that battle the invading army had lost everything.

It will do no harm to digress for a moment and explain exactly what
the French did at the battle of the Marne.

All through August the Allies fell back before the onward rush of the
Germans. But during all that strategic retreat plans were being made
for resuming the offensive again. This necessitated an orderly
retreat, not a rout, with constant counter-engagements to keep the
invaders occupied. It necessitated also a fixed point of retreat, to
be reached by the different Allied armies simultaneously.

When, on September fifth, the order for assuming the offensive was
given, the extreme limit of the retreat had not yet been reached. But
the audacity of the German march had placed it in a position
favourable for attack, and at the same time extremely dangerous for
the Allies and Paris if they were not checked.

On the evening of September fifth General Joffre sent this message to
all the commanders of armies:

"The hour has come to advance at all costs, and do or die where you
stand rather than give way."

The French did not give way. Paris was saved after a colossal battle,
in which more than two million men were engaged. The army commanded by
General Foch was at one time driven back by overwhelming odds, but
immediately resumed the offensive, and making a flank attack forced
the Germans to retreat.

Not that he mentioned his part in the battle of the Marne. Not that
any member of his staff so much as intimated it. But these are things
that get back.

"How is America affected by the war?"

I answered as best I could, telling him something of the paralysis it
had caused in business, of the war tax, and of our anxiety as to the
status of our shipping.

"From what I can gather from the newspapers, the sentiment in America
is being greatly influenced by the endangering of American shipping,"

"Naturally. But your press endeavours to be neutral, does it not?"

"Not particularly," I admitted. "Sooner or later our papers become
partisan. It is difficult not to. In this war one must take sides."

"Certainly. One must take sides. One cannot be really neutral in this
war. Every country is interested in the result, either actively now or
later on, when the struggle is decided. One cannot be disinterested;
one must be partisan."

The staff echoed this.

Having been interviewed by General Foch for some time, I ventured to
ask him a question. So I asked, as I ask