Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-20


of retrieving the sins of omission which cost
him his commission in the early days of the
war This week he left the Greek port which
King Constantine got as his share in the par
tition of Macedonia for the Servian- Bulgar
front
There can be no doubt Of sarraiPs inpor-
tance when Downing Street yields to the Quai
d'Orsay and a Frenchman wins a command
coveted by general officers of both armies
He was on the field ready to take control; he
had friends in power interested in promoting
restoration of his military prestige. The
whirigig Of time turned in his favor, though
he did not know 1t was having its revenge
when he was assigned to the chief command
of the French army of the Orient on August
Z. At first he refused this command, when
the Anglo French expedition to force the
Dardanelles seemed likely TO be more Saxon
than Gallo and chances were he would have
TO defer to British officers whj were gradu-
ates merely of Colonial wars. Then he
thought better of the refusal and took the
place of Generals D'Amande and Gouraud
both invalided home. the former relieved May
IT. the latter August 8, so badly wounded in
leading a charge on the Gallipoli Peninsula
as to necessitate amputation OF the arm and
removal of splintered. bones from the right
thigh and left leg
Popular Opinion Shifts
Then came the Decentralization of French
troops at Salonica. II was sufficient oppor-
tunity for the Sarrail partisans to WELD enor-
nous power to put their favorite forward.
There had been q revulsion of feeling since
the spring battle in which hundreds OF
Frenchmen lost their lives from the fumes OF
asphyxiating gases and 5000 were made cap
tive as the Germans carried trenches num-
bering hundreds and covering important po-
sitions. because Of a sin of omission on Gen.
eral sarrairs part in not having taken the
precaution to provide masks.
A press campaign had prepared the way
for the shift in popular opinion. clemen-
ceau's "LHomme Enchaine" and Herve's
la Guerre sociale" were twice suppressed
on the issue OF sarraiL More than that, the
issue threatened disruption of the Sacred
union" OF parties because the radicals, of
which party sarrail Is the pet" were wroth
at the degradation OF Republican general
as distinguished from "reactionary" gem
eral whose politics are conservative and
who Is apt 70 be a churchman. Through
sarrail the extremists were striking at Mil
lerand, the Minister OF War, whom they de-
clared inefficient and whose only achieve
ment, they said. had been TO permit the
return OF the banished religious orders TO
France to furnish regimental chaplains with
officer rank. thus giving Rome. according to
their argument. new grip on country
released by the fractured concordat from
priestcraft domination
sarrail In the Centre Of Quarrel
sarraii was at one time the most unpop-
ular offioer in France He was chief OF STAN
when General Andre was Minister Of War.
reaching this post after conventional
career which went the route from st. cyr.
through service IN Algeria 70 important
beaureaucrauo attachments. He had ad-
vancenent from Premier combes ana Pre-
mier caillaux; but his unpopularity had its
origin Ia the nrst premiership OF Aristldo
BRAND. Andre undertook the faak Of ban
Ishins from lhe army Al oflcefs protesting
~ b,rl q Fslsieps sn'iia'ien Men vhe