EN LIAISON AVEC LES ANGLALS. ,
CAPTAIN PHILIPPE MILLET has written a notable book in his En Liaison armies Anglais. Those who know the gallant officer in question will not be surprised, for he has all the qualities of heart and head, and also just the experience, which would enable him to deal well and truly with tho British Army in the field. Captain Millet speaks and writes English like an Englishman. He lived several years in,this -country as the Military Correspondent of the Temps, and at manoeuvres, which he attended regularly, made the acquaintance not only of our Generals and Staff Officers, but also of the British " Tommy," Regular and Territorial. But above and beyond this, Captain Millet has that best qualification of all, a natural Eking for our nation and our par- ticular type of soldier. Nothing could possibly be more sympathetic than his attitude towards the British type of mind and character. He sees our weaknesses, and his sense of humour is stirred by many of our eccentricities, but always with the sympathy of approbation as well as the sympathy of comprehension. He is very kind to our virtues, and more than a little blind to our faults. His series of studies will be of great use in explaining to his countrymen the peculiarities of the English, and in dispelling that mist of convention and tradition which too often keeps Englishmen and Frenchmen apart. For that reason we shall wish his book a large circulation in France. It deserves an equally large one in England, on grounds of literary charm and readability. We say without hesitation that any one who can read French (and, after all, that is now a very large public) will find genuine delight in his idylls of the fray, for that is what these short studies really are—little pictures or vignettes from the trenches, the artillery zone, or behind the lines. Happily, too, the author has not rigidly confined us to the British Army. The occasional studies of French soldiers and French peasants are exceedingly good, and make us wish for more. Indeed, the volume affords such pleasant reading that we wish it could be translated. It would lose some of its charm, no doubt, but one does not like to think of its being a closed book to those who have not enough French to master even its very lucid and easy style.
Before we say anything in detail as to the actual contents of Captain Millet's volume we may comment upon the really remarkable precision with which ho handles English slang and vernacular talk, whether of officers or privates. It is so very easy for a foreigner to go wrong in such details. Even English writers often get their atmosphere wrong, and put into the mouths of Generals words which would never be spoken except by subalterns, and vice-versa ; or again, attribute to men of forty- five slang of an epoch a quarter of a century later than the period at which they must have acquired their own argot. The only slip that we can find in this respect, and we are not absolutely sure that it is a slip (the problem is one of no little interest in the study of language), is where he makes the General of a Division speak of the Germans as " blighters." All depends, of course, upon the ago of the General. If he had reached that rank before the war, and so was presumably a man of fifty-two to fifty-six, we should say unhesitatingly that he was not likely to use the word " blighters," " Blighter," if we remember rightly, made its bow for general acceptance on the introduction of Mr. Kipling. The men, therefore, who would, as it were, have grown up with " blighter " would be the subalterns, Cap. twins and Majors. But, after all, these are the days of very young Generals, and Captain Millet might easily defend himself by saying that his Divisional General was under forty. To counter that, however, we should say that in the particular study, " Un Geniral Anglais," where the phrase under discussion occurs, the context points to a General of wide experience well over fifty. The only other slip that we have been able to detect occurs, curiously enough, in the same little • En Liaison awe les Angiais : Souvenirs ds Cantpagne. Par Philippe Met, Paris : Librairle Academique, Perrin et Cie. (3 Ir. 50 e.1 study. Our author makes his General insist—even at the crisis of an attack—upon a Staff Officer who is on a mission to him having some breakfast, "une tranche de bully beef, nn morcoau de chestcr et un verre de whisky and soda." " Chester " may be a printer's error, and if so we are sure that Captain Millet will be amused by the mistake. On the other hand, we think it may be a " portmanteau " word between " Cheshire " and " Cheddar." It ought, of course, to be " a morsel of Cheddar " or " a morsel of Cheshire " ; but Captain Millet, choosing with a perfectly balanced mind between these two, has run them together and stumbled on the word " cheater." We remember a small girl making an equally felicitous junction in the case of " Osborne" and " Albert " biscuits. She produced the " portmanteau " word " Osbert " to cover the two types.
As an example of what may be termed Captain Millet's literary, political, and professional mission in writing his book we may take the very striking and ingenious study " Mem," which recounts the visit of two British officers to some French trenches. After a short journey, seasoned by a good many shells, they arrive at their objective, the French line, and the liaison officer, who has escorted them thus far, thereupon hands them over to the French officer commanding, who shows them round. At the close of their tour of the trenches, the following conversation takes place: " Tout en noun g-nidant h travers les ruiner, le commandant ne me cache pas son e.ntiere satisfaction. — Ces Anglais sent vraimont de beaux soldats. . . Votro major n'a pas Pair commode, male it n'a pas froid aux yeux. Un pen plus tard, comma nous approchons du quartier general, c'est le major qui me proud h part. Je ne l'ai jamais vu aussi airnable. — Remerciez le commandant, me dit-il, c'cst un homme capital. Je recois aussi les confidences du capitaine. Ses yeux me sourient gravement. 11 me dit h mi-voix. — Je suis content, tree content. . . Je n'avais jamais vu yea hommes dans les tranchees. Ile sent un peu negligee, mais ils me plaisent. . . Je pease que, nous aussi, nous devrions avoir la conscription."
