Aug. 20, vigorously defended his administration, and appealed
to the House to support him in seeing that there should be
no confusion between the parliamentary control and military
authority, the principle he laid down being that " in war, author-
ity and responsibility cannot be divided. Each military chief con-
trols the actions of his subordinates, and is himself responsible for
his acts to his superiors. The commander-in-chief is responsible to
the Government, which can remove him if it does not approve
of his acts." Only Viviani's eloquence, and an uneasy feeling
among deputies that the country could not be expected to toler-
ate in war-time the upsetting of a Government after a debate
held behind closed doors, defeated the proposal for the holding of
a secret session of Parliament, at which all facts and figures con-
cerning the army should be revealed.
When Parliament reassembled on Sept. 16 all further political agitation was stayed by the imminence of a French offensive in the Champagne, and by the involved state of Balkan affairs. By the end of the first week in Oct. disappointment with the results of allied diplomacy in the Balkans and the indecisive result of the French operations in Champagne led to a renewal of the demand for a secret parliamentary debate. The collapse of the Government was brought about by the resignation of Delcasse, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The division which followed the debate upon that resignation showed clearly that the Viviani Ministry was doomed. On Oct. 29 Viviani, in tendering his resignation to the President of the republic, stated that the last division of the Chamber had shown that a large minority favoured the holding of a secret session, which he had himself for- mally opposed. He considered it necessary that another should seek to re-create that parliamentary unity which was more than ever necessary to the country.
New Briand Ministry. The new Cabinet was composed as follows: Briand, prime minister and Foreign Affairs; Viviani, Justice; Gen. Gallieni, War; Rear-Adml. Lacaze, Marine; Mal- vy, Interior; Ribot, Finance; Meline, Agriculture; Sembat, Pub- lic Works; Clementel, Commerce; Doumergue, Colonies; Pain- leve, Public Instruction and Inventions; de Freycinet, Bourgeois, Combes, Guesde, Denys Cochin, Ministers of State; Jules Cam- bon, ex-ambassador to Berlin, became Secretary-General of the Foreign Office. With its under-secretaries the Government con- tained 23 members. It was very varied in its political complexion, comprising three Unified Socialists, three Independent Socialists, six Radicals and Socialist-Radicals, two moderate Republicans, one Progressist, and one member of the Right. The inclusion of such political veterans as Meline, Combes, and de Freycinet, who were soon known as the Elder Statesmen, and the placing of a soldier and a sailor at the head of the fighting services, were the only innovations of note, and Briand, in declaring that the motto of his Government was " Peace through Victory," took an early opportunity of assuring the world at large, and the enemies of France in particular, that the change of Government, far from being due to any change of policy, was but a reflection of the country's desire for a more vigorous prosecution of the war. Briand lost no time in pressing forward the first and most impor- tant part of his programme that aiming at coordination of Allied effort in every field of the war, military, naval, financial, eco- nomic and diplomatic. With this end in view a number of Allied conferences were held in France during Nov. and a significant change was made in the functions of Gen. Joffre. His command, which had been confined to the armies of the North and the East, was extended so as to comprise the control of all French armies operating in Europe. Thus the Salonika Expedition came within his command. With closer working between the Allies it became necessary to give Joffre freedom for the consideration of large strategical questions, and, with that in view, Gen. Castel- nau was appointed chief of the general staff.
Throughout the winter of 1915-6, those efforts for coordina- tion continued in many a wordy conference, but when the Ger- mans began the battle for Verdun, in March 1916, not much progress had been made. The critical situation at Verdun pre- vented any voicing of the discontent of Parliament at the slow progress made, both with this matter, and with the failure of
the Government to make parliamentary control effective in the field. On March 16, Gen. Gallieni was forced by ill-health to resign (he died on May 27). Gen. Roques (b. 1856) succeeded him. He had made a reputation for himself at Verdun.
The remaining months of spring were filled with efforts to ob- tain Allied coordination, and with the critical development of the Verdun battle. When Parliament met again on May 18, finan- cial requirements once again claimed immediate attention, and, for the first time, new taxation was imposed on the country. The constant political anxiety for parliamentary control, and for frank and full information as to the progress and conduct of the war, was strengthened by events upon the Verdun front, and finally Briand was forced by parliamentary pressure to accept a secret meeting of the Chamber. The immediate cause for this secret meeting was the change in the command of the Verdun armies. Gen. Petain, who was appointed to the command after a hurried visit of inspection by Gen. Castelnau, was decorated a few days afterwards for having " adjusted a delicate situation." It became known that, before Castelnau's visit, preparations had been made for the evacuation of Verdun and the whole of that region on the right bank of the Meuse. Parliament desired to be acquainted with the elements of the delicate situation which Gen. Petain had adjusted, and to be assured that, if there were any guilt in the matter, punishment should be awarded. There was also a desire for full information as to the steps taken to or- ganize the Verdun front, for defensive purposes, before the Ger- man attack broke on Feb. 21, it having been reported by a mem- ber of the House (Major Driant, subsequently killed at Verdun) that the defensive organization was extremely defective. No Government worthy of the name could accept any secret debate which would give to Parliament the opportunity of discussing questions which were the sole concern of the military command, and which would hand over to the passion of politics the stability of command in the field. Briand therefore made it clear to the House that, if there were to be any secret debate, it must not be restricted to points of detail; that the discussion should cover the whole general policy of the Government; and that no vote should be taken in secret sitting.
The Secret Session. For the first time in French history, the Chamber of Deputies constituted itself a secret committee on July 16. As a matter of fact, there was nothing which could be communicated to the House sitting in secret committee, with which its delegates on the Army Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee had not already become acquainted; and, as was re- marked by one member, when the Government accepted the idea of a secret meeting, it was only a means of taking the whole coun- try into its confidence. The proceedings, which were stormy, ended on June 22, and, at the public session which immediately followed, a motion of confidence in the Government was carried by 444 votes to 8. The advocates of parliamentary control had made headway, however, for the motion, while declaring that the Chamber desired strictly to refrain from intervention in the con- ception, direction or execution of military operations, adding that it meant to watch with increased care over the output of muni- tions and general army supplies. It further indicated the inten- tion of the Chamber to have recourse to the procedure of secret committees, and, with the assistance of the Government, to or- ganize a direct delegation for control on the spot of all services entrusted with army supplies.
The continuance of the battle of Verdun, and the bursting of the struggle of the Somme, made further political action against the Government impossible throughout the summer, although there can be no doubt that, had it not been for the pressure of the front upon internal affairs, Briand's Ministry would not have survived as long as it did. The proverbial luck of the prime minis- ter came to his assistance at a critical moment in the summer, when, on Aug. 28, Rumania entered the war upon the Allied side. It was a brief gleam of good fortune, and probably nothing but the beginnings of a pacific movement on the extreme left of the Socialist wing kept the Government in power in the autumn. Time after time have extremists, by ill-timed attacks, kept the French Ministry from extinction; and when such men as Brizon,
