Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-05-20
GENERAL FRENCH MUCH LOVED
One OF the Days Best Cartoons.

LONDON. May 5.-A notable appre-
citation of the leadership of Sir John
French by G. Valentine Williams APP
pears in the Daily Mail. 1t reads. in
part:
Those who have lived with Sir John
French through the dark DAYS Of tho
great retreat will tell YOU that nc. al
most alone of all men there never los,
heart He maintained mis- brave conf
dence In God, In his men, ard in him
SER throughout. even when. as he af-
terward admitted. ne was looking for "A
spot where the British eXpeditionary
force could make its last stand For
the little army that Sir John French
originally took out from England would
never have surrendered. So the field
marshal had decided. Such is the spirit
of tho man.
Through sleepless nights. through
DAYS when one message of bad news
succeeded another. when regiments
were being cut up, when the men were
so ddS-tircd that they staggered as
they followed the long road toward
Paris. Sir John remained calm and con-
hdent. No outward sign BETRAYED the
anxiety that must have devoured him.
hurdened with the awful responsibility
OF tho flower OF EnClands army confid-
cd TO his charge. He wore his field
marshafs cap with the same jaunty
rake as ever. He was scrupulousiy neat
In his attire. as is his invariab!e wont
Whenever the accomm odation allowed
he would sit down TO luncheon a the
appointed hour as placidly as though
he were at his London, house, And the
talk would be OF pleasant English top
les, club gossip. home politics. the lat
est NUMBER or Punch then.
luncheon over. back TO the mans and
the reports and the onward rush OF
Won k!uck's columns
sometimes the field marshal would
break off work and announce that he
was going for walk. He would stroll
away. dapper. well-gaitered little fig
ure. chatting with companion about
such things as caught his eye on the
road. the fields, a good horse. n garden
But when he returned IL was with his
mind made up about some knottv point
TO solve which he had sailed forth
Then would follow one OF the field
marshars lightning decisions: 4 will 10
this and that general fetched hot
foot from here. a message sent there
all the apparatus of General Head1uar-
tiers set a-quiverinG In n fash
Read his dispatches written en-
tirely by himself, let me hasten to say
to dispose of that idle hypothesis so
often heard when his reports are
praised If he writes his own dis
patchcs) dispa ssionatc. calm and adj
mirably lucid written in the very midst
of the turmoil of war. Mark the date
OF that splendid story of the great re-
treat. September Z. or two DAYS after
the French and British armies had gone
over from the defensive to the often
sive and were in the act of driving the
Germans hack across the Marine Note
the strictly busincsslike account OF the
operations, the almost cold language
only warming when the writer pauses
to speak of the glorious stand of the
Il oh ~ lxe,k
officers and regiments by name.
You can almost hear him say, T
will not dine to-day; I must write my
dispatch You can almost see him.
seated in his room among his maps.
building up. sentence by sentence, amid
the hustle Of headquarters during a
great advance. the deathless story that
shall make an empire ring.
Mystery of Gheluvelt.
"See him during the battle of Ypres.
This is his version tdispatch dated
November 90, 1910 of one of the most
dramatic moments of the war. that
critical hour on October 81 when liter
ally the fate Of the British empire
tremhled in the balance. I was pres
ent with Sir Douglas Haig at Hooge
between . and s o'clock on the day
when the First Division were retiring.
] regard it ms the most critical moment
of the whole of this great battle. The
rally of the First Division and the
recapture Of the village of Gheluvclt
at such time was fraught with mo-
mentous consequences. If any one unit
can be singled out for especial praise
IT ia the Worcesters'
I'm those brief sentences Is con-
tanned chapter in A mans life. That
man is Sir John French. TO him stand
ing on the Gheluvelt road by the side
OF Sir Douglas Haig, his faithful com
rade in arms Of South African DAYS.
there came mud -splashed galloper
with tidng Of disaster. Our line had
bent before the bludgeon-like blows
of the Prussian Guard. Our men were
going back. The road to Calais was
open and that mighty swing round from
the Asine to the sea had been in vain.
None can say what passed in the
mind of the Commander-in- Chief dur
ing that hour OF dread suspense BY
never a sign he betrayed the awful
anxiety he must have felt. He was to
those around him the same as ever,
calm. confident. competent. And then
tho relief came, message telling OF
the rally OF the First Division and OF
the heroic assault on the village OF
Gheluvelt by the Worcester Regiment.