The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-10-28
BY PAUL VlLLIERS.


be the result Of the present unrest in
Europe, France is confident that she
( will be able to play her part with Gre
dit, and not only protect her own pos
sessions but be in a position to
strengthen herself when the final set
tlement comes.
No European country, not even Eng
land, is in better position financially to
meet the enormous expenses entailed
by modern war The French army is
in better shape and more effective than
it has been at any time since the Ma
poleonic era, and her navy is being
brought up to a point where it will be
able to meet the modern test.
With all this, France is for peace.
She will do all she can do honorabiy
to restore peace and prevent any fur
/ Their outbreak, but she will do what
ever she does with the full conviction
that she is prepared for war if it must
come.
The French idea is well summed up
in a work issued entitled lie France
IVictorieuse dams la Guerr da Demain,"
by Colonel Boucher, formerly at the
head Of the third bureau of the general
staff. France, he says, is a pacific
country, but she will never submit to
humiliation Indeed, she can carry her
head higher than her adversaries seem
to imagine.
First Soldiers in the World"
From the strategical point of view
he continues, even if we admit the
most unfavorable conditions for our
selves we shall have the superiority
over our antagonist. From the moral
point of view a few energetic measures
at the beginning of the mobilization
will suffice to restore to the army the
prowess which has made of the French
the first soldiers in the world
Ten days after hosulites had COM
menced with Germany, for instance,
France would be invaded by nearly a
million troops and this before the
faintest help could be had from her
allies. Her from er would have to be
defended foot by foot, including Nancy,
which certain military authorities
would temporarily abandon to the en-
envy. France would oppose twenty
army corps to the twenty-three Ger,
mans, and the three great fortresses-
Verdun, Toul, and Epinal-would be
completely garrisoned, each with a
force superior in number to any army
corps, and this without prejudice to
other important stronghOlds.
Have Six Chances.
After enumerating various reasons
for his belief that the French would be
victorious, Colonel Boucher eXclaims
confidently: I'VE have six successive
chances of repelling our adversary,
and not a single one of being beaten
Now, how about Russia? Her forces
would be concentrated and ready for
action on the twenty-fifth day, so the
Germans, who would have sent all
their army corps to the west, would
on the twentieth day have to divert
some of their Polish frontier, if they
would not see their territory overrun.
Taking into account the possibility of
war with Austria and Roumania as
well as Germany, Russia originally
thought of displac'ng her army corps
individually to the frontier with view
to prompt action. OF late, however,
this plan has been modified, and her
twenty-seven army corps will be form
ed into five armies, ready to assume
the offensive between the eighteenth
and the twenty-ffth day.
Could Enter Eastern Prussia.
Thus the Wilma army, with its four |