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which he had taken his gallant little force to France. The vicissitudes of the Retreat,
the awful losses at Le Cateau, above all things the grim certainty that, for months and
months, the crushing superiority of the foe could not be counter-balanced by adequate
reinforcements of men and material, must have prompted that brave and eager brain to
moments of despair.
But if despair were there the leader never showed it. In the blackest moments of
the Retreat he and Henry Wilson were outwardly the most confident of all those aware
of the desperate peril of the situation Henry Wilson as cheery, as eccentrically amusing
as ever, French impassive, never agitated, all doubts and fears screened by the calm but
thoughtful brow, the clear blue eyes, the firm yet mobile mouth.
We know now, beyond the anguish of the daily battle and the lengthening tally of
casualties, the all but irresistible pressure brought to bear upon the British leader to
make him swerve from the line of conduct which he had mapped out for himself. He had
his definite written instructions from the Cabinet at home. He was, these laid down,
the supreme commander responsible to none save the Prime Minister, comrade and ally
but not subordinate of Joffre, expressly charged to remember that he held in his hands
virtually the only effective striking force by land which the British Empire could ime-
diately put into the field and that it must not be ruthlessly or inconsiderately thrown
away. Against this was the urgent demand of the French that he should stand and
fight, when he knew that to chance defeatthe odds on disaster were heavy, for his force
had been all but cut to ribbons—-was to risk the exposure of the Channel ports and all
that their loss involved to the security of the Empire. Against this were the petulant
queries from home, stimulated by symptoms of panic in the French capital, and the
well-meant but exasperating interference of the War Office, culminating in Lord
Kitchener's rather tactless visit to Paris.
John French never wilted. He knew the British soldier, knew of what immense
courage and tenacity he was capable but he also realised that there is a bourne to human
endurance. He was fully acquainted with the limitations of his small command. Some
where on the constant moves of the Retreat in his car, motoring through those blazing
August days or in his work-room alone, at night, as was his invariable habit at improvised
headquarters, he had pegged out, as it were, in his mind the boundaries of his action,
fixing the line beyond which he would not budge.
That was French. He would make up his mind, rightly or wrongly, and then nothing
would move him. If he were pressed, out would come his lower lip. like a sullen school
boy, he would shake his white head impatiently and his eyes would blaze blue fire.
Although hasty in speech and quick to anger, he was seldom violent in discussion. He
was always ready to discuss a pointbut it was a form of courtesy on his part. Discussion
would never lead him to change his mind.
He was a rock of self-reliance. He went in fear of no man. And he always said what
he thought. It was claimed he was indiscreet. If he were it was because, with his warm
and affectionate nature, having given a man his friendship he trusted him, and some
times his trust was abused. For the rest his indiscretions were usually calculated. He was
impatient of guile. He could never understand why, if something had to be said, it should
be wrapped up so as to appear innocuous in the form. He entrusted to me the editing
and the general arrangement of his book 1914." Its extreme plain speech created a
sensation when it appeared. But in its final form it represented what, after vigorous
blue-pencilling on my part and hours of discussion, its author had insisted on retaining.
His bluntness of speech it was that endeared him to the French. In foreign affairs
the French mind runs in grooves and their conception of the British character leads them
to expect from the Englishman plain dealing and plain speaking. Joffre got both from
Lord Ypres. MEen French said yes it was final, just as when he said no he meant
no." And a promise from him was as reliable as a Bank of England note. No French
