Canadian Appreciation.
178
The Ypres Times.
commander ever got very close to Lord Ypres. He was too English. But he had an
almost ecstatic admiration for the French Army and a whole-hearted enthusiasm for
Joff re and Foch. The close friendship that established itself between Henry Wilson
and Foch delighted him. One of the most amusing scenes he witnessed in the entire war,
he told me once, was the meeting between Henry Wilson and Foch at the front after
a separation of several months. Foch rushed at Wilson and kissed him on both cheeks.
French was entranced at the spectacle of Foch, who is not tall, clasping Wilson's gaunt
and lanky form in a close embrace.
Lord Ypres was the simplest-minded man who ever walked. He never played to
the gallery. Many great soldiers have had a touch of theatricality in their composition
without prejudice to their other attributes but not French. Never breathed a man
less snobbish or more impatient of bounce and pose in others. And he was a marvellous
friend. He had a genius for friendship. He believed in it. He held that friends should
prove their friendship and if he claimed unquestioned loyalty from those to whom he gave
his confidence, on his side to them there was nothing he would refuse. He spent a great
part of his life in helping people. With his quick temper and always rather hasty judgment,
it is true, he was difficult and frequently fell out with his friends. But these quarrels
did not last. Friendship with John French left something behind it that rose superior
to any steady grudge.
In some respects he was a lonely mortal. To me at least his geniality and strong
sense of humour did not effectively conceal the extreme reseive that lay behind. All
his life he was wont to think things out for himself. He had a studious mind and was
astonishingly well-read, not only in military historyhe was always quoting Hamley-
but also in certain favourite authors of his, of which the chief was Dickens. He had a
facile pen and if he had cared to apply his mind to the mechanics of writing he might also
have made a name for himself in literature, for he had a keen dramatic sense and an eye
for the picturesque.
The Empire has lost a faithful servant and many, many of us, a faithful friend. John
French's love of country was of the highest temper, silent, steadfast, unswerving. He
never spoke of his patriotism. It was as though he felt about England as Gambetta said
of Alsace-Lorraine "N'en parlons jamais pensons-y touiours so deeply was it buried
in his heart. History shall say whether, measured by the prowess of the famous captains
of the past, he was a great generalbut we, who knew and loved that trim, brave figure
that barred the road to Calais, can proclaim to-day that, among the glorious company
of soldiers that welcomed his coming on the other side of Styx, there is no greater
Englishman than the defender of Ypres.
By LIEUT.-GNL. H. E, BURSTALL.
The late Lord Ypres stood for much in the estimation of the people of Canada.
He visited Canada in 1910, where as Inspector-General of the Imperial Forces he
inspected the Canadian Forces, and for the work he did during that period we owe him
lasting thanks. By his constructive policy and his instructional methods he added much
to the efficiency of Headquarter Formations, of the Instructional Staff, and of the troops
that he inspected.
By that visit he gave a fresh impetus to our citizen soldiers and made them feel more
than I think they had ever done before, that the}- were a very integral part of the Forces
of the Empire.
