We sat there in one of the committee-rooms of the
French Chamber, discussing with our colleagues the means by which we politicians might smooth the path of Anglo- French co-operation. I found that they were not unduly apprehensive of the effect upon their own opinion of the enemy attempts to separate France from England. They admitted of course that this lull before the storm was a most trying interlude. They admitted that there were many people in France who, not realising our special difficulties, did not understand that we were in fact exerting a great effort. It was constantly being stated (and it was difficult to gainsay) that one in every eight was mobilised in France whereas only one in forty-eight was mobilised in England. Yet our losses and our triumphs on sea and in the air had made a great impression upon the French people, and the presence and bearing of our troops in France had gone far to silence any mutterings that there might have been.
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