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CHAPTER IV
THE ARMY AND THE NATION
The question of the hour in France is militarism
and anti-militarism. The emotions
roused by this fierce duel between these two
parties of the nation are poignant and absorbing,
and threaten us ever with civil war. It is impossible
to blink away all the perils and grievances
and wrong-doing in which the final
triumph of militarism could involve France; and
still less possible to deny the sad fact that a large
proportion of the country are in favour of military
triumph. This fact is mainly due to the
infamous campaign of a Press with little instinct
of honour or truth, which persuades the unthinking
multitude that the salvation of France lies in
the hands of a group of unscrupulous and incompetent
generals who, since Sedan, have not
done anything to justify the extraordinary confidence
reposed in them by their credulous and
easily fooled countrymen.
Thanks to Napoleon, the French are unable to bear defeat. The race is a nervous, excitable
