M. Jaures has given a new revelation of himself by
pro- pounding a scheme of national defence, which is explained in the .Tourna/ des Dgbats. It seems that at the end of last Session, when he was absent from the Chamber, M. Jaures was at Albi working out his scheme. He will present it in a Bill as a proof that he is "mortified by the sentiments imputed to him after the Stuttgart Congress." M. Jaures's main principle is that war nowadays must be defensive, and only defensive, an aggressive war being repugnant to a democracy. M. Jaures dislikes the present organisation of the French Army because it postulates aggression. He would provide for the temporary checking of an enemy at the frontier while the Army was concentrated behind. The Army would be chiefly composed of the Reserves, on whose mobilisation he expends much thought. It is very interesting that M. Jaures con- fesses to the need of national defence; but defence can some- times be realised only by taking the offensive. If that be forbidden, defence in certain cases becomes quite impossible. M. Jaures, writing of a new Ecole Socialiste, remarks that
Socialism must not merely protest but must act. Can he not transfer the axiom from militant Socialism to military strategy ?