The incident is exceedingly cleverly, usefully, and truthfully portrayed. Such friction as there is between the officers of the two Armies (and there is very little) always takes place at a distance. Close contact produces, on both sides, the results here so felicitously depicted. Happily the fighting qualities of the French and British officers and of the French and British soldiers are so distinct (except in the matter of courage), and their ways of fighting so different, that there is no room for jealousy, but only for reciprocal admiration. It is much easier for an artist who paints in a perfectly different style from one of his colleagues to admire that artist's work than it would be if they were both competing on the same narrow piece of ground.
A propos of the soldier, here is a very charming picture of the British private soldier as he is seen in the French villages in which he is billeted :— " 11 faut les voir Bur les routes, quand ils arrivent an cantonnement d'un petit pas tranquille et cadence qui mppelle celui du canard. Laura bowies figures rouges, cuitea par le vent et lavees par la pluie, luisont comma des aoleila au-dessus de l'uniforme terreux qui les rend invisibles h distance. Es ont toujours Pair content, memo lorsque lee dimensions reduites de la colonne revelent les pertea subies, et rient volontiera an passage si on leur fait un sign arnica. On sent quo rien ne les atone : ils ont couru taut de pays exotiques que le Nord de la France ne lour ménage aucune surprise. On devine aussi gulls Bent prets encaisser ' en souriant, comme des boxeurs, et qu'il doit etre difficile de les mettro knock-out.' Leer resistance est d'ailleurs etonnante. Dernierement, an terme d'une longue journey de mambo, un bataillon est mis an repos pour une demi-heure. Voila. los sacs a. terre et une partie de foot-ball s'organise instantanement. La partie durait encore quand retentit le coup de siffiet &ruminant le rassemblement. L'un des joueurs dit h. son officicr : Vous m'avez fait perdre le plus bean coup de pied do ma vie.' . . . Enfin les tommies sent des philosopher. A l'abreuvoir l'autre jour, j'ai entendu Pun d'eux dire sentencieusement a. un cantered° : ' Si vous avez de l'argcnt, voila fcrez Bien de le depenser aujourd'hui, peut-etre serez-vous tub ce soir.' " We wish we had space to quote from " Harold," a delightful sketch of a very young, rosy-checked subaltern. Harold was on the Staff, but for a deed of gallantry had received the Military Cross. The boy's comment ends this fascinating little study : " I call it idiotic. I sleep in a bed every night. Things like this ought to be kept for the poor beggars in the trenches."
" A Travers Ypres," dated April and May, 1915, is a wonderful description of passing in a motor down the roads leading to and through and back from Ypres during the worst time of the bombardment. In contrast to this picture, painted in the tints of earthquake and eclipse, is a bright vignette called " Le Beau Billet,' " which describes with great sympathy how a group of British artillery officers make them- selves a snug little nest for their mess, and how it was knocked to pieces by the enemy's artillery. In the course of this episode Captain Millet asks how it is that the English are always supposed to be silent and reserved ; and he goes en to point out how usually they are quite the contrary. The particular boys in question were delighted to bring him into tea, and to show him their beautiful billet, which actually had beds in it. They gave him a very good tea : " there was jam, there was butter, there were cakes—those cakes which the girls across the Channel despatch every week from the uttermost corners of England and Scotland." But always the burden of their talk was that their lodging appeared to them a veritable paradise.
Before we leave Captain Millet's fascinating piece of liaison work we must quote again from what is perhaps the moat memorable of all of them—" Un General Anglais " :— "Cca petite' mieeres n'alterent jamais l'humeur bienveillante qu'il temoigne h tout le monde. 11 possede an plus hunt degre la qualit6 anglaise que derma le mot kindness : tine aorta do bont6 virile qui se traduit, avant tout, par le souci de ne pea froisser les sentiments d'autrui et par la volonte d'obliger. II se fait un devoir de dire h chacun une bonne parole. Le plaisir en eprouve lui-mbme est si vif qu'il en oublie l'heure. On le Pit un jour, dans un carrefonr
nx, risquer la mort plutig quo de prendre promptement oong6 de ux ou trois officers qui lui semblaient dignee d'intenSt. Mails &est surtout h son mess quo parait son inalterable bonhomie. Certain° des commensaux que le hasard lui a imposes l'exaspbrent searetement par des tics devenus intolerables apree plusiours mole do vie commune ; auoun d'eux ne se doute do son &leir do lea voir a. cent mills diables. Un antra de sea officiers d'etat-major est melomane ; or, le general a de la musique une horreur si profonde qu'il traverserait in Manche pour fuir un concert ; it soufFre ne,anmoins en silence, of sa mule ven- geance consists h n'entrer an mess que lorsque le melomane, qui prelude an diner par des arpeges, s'est decide h quitter le piano."
A truer and more delightful picture cannot be imagined. But while we are deeply touched at finding so sympathetic an analyst of the British fighting man, we must not let it be supposed that there is not quite as warm an appreciation in our Army of the French soldiers and officers. Though our liaison officers may find it harder to discover adequate words, we are certain that there is no loss of admiration and affection. We know the charm as well as the value of the men who have fought and still fight at Verdun.
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