me to communicate to your Excellency the following telegram:

 I have been sent to Denmark by the German Government. I have just arrived at Copenhagen. I am accompanied by all the staff of the Embassy and the Russian Chargé d'Affaires at Darmstadt with his family. The treatment which we have received is of such a nature that I have thought it desirable to make a complete report on it to your Excellency by telegram. 

 On the morning of Monday, the 3rd of August, after I had, in accordance with your instructions, addressed to Herr von Jagow a protest against the acts of aggression committed on French territory by German troops, the Secretary of State came to see me. Herr von Jagow came to complain of acts of aggression which he alleged had been committed in Germany, especially at Nuremberg and Coblenz by French aviators, who according to his statement "had come from Belgium. " I answered that I had not the slightest information as to the facts to which he attached so much importance and the improbability of which seemed to me obvious; on my part I asked him if he had read the note which I had addressed to him with regard to the invasion of our territory by detachments of the German army. As the Secretary of State said that he had not yet read this note I explained its contents to him. I called his attention to the act committed by the officer commanding one of the detachments who had advanced to the French village of Joncherey, ten kilometers within our frontier, and had blown out the brains of a French soldier whom he had met there. After having given my opinion of this act I added:

 "You will admit that under no circumstances could there be any comparison between this and the flight of an aeroplane over foreign territory carried out by private persons animated by that spirit of individual courage by which aviators are distinguished. 

 "An act of aggression committed on the territory of a neighbor by detachments of regular troops commanded by officers assumes an importance of quite a different nature. "

 Herr von Jagow explained to me that he had no knowledge of the facts of which I was speaking to him, and he added that it was difficult for events of this kind not to take place when two armies filled with the feelings which animated our troops found themselves face to face on either side of the frontier. 

 At this moment the crowds which thronged the Pariser Platz in front of the Embassy and whom we could see through the window of my study, which was half open, uttered shouts against France. I asked the Secretary of State when all this would come to an end. 

 "The Government has not yet come to a decision, " Herr von Jagow answered. "It is probable that Herr von Schoen will receive orders today to ask for his passports and then you will receive yours. " The Secretary of State assured me that I need not have any anxiety with regard to my departure, and that all the proprieties would be observed with regard to me as well as my staff. We were not to see one another any more and we took leave of one another after an interview which had been courteous and could not make me anticipate what was in store for me. 

 Before leaving Herr von Jagow I expressed to him my wish to make a personal call on the Chancellor, as that would be the last opportunity that I should have of seeing him. 

 Herr von Jagow said that he did not advise me to carry out this intention as the interview would serve no purpose and could not fail to be painful. 

 At 6 o'clock in the evening Herr von Langwerth brought me my passports. In the name of his Government he refused to agree to the wish which I expressed to him that I should be permitted to travel by Holland or Belgium. He suggested to me that I should go either by way of Copenhagen, although he could not assure me a free passage by sea, or through Switzerland via Constance. 

 I accepted this last route; Herr von Langwerth having asked me to leave as soon as I possibly could it was agreed, in consideration of the necessity I was under of making arrangements with the Spanish Ambassador, who was undertaking the charge of our interests, that I should leave on the next day, the 4th August, at 10 o'clock at night. 

 At 7 o'clock, an hour after Herr von Langwerth had left, Herr von Lancken, formerly Councilor of the Embassy at Paris, came from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to tell me to request the staff of my Embassy to cease taking meals in the restaurants. This order was so strict that on the next day, Tuesday, I had to have recourse to the authority of the Wilhelmstrasse to get the Hôtel Bristol to send our meals to the Embassy. 

 At 11 o'clock on the same evening, Monday, Herr von Langwerth came back to tell me that his Government would not allow our return by way of Switzerland under the pretext that it would take three days and three nights to take me to Constance. He announced that I should be sent by way of Vienna. I only agreed to this alteration under reserve, and during the night I wrote the following letter to Herr von Langwerth:

 "BERLIN, AUGUST 3rd, 1914. 

 "M. LE BARON;

 "I have been thinking over the route for my return to my country about which you came to speak to me this evening. You propose that I shall travel by Vienna. I run the risk of finding myself detained in that town, if not by the action of the Austrian Government, at least owing to the mobilization which creates great difficulties similar to those existing in Germany as to the movements of trains. 

 "Under these circumstances I must ask the German Government for a promise made on their honor that the Austrian Government will send me to Switzerland, and that the Swiss Government will not close its frontier either to me or to the persons by whom I am accompanied, as I am told that that frontier has been firmly closed to foreigners. 

 "I cannot then accept the proposal that you have made to me unless I have the security which I ask for, and unless I am assured that I shall not be detained for some months outside my country. 

 "JULES CAMBON. "

 In answer to this letter on the next morning, Tuesday the 4th August, Herr von Langwerth gave me in writing an assurance that the Austrian and Swiss authorities had received communications to this effect. 

 At the same time M. Miladowski, attached to the Consulate at Berlin, as well as other Frenchmen, was arrested in his own house while in bed. M. Miladowski, for whom a diplomatic passport had been requested, was released after four hours. 

