Evening star., 1924-01-31

even when MANNED. Thus / have in
mind gallant officer of the Royal
Engineers who. by the bye. designed
many of the elaborate defenses of the
port of Plymouth. who on his return
from the front. with the loss of his
right leg which had been amputated
SO high up that il was impossible to
nj him with cork leg. and was
wholly dependent on his pair of
crutches, was summoned to Bucking-
nam Palace to receive the order of
the Bath for his services. knowing
by experience that he would have TO
traverse the entire length Of the
throne room before he reached the
steps of the throne he took the pre-
Two beautiful bouquets of rare
flowers. When he entered the room
and traversed half its length he
stopped for a second and dropped one
proceeded to the foot Of the throne
and received the order from the
queen. who naturally dispensed with
his kneeiinG. Before he started to
back out of her presence he laid the
second of the two bouquets of flowers
at her feet.
He retired quite slowly. being
watched with profound sympathy by
All present. by none more so than by
the queen herself. When he got half
way he found the first of the two
bouquets that he had brought. In
that way he got his bearings. and.
with an expression of much relief on
his features. completed his journey
room, with complete safety and as
surance. the queen smiling graciously
at him and waving the flowers which
he had presented to her as he bowed
himself out. She never forgot. this
little incident, insisted on his being
retained in the service and placed a
royal carriage and two horses at his
disposal for the remainder of his life
besides bestowing upon him many
other tokens of kindly favor.
= * X X
Gen. Debeney. who has just been
appointed by President Millerand and
the Poincare government to the high
office of chief of the general staff of
the French army. in succession to the
late Gen. Buat. has been until now
member Of the supreme war council,
the commandant of the Ecole de
Guerre or war school. and has long
been the chief lieutenant and most
devoted friend of Marshal Petain.
While his promotion has been re-
ceived with universal approval not
only by the general public. but also in
military circles, it is taken as an in
dicatfon that it is Petain. rather than
his fellow marshal, Ferdinand Foch
who enjoys the highest favor and
commands the greatest confidence on
the part of the government. The lat
ter has frequently had occasion to
differ with Marshal Foch, who has
strong views on the political sftua-
tion and who has not in the past
been entirely eye to eye with pre- -
Maginot. Moreover, there are many
Frenchmen nowadays who are in
clined to blame Marshal Foch for
having stood in the way OF the
French and allied march on Berlin In
November. 1918. instead OF granting
an armistice to the enemy before 1t
had retreated from French territory.
Marshal Petain was one OF those
who strongly advocated the dlcta-
tion of the terms of the armistice
which, if it had been carried out.
would have rendered superfluous the
costly occupation OF the Ruhr. Yet,
although Debeney was entirely In
accord with Petain in this matter,
yet he was appointed to receive the
entered the French lines at HON.
biieres to sue at Compiegne for the
cessation Of hostilities.
Debeney was still lieutenant COL
onel at the outbreak or the war and
had been professor of infantry tao
tics at the Ecole de Guerre, under
Petain, his senior by four years. BY
1915 he had been advanced to the
rank of a major general. 1915 to the
command of an army corps, with the
rank of general division. In 1917
he was engaged with Marshal Pc
tain in rcorganizing the French
army and in preparing for the 1918
offensive, in which he took the COM
mand of the 1st Army. which he led
brilliantly until the end of the con-
/ fiict, receiving for his services the
grand cross OF the Legion of Honor.
He makes no secret Of his opinion
that the next great international
confiagI alton will be far more a war
OF materials than of men. and his
advent to the working chieftainship
Of the greatest of the worlds armies
is certain to be characterized by re-
markable developments In the appli-
cation Of the latest scientific discov-
cries to the. infringement Of milf
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