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this infant people which had placed itself into contact with political life with such a confident and naive spontaneity.
The premature death of M. Gabriel Bertrand, was a loss that I do not hesitate to qualify as irreparable; for, had he been present at his post, the deplorable events which were to take place during 1918, might have been avoided, or at any rate redressed, at the proper time.
The few hours that I was able to spend in the company of this kind-hearted man, between the sittings of the Moscow Assembly, will for ever remain engraved in my memory. With what fine French perspicuity, with what sturdiness of thought he regarded the situation! Entirely given up to the war, more preoccupied with France bleeding of her wounds than anybody else he longed for nothing but the destruction of German imperialism. It was for this reason that he was so fond of the Russian people, so justly appreciated the enormous sacrifices made by them, and the heroic support which they had given to France. At the same time, he was able to understand and to love the pacific nature of the Russian people, its Tolstoyism, and all that which ordinary diplomats, accustomed to see in Russia only „an entity capable of putting in line a fixed number of millions of bayonets“, according to the expression of M. Delcassé,—saw nothing but „cowardice“, „corruption“ and „lack of character“.
I can still hear Gabriel Bertrand saying to me:
„It is not from those industrials who, since 1914, have been doing nothing but earn millions, and who have no interest in anything else,—not from those who, in order to save their own