 I was prepared to leave for Vienna when, at a quarter to five, Herr von Langwerth came back to inform me that I would have to leave with the persons accompanying me at 10 o'clock in the evening, but that I should be taken to Denmark. On this new requirement I asked if I should be confined in a fortress supposing I did not comply. Herr von Langwerth simply answered that he would return to receive my answer in half an hour. I did not wish to give the German Government the pretext for saying that I had refused to depart from Germany. I therefore told Herr von Langwerth when he came back that I would submit to the order which had been given to me but "that I protested. "

 I at once wrote to Herr von Jagow a letter of which the following is a copy:

 BERLIN, AUGUST 4, 1914. 

 "SIR:

 "More than once your Excellency has said to me that the Imperial Government, in accordance with the usages of international courtesy, would facilitate my return to my own country, and would give me every means of getting back to it quickly. 

 "Yesterday, however, Baron von Langwerth, after refusing me access to Belgium and Holland, informed me that I should travel to Switzerland via Constance. During the night I was informed that I should be sent to Austria, a country which is taking part in the present war on the side of Germany. As I had no knowledge of the intentions of Austria towards me, since on Austrian soil I am nothing but an ordinary private individual, I wrote to Baron von Langwerth that I requested the Imperial Government to give me a promise that the Imperial and Royal Austrian authorities would give me all possible facilities for continuing my journey and that Switzerland would not be closed to me. Herr von Langwerth has been good enough to answer me in writing that I could be assured of an easy journey and that the Austrian authorities would do all that was necessary. 

 "It is nearly five o'clock, and Baron von Langwerth has just announced to me that I shall be sent to Denmark. In view of the present situation, there is no security that I shall find a ship to take me to England and it is this consideration which made me reject this proposal with the approval of Herr von Langwerth. 

 "In truth no liberty is left me and I am treated almost as a prisoner. I am obliged to submit, having no means of obtaining that the rules of international courtesy should be observed towards me, but I hasten to protest to your Excellency against the manner in which I am being treated. 

 "JULES CAMBON. "

 Whilst my letter was being delivered I was told that the journey would not be made direct but by way of Schleswig. At 10 o'clock in the evening, I left the Embassy with my staff in the middle of a great assembly of foot and mounted police. 

 At the station the Ministry for Foreign Affairs was only represented by an officer of inferior rank. 

 The journey took place with extreme slowness. We took more than twenty-four hours to reach the frontier. It seemed that at every station they had to wait for orders to proceed. I was accompanied by Major von Rheinbaben of the Alessandra Regiment of the Guard and by a police officer. In the neighborhood of the Kiel Canal the soldiers entered our carriages. The windows were shut and the curtains of the carriages drawn down; each of us had to remain isolated in his compartment and was forbidden to get up or to touch his luggage. A soldier stood in the corridor of the carriage before the door of each of our compartments which were kept open, revolver in hand and finger on the trigger. The Russian Chargé d'Affaires, the women and children and everyone were subjected to the same treatment. 

 At the last German station about 11 o'clock at night, Major von Rheinbaben came to take leave of me. I handed to him the following letter to Herr von Jagow. 

 "WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 5, 1914. 

 "SIR:

 "Yesterday before leaving Berlin, I protested in writing to your Excellency against the repeated change of route which was imposed upon me by the Imperial Government on my journey from Germany. 

 "Today as the train in which I was passed over the Kiel Canal an attempt was made to search all our luggage as if we might have hidden some instrument of destruction. Thanks to the interference of Major von Rheinbaben, we were spared this insult. But they went further. 

 "They obliged us to remain each in his own compartment, the windows and blinds having been closed. During this time, in the corridors of the carriages at the door of each compartment and facing each one of us, stood a soldier, revolver in hand, finger on the trigger, for nearly half an hour. 

 "I consider it my duty to protest against this threat of violence to the Ambassador of the Republic and the staff of his Embassy, violence which nothing could even have made me anticipate. 

 "Yesterday I had the honor of writing to your Excellency that I was being treated almost as a prisoner. Today I am being treated as a dangerous prisoner. Also I must record that during our journey which from Berlin to Denmark has taken twenty-four hours, no food has been prepared nor provided for me nor for the persons who were traveling with me to the frontier. 

 "JULES CAMBON. "

 I thought that our troubles had finished, when shortly afterwards Major von Rheinbaben came, rather embarrassed, to inform me that the train would not proceed to the Danish frontier if I did not pay the cost of this train. I expressed my astonishment that I had not been made to pay at Berlin and that at any rate I had not been forewarned of this. I offered to pay by a cheque on one of the largest Berlin banks. This facility was refused me. With the help of my companions I was able to collect, in gold, the sum which was required from me at once, and which amounted to 3, 611 marks, 75 pfennig. This is about 5, 000 francs in accordance with the present rate of exchange. 

 After this last incident, I thought it necessary to ask Major von Rheinbaben for his word of honor as an officer and a gentleman that we should be taken to the Danish frontier. He gave it to me, and I required that the policeman who was with us should accompany us. 

 In this way we arrived at the first Danish station, where the Danish Government had had a train made ready to take us to Copenhagen. 

 I am assured that my British colleague and the Belgian Minister, although they left Berlin after I did, traveled by the direct route to Holland. I am struck by this difference of treatment, and as Denmark and Norway are, at this moment, infested with spies, if I succeed in embarking in Norway, there is danger that I may be arrested at sea with the officials who accompany me. 

