The Drama of Three Hundred and Sixty Five Days/The Part Played by France
THE PART PLAYED BY FRANCE
Perhaps the next great flash as of lightning
whereby we saw the drama of the past 365 days
was that which revealed at its sublimest moment
the part played by France. In those evil days
of July 1914, when German diplomacy was
carrying on the indecent pretence of quarrelling
with France about Austria's right to punish
Serbia for the assassination of the Archduke
Ferdinand, there were Frenchmen still living
who had vivid memories of three bloody campaigns.
Some could remember the Crimean War. More could recall the Italian War of 1859, which brought the delirious news of the victory of Magenta, and closed with Solferino, and the triumphant march home through the Place de la Bastille, and down the Rue de la Paix. And vast numbers were still alive who could remember 1870, when the Emperor was defeated at Worth and conquered at Sedan; when Paris was surrounded by a Prussian army, when the booming of cannon could be heard on the boulevards; when tenderly nurtured women, who had never thought to beg their bread, had been forced by the hunger of their children to stand in long queues at the doors of the bakers' shops; when the city was at length starved into submission, and the proud French people, with their immemorial heritage of fame, were compelled to permit the glittering Prussian helmets to go shining clown their streets.
A new generation had been born to France since even the last of these events, but was it with a light heart that she took up the gage which Germany so haughtily threw down? Indeed, no! Never had France, the bright, the brilliant, the cheerful-hearted, shown the world a graver face. A few students across the Seine might shout "À Berlin! À Berlin!" just as our boys in khaki chalked up the same address on their gun carriages. Idlers in blouses along the quays might scream the "Marseillaise." Gangs of ruffians in back streets might break the windows of the shops of German tradespeople. Some bitter old campaigners might talk about revenge. But when the drums beat for the French regiments to start away for Alsace and the Belgian frontier, the heart of France was calm and steadfast.
"This is a fight for the right, for France, and for the freedom of our souls!"