The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-04-05

among the Russians. The past has
vanished; liking and affection spring
up from the first direct contact be-
tween the two peoples, and the Franco
Russian alliance seems as if it had
always existed.
"And yet the two governments, be-
fore they came to an understanding
had long regarded war between the
two countries as a natural and neces-
sary state of things to be generally
accepted in virtue of reasons of State.
The governments believed that both
nations were bound to hate each 9th
err, while the people themselves asked
for nothing better than mutual conf
dence. While the two governments
were deciding for war, the two nations
were friendly, and neither defeat nor
bloodshed nor bitterness has been able
to stifle this sentiment.
ut was all very we'll for govern
ments to admit that they were mis-
taken, but that did not bring back the
victims to life and the service of their
country. During a visit paid to Mos
COW, it seemed as if I were living the
trials and sufferings of our unfortunate
Grand Army all over again. AT least
10000 men were modified for the
campaign in Russia. They were drawn
from all the countries conquered by
France, and they included about 1907
900 young French conscripts. AS the
generations fit for service in the army
had been already wiped out, it was
found necessary to lower the age-limit
and begin to take mere boys who,
though brave enough, were physically
unable to withstand the fatigues of
campaigning. All these youths had to
be marched across Europe as far as the
Niemen and part of them at least, be-
yond over the Russian steppes, only to
take part in the climax of the war, the
burning of Moscow, the retreat of all
the inhabitants, carrying away with
them all means of subsistence, and the
most pitiless of winters, combined
with the retreat, coming as the denoue-
ment of the tragedy
my way back to France from Mos
COW by railway took me over practi-
cally the same route as the French
troops followed in their retreat. Even
in an express train it seemed useless.
1t took in a whole day and night, and
the names of stations, such as Baro-
dino, Smolensk and Baresina, aroused
painful memories. Those were the
places where our troops had had to
fight their way back to a hostile Eu-
rope, the battlefield of Peipzig and
the final campaign in France.
81 saw the snow spread out over
the plain like an immense white sheet.
Not the least trace of road was visi-
BILE for many and many a mile-a
waste through which our officers and
men, destitute of almost all supplies,
had to make their way at any cost
Every day some of the weaker sue
cumbed Shrouded in ice before they
were dead, they were devoured by the
crows and wolves. Think of the nights
these men passed! Even one spent in
a sleeping-car berth seemed long to
me, but what must it have been to
them, and what an awakening! 1t is
hard to say whether they had more to
fear from isolation or from ambush
and pursuit by fanatical enemy.
WAS it dream! 1t seemed to me
as if Frances children were lying
asleep under the snow and that as the
train approached they rose up and
held out their arms imploringly. The
saddest thing of all was to have no
reply to make to their doleful cry:
| We died for nothingi'"