 I do not wish to conclude this dispatch without notifying your Excellency of the energy and devotion of which the whole staff of the Embassy has given unceasing proof during the course of this crisis. I shall be glad that account should be taken of the services which on this occasion have been rendered to the Government of the Republic, in particular by the Secretaries of the Embassy and by the Military and Naval Attachés. 

 JULES CAMBON. 

APPENDIX III

HOW GERMANS ARE WAGING WAR

The French Government, as soon as it heard of the first Germanatrocities, instituted a Commission of inquiry composed of three highFrench magistrates: Mr. Georges Payelle, President of the Cour desComptes, Mr. Georges Maringer, Councilor of State, and Mr. EdmondPaillot, Councilor of the Cour of Cassation. That Commission proceededto the spot where the atrocities had been perpetrated and heardwitnesses, who deposed under oath. 

All evidence and proceedings have been printed and fill up ten heavyvolumes. 

Among many depositions, the following one, taken the twenty-third ofOctober, 1915, at Paris, will give an idea of the horrors to which theinvaded regions of France were submitted. 

 * * * * *

Duren Virginie, wife of Berard Durem, 29 years of age, inhabitant ofJarny in the Department of Meurthe et Moselle, a refugee atLevallois-Perret:

 I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. 

 On the 25th of August, 1914, the sixty-sixth and sixty-eighth Bavarian regiments were quartered together at Jarny. I was ordered to bring water for the soldiers, so went in search of a large number of water pails. At three o'clock in the afternoon an officer, who met me, told me I had carried enough water and ordered me to go back to my house. As the Germans were firing on our house with mitrailleuses, I took refuge in the cellar with my two sons, Jean, aged six, and Maurice, aged two, and also my daughter Jeanne, nine years of age. The Aufiero family was also there. Soon petrol was poured over the house; it got into the cellar through the air-hole, and we were surrounded by flames. I saved myself, carrying my two little boys in my arms, while my daughter and little Beatrice Aufiero ran along holding on to my skirt. As we were crossing the Rougeval brook, which runs near my house, the Bavarians fired on us. My little Jean, whom I was carrying, was struck by three bullets, one in the right thigh, one in the ankle, and one in the chest. The thigh was almost shot away, and from the place where the bullet through his chest came out the lung projected. The poor child said, "Oh, Mother, I have a pain, " and in a moment he was dead. At the same time little Beatrice had her arm broken so badly that it was attached to her shoulder only by a piece of flesh, and Angele Aufiero, a boy of nine years, who followed a short distance behind us, was wounded in the calf of the leg. Little Beatrice suffered cruelly and wept bitterly, but she did not fall down, continuing to go along with me. 

 While these things were taking place, the Perignon family, which lived next door to us, was massacred. 

 When they were no longer shooting at us, I tried to wash my baby, who was covered with blood, in the brook; but a soldier prevented me, shouting, "Get away from there. "

 Finally we got to the road. Meanwhile they were driving M. Aufiero out of the cellar. The Germans, who spoke French after a fashion, said to his wife, "Come see your husband get shot. " The poor man, on his knees, asked for mercy, and as his wife shrieked "My poor Côme, " the soldiers said to her, "Shut your mouth. " His execution took place very near us. 

 The Bavarians sent me, my children, Mme. Aufiero and her daughter to a meadow near the Pont-de-l'Etang. A general ordered that we be shot, but I threw myself at his feet, begging him to be merciful. He consented. At this moment an officer, wearing a great gray cloak with a red collar, said, as he pointed to the dead body of my child, "There is one who will not grow up to fight our men. "

 The next day, in my flight to Barrière Zeller, an officer came up and told me that the body of my dead child smelled badly and that I must get rid of it. Since I could find no one to make a coffin, I found in the canteen two rabbit hutches. I fastened one of these to the other, and there I laid the little body. It was buried in my garden by two soldiers, and I had to dig the grave myself. 

APPENDIX IV

HOW GERMANS OCCUPY THE TERRITORY OF AN ENEMY

In the first days of April, 1916, the following notice, bearing thesignature of the German commander, was posted on all the walls ofLille, the great town in the north of France which has been occupiedby the Germans since the beginning of the war. 

 All the inhabitants of the town, except the children under fourteen years of age, their mothers, and the old men, must prepare to be transported within an hour and a half. 

 An officer will decide definitely which persons shall be conducted to the camps of assembly. For this purpose, all the inhabitants must assemble in front of their homes, in case of bad weather they shall be permitted to stay in the lobbies. The doors of the houses must be left open. All complaints will be unavailing. No inhabitant of a house, even those who are not to be transported, can leave the house before eight o'clock in the morning (German time). 

 Each person may take thirty kilograms of baggage with him. Should there be any excess over this amount, all that person's baggage will be refused regardless of everything. Separate packages must be made up by each person, and a visibly written, firmly secured address must be on each package. The address must bear the person's name, surname, and the number of his identification card. 

 It is very necessary for each person to provide himself with utensils for eating and drinking, also with a woolen blanket and some good shoes and some linen. Each person must have on his person his identification card. Whoever shall attempt to evade deportation shall be punished without mercy. 

