New-York tribune., 1916-07-10
THE FRANCE OF 1870 AND Or 1910
ambitions TODAY Those Prevailing After Napoleon His
Downfal-A Perfectly United Nation-Gemany
Slowly Realizing the Truth

To-day the same men are fighting as private
soldiers in the trenches, anxious to show that
above all they are Frenchmen. For years and
years the fight between Church and State has
been so acute, and in fact so violent, that at
times it verged on the brink of civil war. The
expulsion of certain Catholic orders and the
seizure of their properties are yesterdays his
tory and still fresh in the minds of poll
ticians. Yet to-day Catholic priests and
atheists are fighting hand in hand the one
fight: against the barbarians No more acri-
mony, no more hatred; they are neither re-
publicans nor monarchists, nor Catholics. nor
Socialists, nor atheists; they are Frenchmen
in the noblest and most elevating sense Of
the word fighting for their soil. But that
does not apply to man only. Every woman
and child is doing patriotic work. not with
ostentation but quietly and in pious silence.
"When will petit pere' come home" asked
the e-yesr-old boy of his mother. And the
woman had just been handed that dreadful
enveloped marked ministry of War" an
bouncing that "Your husband has fallen for
his country in the village of Surly on the I'd
of June" Pray for petit pere," whispers
the wife. and both she and the boy kneel
down. And so in thousands of households,
when the death of a beloved son or father or
reproach or despair; merely a silently whis-
pered give la France" choked by tears, is
the only comment.
Another striking example of confidence in
their cause is the paternsl friendship so to
speak, between officers and their men. The
victory of the Marne, the heroic defence of
Nerdun, the offensive on the Somme, are but
mere trhes when compared with the great
victory of Joffre upon his own men. One
must know the excitabiity of the French
character One must understand the French
temperament. One must have lived among
Frenchmen TO realize what degree of conf
dence the army put in their chief when Jofre
ordered his valiant troops to retreat and re-
treat without firing a single shot until they
reached practically the outposts of Paris
The soldiers obeyed silently and without
fighting gave way TO the pursuing enemy. Il
is not discipline only, as one might suppose +;
nor is it fear of court-martial that PROMPTED
such silent obedience. IL was simply conf
dence in their leader. based upon a pure
Patriotism with capital p.
OF course, the public who does not know
about 1870 ignores what happened then. The
word traitor was freely used in those days
and was as common as it is unheard of to-
day. For a mere trlhe, for an error of iudg-
ment. an officer was called traitor by the dis
ccuraged and undiscipined army of Napoleon
When Bazaine gave up Metz, with a solid and
well equipped army Of nearly two hundred
thousand men, every one lost confidence; and
when at the trial of the traitor the presiding
Judge, the Due d'Aumale, asked Bazaine "Why
did you capitulate?" the French marshal
answered, My Emperor was a prisoner
But" retorted the president of the court
al tbor -
still remained France" And Bazaine was
sentenced TO death.
The friends of France here during the re-
treat preceding the battle of the Msrne were
fearful lest the word traitor would again be
pronounced as in 1870 and the same mistakes
be again repeated Il is the eternal glory OF
the French army, from the obscure "poilu" "a
the great general, 10 have observed that stub.
born and serene confidence in the destiny of
France.
/ When the history of this war is written the
most glorious pages will not be devoted "a
/ the fighting OF the Frenchmen, but TO the
attitude of the entire nation, conscious OF
their duty. The valor of the old Romans and
Greeks has been resurrected by the French
The German press, coming back to its senses
has forgotten the France of 1870. with il.
ronchalance and its frivolity, to remembe,
only the France of 1916. The "Frankfurte,
Zeitung,' IN cable published this morning
condescends with the "Tagebatt," of Berlin
to admit that France is a remarkable nation
T Yes, a remarkable nation; you have saic
1t. A nation which has astonished a worl,
who didn't know IT, and before which ever,
blessed one of Us must bow in admiration
JONAS LIPPMANN.
Formerly of the journal d'Alsace"
! New York, July 5, 1916.