FROM A PARIS WINDOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 27, 31 January 1920, Page 22

FROM A PARIS WINDOW.

SOME WAR SECRETS. PARIS, November 10, 1910. If the temperature of public opinion [in France were anything like 'normal at the present moment I there is no doubt that the out- ! f tanding event of the week would be the publication now begun in the "Journal Oflicicl, -, of the secret debates of the Chamber during the war. The legend ol the great epic is being revised by history. 1 Thus do we learn with no little melancholy that Marshal .Toffre did not win ! the battle of the ilarne, and well nigh I lost the battle of Verdun. In the first ' instance, his orders were to retreat south of the Seine, and in the second to abandon the right bank of the Meuse. Two of his subordinates in both casee daringly took it upon themselves to cancel his orders, face the fire, and risk defeat or victory —Gallieni at the Marne, 'ami Castelnean at Verdun. On this occasion, just before the first German thrust, the Generalissimo had retired to bed at 10 p.m., and even Castelneau was not allowed by the officers of the G.H.Q. to wake him lip, but left to do what ever he chose. Fortunately, he acted proinptlv. leaping into a motor car and clashing for the threatened citadel. ! Two grout merits, however, cannot be| 'disputed to "Old Father .TofTrc"; one Ithat he never lost his head, the other; 'that he always gave his heart. Thesej will suffice to make good the assumption of his immortal fame into the mystic realms of legend. i At the same time, the disclosures of the "Secret Committees" have precipi-j tated M. Delcasse's renown into the pit of purgatory. He shared the mistake! of C'lenienceau -if not his good luck a feu- months later—in opposing emphatically tlic Salonika expedition, which proved the key to victory. In atonement for this blunder, perhaps, he has 1 decided not to stand for the elections, .but to retire onc c and all from politics, i Of course, the champion of the Bal--1 kiuiic conception of the .war is now more than ever M. Uriand, whose masterly I policy looms up into fresh glory. We hear that at one of those sittings he took the opportunity of paying a heart tribute to the wisdom and abnegation of the Rritish Government, who waived at his entreaty their strong reluctance hi th c Balkan'front strategy. THE TRAITORS. But even these momentous revelations fail to attract any more attention from the public than the execution of young Lenoir, of the "Journal" treason case, ; who was shot ten days ago, one might say for the 'second time, seated and tied fo a chair —his legs having lost all power—already dead with fear before (the volley. ithat all these cases of averred or supposed treason —Dural, 8010, Lenoir, Muhy. and Caillaux—should have been i investigated and dealt with wholesale iin one sole trial, as the suppression of many of the participants one after the other makes it now impossible to bind into a knot the innumerable threads of I the great alleged plot. I The High Court of Justice—i.e., the I Senate—has decided that the Caillaux latlair would come off in January, and bail was refused to the prisoner. On t lit? pro unci of t nils inipp£Lcliod to canvass personally in the Sarthe, M. Caillaux hae finally and cleverly with- , drawn his candidature, .which" would I certainly hare, lead him to political discomfiture. The immediate arrest of M. Paul Mcunier, M.1., is daily rumoured, but never effected; also. At. Languet ■ seems to have disentnngled himself from ,tli t > German plot in Alsace. Some people assert that he always gets out of trouble b. ■cause of his being the adopted god-son of Clemenceau. i STRIKES ON T ALL SIDES. Whatever the elections may be, they will not lift the threat of "direct action" from over our heads. The great dry goods stores of the Bon .Marche and the I.afvettes stores are suffering from total strikes. The Metro, or Paris tube, is again echoing menacing voices in its j vaults. Lastly, the Confederation of I Labour is contemplating a general strike, throughout all France ac a protest against the Russian blockade. There is a serious dearth of coal, which may cause unheard of discomfort to poor Parisians. How the coal shortage may at any moment cause a serious menace to life Is illustrated in a recent incident at a Paris hospital, described by Doctor A. Lapointe, surgeon at the Hospital St. Antoine, in a letter to the "Temps": "Late on Thursday afternoon," he cays, "a young woman whose life was threatened by a serious abdominal hemorrhage, was carried into the operating room. While the operation was in progress, without the least warning, the electric current was suddenly cut oil and the room was in darkness. The scene was a tragic one; the woman pale and panting under the knife, and all plunged in Wack night. Quickly the electric light station was called on the telephone, the situation explained and light begged for a quarter of an hour. "But," writes the surgeon,* "the station was .without pity. Lack of coal, the eight-hour day; we cannot turn on the li-rht current until seven o'clock. An operation? A surgeon? What lia s that to do with us?" The operation was resumed T>y the dim nickering light of candles. And the operator reflected: "Until midnight this evening cinemas, tangos, cafes and other places are warmed and lit up brilliantly. My poor little patient may die."

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