 ETAPPEN--KOMMANDANTUR

The threat contained in the notice cited here was carried out to theletter. Here is an account of it from the communication addressed byM. D----, formerly the _receveur particulier_ of Lille, to M. Cambon, formerly the French Ambassador to Berlin:

 On Good Friday night at three o'clock the troops who were going to occupy the designated section, Fives, came through our houses. It was dreadful. An officer passed by, pointing out the men and women whom he chose, leaving them a space of time amounting to an hour in some cases and ten minutes in others, to prepare themselves for their journey. 

 Antoine D. . .. And his sister, twenty-two years of age, were taken away. The Germans did not want to leave behind the younger daughter in the family, who was not fourteen. Their grandmother, ill with sorrow and terror, had to be cared for at once. Finally they met the young daughter coming back. In one case an old man and two infirm persons could not keep the daughter who was their sole support. And everywhere the enemy sneered, adding vexatious annoyance to their hateful task. In the house of the doctor, who is B. 's uncle, they gave his wife the choice between two maids. She preferred the elder and they said, "Well, then she is the one we are going to take. " Mlle. L. , the young one who has just got over typhoid and bronchitis, saw the non-commissioned officer who took away her nurse coming up to her. "What a sad task they are making us do. " "More than sad, sir, it could be called barbarous. " "That is a hard word, are you not afraid that I will sell you?" As a matter of fact the wretch denounced her. They allowed her seven minutes and took her away bare-headed, just as she was, to the Colonel who commanded this noble battle and who also ordered her to go, against the advice of a physician. Only on account of her tireless energy and the sense of decency of one who was less ferocious than the rest, did she obtain permission, at five o'clock in the afternoon, to be discharged, after a day which had been a veritable Calvary. The poor wretches at whose door a sentry watched, were collected together at some place or other, a Church or a school. Then the mob of all sorts and conditions of people, or all grades of social standing, respectable young girls and women of the street, was driven to the station escorted by soldiers marching at the head of the procession. From there they were taken off in the evening without knowing where they were going or for what work they were destined. 

 And in the face of all this our people evidenced restraint and admirable dignity, although they were provoked that day by seeing the automobiles going around which were taking away these unfortunate people. They all went away shouting "Vive la France. Vive la Liberté!" and singing the Marseillaise. They cheered up those who remained; their poor mothers who were weeping, and the children. With voices almost strangled with tears, and pale with suffering, they told them not to cry as they themselves would not; but bore themselves proudly in the presence of their executioners. 

Another document shows better than all this talking the treatment theFrench have been receiving from the Germans for over thirty months. This document is a German notice which was found at Holnon, northwestof St. Quentin. The document bore the official seal of the Germancommander. 

 HOLNON, 20th July, 1915. 

 All workmen, women and children over fifteen years of age must work in the fields every day, also on Sunday, from four o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock at night, French time. For rest they shall have a half-hour in the morning, an hour at noon and a half-hour in the afternoon. Failure to obey this order will be punished in the following manner:--

 1. --The men who are lazy will be collected for the period of the harvest in a company of workmen under the inspection of German corporals. After the harvest the lazy will be imprisoned for six months and every third day their nourishment shall be only bread and water. 

 2. --Lazy women shall be exiled to Holnon to work. After the harvest the women will be imprisoned six months. 

 3. --The children who do not work shall be punished with blows from a club. 

 Furthermore, the commandant reserves the right to punish men who do not work with twenty blows from a club daily. 

 Workmen in the Commune of Verdelles have been punished severely. 

 (Signed) GLOSE, COLONEL AND COMMANDANT. 

APPENDIX V

HOW GERMANS TREAT ALSACE-LORRAINE

Von Bethmann-Hollweg, Count von Hertling and Herr von Kuhlmann statethat Alsace-Lorraine is a province of the German Empire by right andby fact, and that it is firmly attached to Germany. 

The following picture shows how this _German_ province is treated byGermany:

_Treatment of the Civilian Population_

The Government has established for the duration of the war aninsurmountable barrier between Alsace-Lorraine, which is called aterritory of the Empire, and the rest of the German states. Briefly, Alsace-Lorraine is treated as a suspect. 

An inhabitant of Alsace-Lorraine can not mail his letters in Germany. For example, Wissembourg is on the border of the Palatinate. There isa great temptation for the citizens of this town to assure a rapiddelivery of their letters and their escape from annoying censorship bymaking use of the German mail system. A music teacher, Mlle. LinaSch---- was sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred marks in March, 1917, for an infraction of this sort. The war council at Saarbruck, which pronounced this sentence, had already, in June, 1916, sentencedfor like cause, the Spanish Consul, to the payment of a fine of eightymarks because he had allowed a citizen of Sarreguimine to have lettersto his sons, who were refugees at Lausanne, addressed to the SpanishConsulate. 

In addition, German hostility to the Alsatians is shown by a number ofchildish measures against Alsatian uniforms and costumes, inproportion as they resemble the French. 

In all seriousness the question arose of forbidding the CatholicClergy to wear the soutane, as it was the custom in the Latincountries. It was given up; but steps were taken in the case of thefiremen. 

