Evening star., 1928-11-14
THE WORLD WAR ARMISTICE
Negotiations Ten Years Ago.
By GENERAL MORDACQ
military Secretary to Clemenceapl

Lceau the text Of the armistice, which
| was to he read In the Chamber that
| afternoon At IL the guns announced
that hoStilitieS had ceased on the front
Such, in their simplicity and his
torical precision. are the circumstances
surrounding this : memorable event
which cons Sccrated definitely tia defeat
| of the c crman Empire and the triumNh
of the allied armies.
At 5:45 I 7oceived word in Paris that
the ar. istice had been signed.
I rusled to ClemenceauS home, ar
riving there about s. found the pre-
mier awake. He had not been able to
sleep, because he, too. Hike every French
man, was wondering whether, after all
this was the end of long nightmare.
Cienenceau Overcom-.
When I announced the good news he
took me in his arms and held me In a
long embrace. We were bLth too over
come to be abe to speak for several
minutes Finally said:
Monsieur lie Premier, the great task
is at last finished. It was Superhu-
man task, and I trust that France VIII
recognize what she owes to you"
Clemenceau reDlied: ltg
"Yes, to me and to others.
Then he paid me compliment, which
refrain from telling about bee use /
thought ,it was far too eulogiStic for
what I had done for the country.
After the first few minutes of emo
ton I told him the few details which
had been communicated to me regard
ing the actual signature. They have
all been published. So 1t is not neces-
Sarv to repeat them.
We thereupon arranged what should
be done to communicate the news to our
allies, to Paris, to Trance. immedi-
ately went to see Poincare, then PreSi-
dent of the republic; Pichon. minister
of foreign affairs: Leygues. minister
Of marine, and finally Col. House. loyal
friend of Franc and of Clemenceau,
who at this time was the personal rep-
resentative Of President Wilson, and
therefore of America, in Paris.
I found all of them in dressing gown
or pajamas, but that didn't bother them
in the least. Fever was messenger SO
we'll received
Everywhere the news was received
with the transports Of Joy. mitigated IN
some cases by deep emotion. Poincare
in particular, the man OF marble, but,
above all, the man of the frontier. the
patriot of Lorraine, the representative
of the invaded regions, shook my hands
for several, ---',~'|.es, his eyes filled with
tears. F., hooked at me for .Ing time
without speaking, like man in q
dream. or rather q man coming out OF
a nightmare What visions he must
have had, this chief of state. who had
had to follow, step by step /. minute by
minute. every phase Of that long and
terrible tragedy
Pichon was also extremely moved.
He and I arranged the details of the
measures necessary to have the allies
Immediately informed.
House Thanks CIemenceau.
AS for Col. House, he asked me to
thank Clemenceau for his. thoughtful
ness in having me telephone him the
news. He said 70 me:
'I am experiencing the greatest joy
of my life. Once again in the history
of humanity civilization has triumphed
over barbarism" Then, after a few
minutes of reflection, he said, his voice
filled with emotion: "Our Lusitania
dead are avenged"
At the war Office there were the same
joyous outbursts. All morning men,
bers of the Chamber and Senate came
in to bring their congratulations to the
gener; happiness. Telephone mes
sageS from ProvinS, where the French
general headquarters was located, told
of the great jo- among the troops.
I shall not go into the veritable de-
lirium Of Joy which broke loose in Paris
on this day of. November IL. The re-
cital has often been made, and has
nothing to do with the subject OF this
series of articles.
1t is scarcely necessary for me to say
that during the four days, November 8,
9, 10 and IL, the most extraordinary
reports were in circulation in Paris, not
only in the press but in diplomatic
circles.
Explains Erroneous Report.
Most of these are of no interest now,
so shall not refor to them in detail.
/ shall, however, make an exception in
favor of one Of them, because 1t had an
enormous e3ho, especially in America.
The German agents in France had per-