Part 10 (1/2)

You must remember that, if aited for an opportunity of certain success, we should do nothing at all, and that in war, fighting a brave enemy, it is absolutely impossible to be always sure of success: all we can do is to try our very best to secure success--and that you did on the occasion I aood work you have done since, and reiment for the result of that occasion”

With these finely syht be placed French's speech to his troops before the battle of Elandslaagte ”Men,” he said, ”you are going to oppose two thousand or three thousand Dutch We want to keep up our honour as we did in the olden time--as soldiers and e Heading: FRENCH AND HIS MEN]

In that single phrase, ”as soldiers and men,” one has the key to French's popularity with the ranks He treats the s and not as machines In other words, he understands the British soldier through and through Mrs Despard has told a touching little story of the affection which he inspires in hiswhen she was surprised by a question as she stopped to buy the custo paper ”Are you Mrs Despard, General French's sister?” asked the ragged wretch She admitted that claim to distinction Thewith a battery in a very hot corner during the South African war, he had seen the General ride over to cheer them up ”Now, hi don't care 'oo that man is, and I don't care 'oo I am, I love that man,” he said rather huskily Mrs Despard has told how she forgot her paper that night in shaking the ex-soldier's hand

For this tact in dealing with his ely to thank the vein of acute sensibility which runs through his character

This sensibility can be traced in his mouth, which is remarkably finely chiselled We have seen it in his childhood, when he shrank from some of the usual noisiness of boyhood And Mrs Despard has crystallised it in a phrase Feeling depressed on one occasion before addressing a ent, she confessed to her brother that she was spiritually afraid ”Why,” he replied, ”don't worry, I've never yet done anything worth doing without having to screw myself up to it” French, very obviously, is a man for whoure hiion of a Kitchener or a Gordon

One ht sum him up as the _beau-ideal_, not only of the cavalry spirit, but of the scientific soldier He can lead a cavalry charge with the dash of a Hotspur: and he can plan out a cah Unlike some of his contemporaries, he has attained extraordinarya scientific machine Inreseh Joffre is three inches taller than French--he is five foot nine--he is otherwise very similar in appearance There is the same short, powerful physique, the narrow neck surmounted by a massive head and heavy jaw, and the sa from beneath bushy eyebrows

Neither of these ree strident or self-assertive Indeed, both tend to be listeners rather than talkers Both have the sa instantaneous decisions Both scorn to be merely ”smart” in outward appearance; both are devoted to efficiency in detail; and, estive of all, each finds himself eternally coed personality forms the best possible coe Heading: AN OPPORTUNITY]

It is said that when news of the war in South Africa reached French,a natural impulse, he waved his hand and cried, ”Hurrah for South Africa” If anyone had any right to thank Heaven for that particular can, it was certainly French But he would have ”hurrahed” any caave opportunity for his powers After all, the soldier's stage is the battlefield Without wars he is without an active role, andin the rehearsal theatre of the Colonies If he be so original and so thorough a soldier as French, his abilities will be at an even graver discount For the rehearsal is not the play; and the best Generals, like the ablest actors, are notoriously weak at rehearsal, which does not pluck fully at their energies Probably French would have hurrahed for South Africa, however, had he had no special abilities at all

For nowhere is he happier than on the battlefield If the grisly game of war must be played, French plays it with all his heart It is the gaaame in which he has ever seriously interested himself

Luck invariably follows the man who is utterly absorbed in his profession, for the sirossed in his work, he is always alive to his opportunities French's luck consists solely in the fact that he happens to be a soldier Men of Kitchener's organising genius , not even in the arts, are they likely to seriously fail But French is a soldier in the sense quite other than Kitchener He is aof hard practical difficulties in the field It is as natural for hin as it was for Pope to ”lisp in nu

FINIS

FOOTNOTES:

[22] From Sir John French's Preface to _The Defence of Plevna_, by Capt Frederick von Herbert, by permission of Messrs Smith, Elder

[23] From Sir John French's Preface to _The Defence of Plevna_, by Capt Frederick von Herbert, by permission of Messrs Smith, Elder

APPENDIX

THE MONS DESPATCH

_To the Secretary of State for War_

_September 7, 1914_

MY LORD,

I have the honour to report the proceedings of the Field Force underthis despatch

1 The transport of the troops froland both by sea and by rail was effected in the best order and without a check Each unit arrived at its destination in this country ithin the scheduled time