The _Nouvelle Gazette_ of Strassburg published an official notice, dated the ninth of December, 1915, which emphasized an ordersuppressing the uniforms worn by the Alsatian firemen because the cutwas French, as was the cap, and complained that this order was noteverywhere observed:

 Recently, in the course of a fire which broke out near Molsheim, it is an established fact that the firemen wore their old Alsatian uniforms, and that the fire alarm was sounded by means of the old clarions of the type in use in France. The _Kreisdirection_ finds itself obliged to insist that the suppressed uniforms disappear, and that the clarions do likewise; and to ask that it be informed of contraventions that happen in the future. 

 Other societies and associations, such as the singing societies which frequently still wear uniforms recalling those of the French collegians, ought to lay aside the forbidden garments, which are to be entrusted to the guard of the police. 

But these puerilities seem insignificant compared to other things towhich the people of Alsace-Lorraine have been subjected, things whichunite them more firmly than ever to the French and the Belgians of theinvaded regions. 

The great deportations which have been practiced in France and Belgiumhave been repeated in Alsace as recently as January, 1917. Theinhabitants of Mülhausen between the ages of seventeen and sixty yearswere assembled in the barracks at that place, whence they were sentinto the interior of Germany. 

This proceeding has been practiced on a large scale since the war'sbeginning. Preventive imprisonment, called _Schutzhaft_, was appliedto Messin Samain, who was first incarcerated at Cologne and then sentto the Russian front, where he was killed. It was also applied to M. Bourson, former correspondent of _Le Matin_, who is interned atCannstatt in Wurtemburg. Other citizens, after having been held inprison for weeks and months, have been exiled finally into Germany. 

The Germans themselves have been so demoralized by the régime theyhave established that the authorities have had to put a check onanonymous denunciations, almost all of which were false, by anofficial communiqué published in the _Gazette de Hagenau_ for thesixth of December, 1916. 

The story of how the civilian population has been treated will only beknown in its entirety later on. The government has, as a matter offact, forbidden the press to publish accounts of the war councils'debates because the population, far from being terrified by them, would find in them laughing matter. 

It is estimated that the people of Alsace-Lorraine have served inactual hours more than five thousand years in prison. Here are somecrimes committed by them:

M. Giessmann, an old man seventy years old, saluted French prisonersin a Strassburg street: Sentence, six weeks in prison. 

Guillaume Kohler, an infantry soldier from Saverne, during a journeyin Germany, censured the inhuman manner in which certain Germanofficers treated their men at the front. The council at Saarbrucksentenced him to two years in prison. 

Emilie Zimmerle, a cook at Kolmar, sang an anti-German song as shewashed out her pots. Thirty marks fine. 

Mlle. Stern, the daughter of a pastor at Mulhouse, spoke against theviolation of Belgium. One month in prison. 

Abbe Théophile Selier, curé at Levencourt, for the same offense, sixweeks in prison. 

Even children and young girls have been punished for peccadillos thatwere absolutely untrue. 

The _Metz Zeitung_ for the twenty-second of October mentions thesentences pronounced against Juliette F. De Vigy, eighteen years old, a pupil in the commercial school, and Georgette S----, twenty-threeyears old, a shop girl, dwellers at Mouilly. Having gone one morningto the station at Metz, they saw some French prisoners in a train towhom they spoke and at whom they "made eyes. "

Juliette F----, the more guilty of the two, was sentenced to pay afine of eighty marks, and Georgette S---- to pay one of forty marks, because "acting this way to prisoners of war exercises a particularlydisturbing effect on them. "

Two little girls of Kolmar, named Grass and Broly, were arrested for"having answered, by waving their hands, kisses French prisoners threwto them. "

A boy fifteen years old, pupil in the upper school at Mulhouse, namedJean Ingold, who, in the classroom tore down the portrait of theEmperor and painted French flags on the wall with the inscription"Vive la France, " was condemned to a month in prison. The War Councilsaw an aggravating circumstance in the fact that Jean's father"occupies a very lucrative position as a German functionary. "

On the thirtieth of March, 1916, two sisters from Guebwiller--SisterEdwina, née Bach, Mother Superior, and Sister Emertine, née Eckert, were charged with anti-German manifestations for having treated aslies the figures regarding French and Russian prisoners sent out inthe German communiqués, for having protested against the bombardmentof Rheims Cathedral, for having treated as false the German victoriesthat had been announced, and for having said on the subject of theGerman invasion of Belgium, "How can they attack a country that askedfor nothing?"

The result was that they got six months' imprisonment. 

The case of Mme. Berthe Judlin, in the faith Sister Valentine, is moretragic. 

The Mulhouse newspapers have published the account of the proceedingsin the case of this Sister before the War Council. It appears that shehas been the victim of monstrous calumnies, and that her fate can wellbe compared to that of Miss Edith Cavell. 

