New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-31
New York, May %, 1917.

ress of the situation as depicted in this let
ter. CHAS. hOblNoON ''iiih'
New York, May %, 1917.
also. dear friend, am happy to see that
the United States have finally ranged them
selves alongside OF us; and what toucheS me
most Is TO see that il is rather on our ac-
count that they do it. If those who nave
died could know of your warm friendship
they would be proud to have died IN order 70
merit that friendship.
Rut the shadow of the picture, the practi-
cal shadow, is that you ask us to hold on
The English asked US to hold on Tor TWO
and a half years. We held on. You ask Us
20 wait for you-how long time? We shall
wait for vou-that goes without saying. one
can ask everything of our soldiers except not
10 get killed themselves; but If you delay
longer how many Frenchmen will there DC
ftp-old men like me, children of fifteen
wears Of age and hardly these. Take care
lest the French nation be nothing but re-
membrance, glorious remembrance.
France will never perish, but the FRENCH
what Of them? For a thousand days 1t Is
we alone who have been sustaining the
en.ire shock. The blood of France is now
inc in torrents. oh, the killed, the mutilated'
the wrecks due to German infamy! For the
last three months the English have been help
ing US splendidly, but are you not afraid oil
coming a little like the carabinieres IN Oneh-
bach? ...
What disauiets me is the reconstruction
Of our race. We shall have lost the very
best of our men from eighteen to forty-hVe
wears of age. However, we shall be remem-
brance a glorious remembrance, and IL Is
better TO have died beautiful death than
TO live meanly. Yes, don't wait too long, LOT
YOU might not find even corpses to bury
Understand we'll, to help France is not
merely to give her gold, bread; but she needs
also the best of your heart Of your soul
With that one can go to death without re-
greet. Afterward it will be necessary to aid her
to remake herself. Yes, she will be reborn, TINS
old country of France Her land has the fac
ulty of making Frenchmen out OF those VINO
cultivate it. See what we have made of the
Senegalese. the Arabs, the Moroccans;
Frenchmen Of but yesterday. / remember
that in Indo. China no one would follow me
among the Mois, a people in the centre OF
AMMAN, nuCH ltdltu ny NHc
as soon as my little trcolored banner hung
from the top Of its staff all were ready to go
forward "Oh," said they, wherever those
colors are. one can follow exactly as the
French do"
You have our JofTre. hope that with
him YOU will do something fine. Do you know
you ought to send us 5000 or 5000 aeroplanes
and their aviators?
Above all, do not preach, as Wilson did,
"a peace without indemnity" Think Of our
whole industrial north destroyed, factories
demolished, mines caved in, machines, APP
para.us, all carried Off to Germany in order
to hinder US in our struggle against their
industrial works, uninjured, enriched by the
spoils of ours. If they are not made TO make
good in kind, undoubtedly money will never
suffice for they will have such a formidable
start over US. IL is along this line that
you ought to work up opinion in America.
without that we shall perish, even though
victorious. Never will they know in America
what brutes these Germans are. They are all
alike-men and women. Their Emperor does
but follow them.
We must not disguise from ourselves that
the treason of the Sturmers, of the Russian
Empress and of so many others has done us
infinite harm. / doubt that the army of the
revolution will be able to do much for
several years. See how poorly the armies Of
the French Revolution did in their first
three years However this may be, the
paralysis Of the Russian armies has added 70
the armies opposing us, both English and
French, the troops that have been freed on
the Russian front.
Nevertheless, we shall hold on. France
shall live, come what may! Your devoted
A. GRILLE.
st. Just, France, April 90, 1917.