Reims, when we saw it, with the story that is told by the proclamations reproduced, furnishes strong evidence that General Sherman was right when he described war.
[XXVI.]
SOME IMPRESSIONS OF FRANCE AND THE FRENCH
N closing this work it is my hope that the reader will consider that its inspiration and purpose have been stated with sufficient clearness, but in this final chapter I am venturing to record my general impressions of a truly great nation seen during a period which must be regarded as part of the most vital epoch in its history. This concluding chapter will have accomplished my purpose if it portrays the patriotic nationality of the French under existing conditions, in such manner as to be considered worthy of emulation in our own country.
During the necessarily brief and hurried visits made by our Commission to many parts of France, I met many notables, generals, under officers, parliament members, prefects, as well as great commercial leaders, but regret that owing to lack of time and my ignorance of the French language, opportunity for investigation and conversation with the bourgeoise was slight. Nevertheless it would be impossible to travel through afflicted France as our Commission did without experiencing an acute impression of the solidarity and quiet, determined patriotism of the French people. They stand as one to fight the war to a decisive finish. They treat the war as some gigantic job, about which there is to be no questioning, no weighing of sacrifices of life, comfort or finances, and which simply must go on until finished satisfactorily.
This development of the French character must come as a revelation to those who have in the past regarded the French as a volatile, frivolous, impulsive people, virile, yet lacking the accredited determination and persistency of the Teuton. This impression has been a great mistake. The faces of the men and women of France alike show no sign of vacillation. The French are counting the terrific cost, as becomes the thriftiest of nations, expecting to collect a bill that in their opinion has been running since the Franco-Prussian war and through the humiliating and irksome years which followed under the "favored nation" clause. From any other standpoint I believe few Frenchmen ever permit themselves to dwell upon the ruin and suffering the present cataclysm has brought upon their country.
Upon comprehending this attitude of the French, the thinking American cannot avoid speculation as to what would happen in these United States should a like emergency confront us. We may not dismiss such thought with the statement that such an emergency is impossible. It is a most unpleasant possibility and must be faced. We might be unconquerable, in the sense that Russia cannot be conquered because of her magnificent distances and natural barriers against a foe; but without the preparedness and the single-hearted patriotism of the French, an invader would find nothing in America to prevent him from working destruction beyond calculation and inflicting humiliation that would be even worse.
[Illustration: Postal-card Painted by Artist Soldier in French Trenches.]