She was accused of having, from the ninth to the fourteenth of Augustwhen she was assigned to the convent of the Redemptorists atRiedishiem, favored the French wounded at the expense of the Germanwounded. These accusations, which specified in particular, that shehad taken various objects away from one wounded man (a charge theprosecution withdrew) and that she hid the cartridges of the Frenchwounded in the attic, were contested by Sister Valentine. After thetestimony of the witnesses, nine for the prosecution and fourteen forthe defendant, the government commissioner asked that she be punishedwith a sentence of fifteen years at hard labor and ten years ofdeprivation of civil rights. Her lawyer asked for her acquittal. TheWar Council on the fourteenth of December, 1915, after an hour and aquarter's deliberation, decided that "Sister Valentine has done harmto the German Army" and has hidden the cartridges. It condemned SisterValentine to "five years of hard labor and five years' deprivation ofcivil rights. "

_The War on the French Language_

The Germans never cease recalling and von Hertling has just repeatedthe fact that eighty-seven per cent of the Alsatians speak German. Itis strange, then, that the German reign of terror has manifesteditself in one particular against the use of French, even in the regionwhere French is the language universally spoken. 

The fact that a person speaks French has become a special offense, that of "provocation. " And this offense appears to be a frequent one. 

On the twenty-second of February, 1916, the sous-prefect of Boulaygave the following warning to the mayors of his arrondissement:

 The use in public of French will be considered a "provocation" when used by persons who know enough German to make themselves understood or who can have recourse to persons who understand German as intermediaries. 

The War Council Extraordinary at Metz, in consequence handed down adecision condemning two women to fourteen days in prison because, in amanner that gave "provocation, " they spoke French in a trolley car inspite of the warnings of the conductress. 

In addition, the War Council Extraordinary at Strassburg fined asalesman who "not only let a French label remain on his packages, buthad put a French label on a package addressed to a customer whounderstood German. "

A little girl from Bourg-Bruche who, although she spoke German, usedthe French language in spite of repeated warnings, had a sentence ofdetention inflicted on her by the same tribunal. 

The Mulhouse _Tageblatt_ for the twenty-third of September, 1917, announced that women who had conversed to one another in French inpublic had been condemned to from two to three weeks imprisonment bythe War Council at Thionville. 

Another person who had made a usage of the French language that gavegrounds for "provocation, " was condemned to pay a fine of fifty marksor serve ten days in prison. 

The _Oberelsaessische Landeszeitung_ for the twelfth and twenty-sixthof October published the following sentences: "Fines of twenty and tenmarks to the venders A. Nemarg and M. Cahen for having spoken to aconvoy of French officers in the station at Thionville. "

Twenty and thirty marks fine to Amélie Bany and Catherine Jacques ofKnutange "for having spoken French although they understood German. "

The Mayor of Broque, a commune where French is spoken, was sentencedto three months' imprisonment for having spoken French to hiscouncilors. 

In Alsace this campaign against the French language is carried eveninto the girls' boarding schools, which have always been the principalcenters for the study of French. 

An order from the Statthalter, dated March tenth, 1915, forbade Frenchconversations in the schools. 

A German pastor of the Lutheran Church named Curtius, who had opposedsuppressing the old parish of Saint Nicholas at Strassburg, wasremoved. His successor, who was better disciplined, gave in to themeasure that was demanded. 

The war against the French language has been marked by the suppressionof all French newspapers since the war's beginning, the _Journald'Alsace-Lorraine_, the _Messin_, _the Nouvelliste d'Alsace-Lorraine_. But nothing shows better the necessity of having organs of publicopinion in French than the establishment at Metz of the _Gazetted'Alsace-Lorraine_ by the government, which served as a model for the_Gazette des Ardennes_, founded later on at Mezières, to demoralizethe inhabitants of the invaded districts in the north and west ofFrance. 

_The Treatment of the Soldiers from Alsace-Lorraine_

The soldiers from Alsace-Lorraine, whose loyalty was proclaimed at thewar's beginning, have, as a matter of fact, been treated like spiesand embryo deserters. 

In August, 1915, at the opening of the Alsatian parliament, theStatthalter denounced the anti-patriotism of a part of the populationand stigmatized the "traitors" who had "gone over to the enemy. "

In fact, no less than fourteen thousand Alsatians, in the face ofmanifold perils and difficulties, had rejoined the colors of theirtrue country. All the newspapers of Alsace-Lorraine still publish thelists of them as citizens and of their belongings as "refractoryindividuals. "

The movement has never stopped. During the thirty-second month of thewar, on the fourteenth of March, 1917, General von Nassner, commandant for the district of Saarbruck, published the followingextraordinary order:

"Whoever, after due examination, has reason to believe that a soldieror a man on reprieve proposes to desert and who can still prevent theexecution of this crime, must without delay give notice of this factto the nearest military or police authority. "

The Strassburg _Neueste Nachrichten_ for the twenty-seventh ofSeptember announced that the "_chambre correctionnelle_ at Kolmar hadcondemned by default one hundred and ninety men from thearrondissements of Guebwiller and Ribeauville to fines of six hundredmarks or forty days in prison for having failed to perform theirmilitary obligations. "

The _Oberelsaessische Landeszeitung_ for the eleventh of October, 1917, announced sentences of fines of three thousand marks or threehundred days in prison for the same reason against seven persons. 

The _Haguenauer Zeitung_ from the eleventh to the twentieth ofOctober published the names of seventeen soldiers, some of themdeserters, the others guilty of rebellion in favor of the enemy or oftreason. 

On the twenty-fifth of October there was another list of deserters, nineteen of whom were natives of Strassburg. 

In his book, "The Martyrs of Alsace and Lorraine, " M. André Fribourghas fifteen pages taken from the lists of the debates of the Germanwar councils. These pages are made up of the names of young Alsatianswho have left their country rather than fight against France. 

