The France That Was

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 39, 9 November 1940, Page 15

The France That Was

“ . . . The one who can hold out the longer is the victor. That great nation of the East which lias undergone the trial of centuries of war. has found this formula : ‘The victor is the one who can believe in victory for a quarter of an hour longer than his adversary.' That is my maxim. “You want peace? So d<> I. It would be criminal to have any other thought. But it is not by bleating for peace that we will put a stop to Prussian militarism. "These soldiers, these great soldiers, have leaders, good leaders, great leaders. leaders who are worthy of them in every respect. ... I will go on repeating this as long as is necessary to make people listen ot me. because it is my duty, because 1 have seen these leaders at work. “These men are. at this moment, engaged in the hardest struggle of the whole war. and tire fighting with a heroism for which 1 can find no words worthy to describe it. "And are we now, because of a mis take which may have been made hero or there, or which may even not have been made at all; are we, before knowing the circumstances, to ask for explanations, to demand, in the middle of a battle, from a man who is exhausted with fatigue, whose head is nodding on his shoulders from sheer weariness, as I have seen it in terrible limes? I will not do it!”—M. Georges Clemenceau, in a speech to the French Chamber of Deputies during the last war.