Besides, far from treating the Alsatians enrolled in the German Armylike Germans, the government has accorded them a distinctly differenttreatment. 

It has sent them to the Russian front and employed them at the mostdangerous posts, as this secret order, from the Prussian Minister ofWar to the temporary commander of the Fourteenth Army Corps, proves:

 All men from Alsace-Lorraine employed as secretaries, ordnance officers, etc. , must be relieved of their duties and sent to the battle front. In the future, all the men from Alsace-Lorraine will be sent to the "General Kommando, " who will send them at once to the units on the Eastern Front. This order to go into effect before the first of April, 1916. 

 FOR THE STELLVERT, GENERAL KOMMANDO RADECKE, MAJOR. 

Finally, it was only on the ninth of October, 1917, that theStrassburg _Neue Zeitung_ announced the abolition of the specialpostal control to which the soldiers from Alsace-Lorraine weresubmitted at the front. 

 It is but just [says the _Freie Presse_ on that occasion] that the exceptional measures taken against the soldiers from Alsace-Lorraine be abolished at last. Among these measures we consider the interdiction still in force for a man to return to his native town. And [the same newspaper adds] from the moment that the bravery of our soldiers from Alsace-Lorraine is vaunted everywhere, it is absolutely wrong to reward them with scorn and insults. 

In the notice from G. Q. G. For the twenty-fifth of November, 1917, are the details gathered from the Alsatian prisoners themselves of thetreatment their compatriots endure in the German Army. 

On the twenty-second of last June, all the Alsatians received ordersto present themselves at the F. R. D. Of their division, where theywere received by the Vizé Sergeant, flanked by two guards. 

The former said to them:

"What! You have not yet laid aside your accoutrements; traitors, deserters, scoundrels, rascals. Get into the shelter quick where youcan put up nine additional supports for the roof and where you cankick the bucket at your ease. "

Since some of the Alsatians declared that, having received nothing toeat or to drink, they could not work, a lieutenant, who was summonedby the adjutant, ran up with his riding whip and, making one of themstep forward, beat him until he lost consciousness. 

Later on another lieutenant ordered the Vizé Sergeant to "train theAlsatians well. They are all robbers and traitors. "

All these facts proclaim in an undeniable manner that the soldiersfrom Alsace-Lorraine are not treated like ordinary citizens by theGerman Army, but like foreigners temporarily under the domination ofGermany. 

_The Sequestration of Property_

For a "German" country, Alsace-Lorraine seems to have a great numberof landowners who are French, if one is to judge by the sequestrationsand confiscations with which the authorities have been so desperatelybusy for three years. 

In fact the local newspapers contain lists of sequestrations that arealmost as long as the lists of deserters. 

And these confiscations apply not only to the landowners who live inFrance. A large number have been pronounced against inhabitants ofAlsace-Lorraine who live abroad. Orders were given them to reënter theGerman Empire, orders they had no possible chance of obeying, butwhich gave the imperial government an easy pretext for pronouncingtheir denationalization and the confiscation of their property. 

Also, the sequestrations followed by sales under the hammer, of Frenchand Alsatian properties were extremely numerous. Among theseproperties there are a certain number of considerable importance. 

On the twenty-fourth of August, 1916, _Les Dernières Nouvelles deStrasbourg_, advertised the sale under the hammer of the properties ofPrince de Tonnay-Charente, situated at Hambourg and consisting of asplendid château, furnished in Louis Fourteenth style, Gobelintapestries of great value, family portraits, green houses, outhouses, ponds, farms, etc. , etc. 

The Strassburg _Post_ for the twenty-ninth of October announced theliquidation sale of Cité Hof, belonging to the heirs of Paul deGeiger, including "forty-two hectares of fine arable land, finedwelling houses, barns and stables, a very fine park, summer houses, acoach house, etc. " . .. "of the Villa Huber, with a fine park, servants' quarters, garden, surrounded by twenty-eight hectares offields. "

The same paper for the fourth of October announces the sale of thefamous château of Robertsau, the property of Mme. Loys-Chandieu, néePourtalès, with two hundred and thirty hectares of farm land and onehundred and thirty hectares of forest. 

The _Metzer Zeitung_ for the twentieth of October announced theliquidation of twenty properties in the Moyeuvre Grande district, andof eleven in that of Sierek. 

Many people have obviously been covetous of these French possessions. 

On this subject curious letters and unceasing polemics appeared in theAlsatian newspapers. 

Certain interested persons complained (_Strassburger Post_ for thethird of November) that the time was so short that only theinhabitants of the country and their immediate neighbors had anyopportunity of profiting by these occasions. They remarked with alljustice that to get the highest prices for these sales there ought tobe a large number of bidders. 

For the farm lands, the neighbors would suffice to bring up the bidsto a high enough sum, but when it was a matter of a magnificentchâteau, like that at Osthofen, with a garden and a park, bidders forthis luxury would scarcely be found among the peasants. Thespeculators alone would step in and would acquire for a mere nothingproperties of great value. And the plaintiffs added, "Is thatdesirable?"

The following considerations advanced by one of the plaintiffs are notwithout interest. "Sufficient means of communication still remainbetween France and Germany. Do you not see the danger of feignedsales, to third persons, who will buy in the goods at small cost andwill hand them over later on to their former proprietors? In this waythe French influence over the ownership of the land will bereëstablished in the future. "

To these complaints and wrongs the _Strassburger Post_ for the eighthof November replied in detail. 

It assured that the list of goods to be disposed of had not only beenplaced by the authorities in the several states of the empire, to givebuyers time to take advantage of possible bargains, but also acatalogue of stationary objects had been published in fifteen hundredcopies by Schultz & Co. Of Strassburg. 

This catalogue was quickly used up and the demand for it continued tocome in, which proved that the buyers were informed in time. 

The newspaper adds that the things to be sold have been visited bybuyers coming from old Germany as well as from Alsace-Lorraine, andsales propositions have been made before the publication of notices inthe newspapers. 

It seems, furthermore, that if the sales of land and the exploitationof farm lands have ended rapidly, it was because colonizationsocieties, called "black bands, " have overtly bought up or had boughtup the properties by their agents, in the hope that their plans wouldbe realized after the war. In industrial matters, there was recentlyfounded in Berlin a German syndicate which proposes to buy up theactions. 

For the textile industry in particular, it is a question of averitable trust against which is arrayed "a syndicate of Alsatianmanufacturers who have felt the need of defending themselves. "

The entire scope of recent German policies with regard toAlsace-Lorraine shows that this land which von Hertling said was"allied to Germanism by more and more intimate bonds" has been, as amatter of fact, to treat it like a foreign land, kept by force underimperial domination and submitted, like the occupied portions ofFrance and Belgium, to a veritable reign of terror. 

APPENDIX VI

HOW GERMANS UNDERSTAND FUTURE PEACE

If an account is desired of the manner in which the Germans understanda future peace, this letter suffices. It was addressed to the_Berliner Lokalanzeiger_ by Herr Walter Rathenau. He was in charge ofthe direction of all industrial establishments in Germany:

 We commenced war a year too soon. When we shall have obtained a German peace, reorganization on a broader and more solid basis than ever before must commence immediately. The establishments which produce raw materials must not only continue their work, but they must also redouble their energies and thus form the foundation of Germany's economical preparation for the next war. 

 On the lessons taught by actual war we must figure out carefully what our country lacks in raw materials and accumulate great stores of these which shall never be utilized until _Der Tag_ of the future. We must organize the industrial mobilization as perfectly as the military mobilization. Every man of technical training or partial technical training, whether or not he is enrolled in the list of men who can be mobilized, must have received authority by official order to take over the direction of industrial establishments on the second day which shall follow the next declaration of war. 

 Every establishment which manufactures for commercial purposes ought to be mobilized and to know officially that the third day after the declaration of war it must make use of all its facilities in satisfying the needs of the Army. 

 The quantity of merchandise which each one of these establishments can furnish to the Army in a given time and the nature thereof ought to be determined in advance. Every establishment also ought to furnish an exact and complete list of the workmen with whose services it can dispense, and those men alone can be mobilized for military services. 

 Finally commercial arrangements will be made necessary with nations outside Europe through which we will give them sufficient advantages, specified in detail, so that it would be directly advantageous to their commercial interests to carry on commerce with none of the belligerents and not to sell them munitions. 

 We can accept such obligations for ourselves without any fear and finally, when the next war shall come, it cannot come a year too soon. 

 * * * * *

Transcriber's Notes

Pg. 6, Sunday, August third, left as original as it's uncertain whichday the author meant. Sunday was actually August 2, Monday was August3; and the context from the beginning of the chapter was that thedeclaration of war was delivered late afternoon Monday, August 3. (Mobilization had commenced the previous evening. To be exact, it wason Sunday, August third, at midnight. )

Pg. 7, unforgetable changed to unforgettable. (It recalled theunforgettable scenes. )

Pg. 14, thirteenth changed to thirtieth, per context (when Sunday thethirtieth of August came). 

Pg. 14, week changed to weeks. (For several weeks our troops)

Pg. 54, beseiged and beseiger left as original, as author quoted fromanother book. (in a beseiged city can hasten the place's fall; inconsequence it would be very foolish of the beseiger to renounce)

Pg. 88, removed ending double quotes. (I feel better for it. ')

Pg. 90, mobolization changed to mobilization (priests who went off atthe beginning of the mobilization). 

Pg. 100, sum of artillery kilos do not equal Total kilos. Left asoriginal. 

Pg. 108, tetragon changed to tarragon (16, 900 tarragon plants). 

Pg. 162, catastrophies changed to catastrophes (irremediablecatastrophes could be avoided?). 

Pgs. 163, 206, Bethmann-Hollweg, hyphenation inconsistent withPgs. 180, 182, Bethmann Hollweg. Kept as in original. 

Pg. 167, ARTICLE 23 has no (b) paragraph. 

Pg. 193, protect changed to protest to reflect the actual letter (Iconsider it my duty to protest against this threat of violence to theAmbassador). 

Pg. 219, correstionnelle changed to correctionelle ("_chambrecorrectionnelle_ at Kolmar). 

Pg. 229, Appendix VI, added HOW to title to match Table of Contentsand make it consistent with rest of Appendices.