Mar. 8.
"Tne history of the world,' wrote Carlyle, ''is the biography of great men'', and we flatter neither the time in which we live nor the visitor whom we welcome to-day when we say that one of the biographies which will be studied by all future ages will be that of Marshal Joffre. One of the drawbacks from which the British as a nation suffered prior to the War was that it knew little of the great men of the world. A few politicians, business magnates and soldiers and sailors who had figured in previous wars came within the scope of its acquaintance, but deeper it did not go, especially in regard to the last mentioned categories. This was essentially because we were not military nation, and the consequence was that when war broke out men whose names were household words on the Continent were complete strangers to us. Of the who immediately took post in the forefront of the struggle we knew Kitchener and French, but even Haig was little known to the populace at large, as in fact were most of the men who subsequently commanded armies. It was therefore'not to be wondered at that civilians, little versed at that time in the great military organizations of the world, should probably never have heard of the name of Joffre. day that is all changed, and our community in common with every other in the Allied countries can salute the hero of the Marne with a full knowledge of his epoch-making achievements.
Our visitor of to-day owes nothing to the fortune of birth, for, the son of a cooper in the Pyrées Orientales, he was essentially of the people. And throughout his life he has: never been otherwise.
Kindness to his soldiers has always been a marked attribute. of his, resulting in the designation applied to him in the way soldiers have, of ''Grandpére.'' Like our own great Kitchener he chose the Engineers for his military career, and passing through the Poly-technique, served in the Franco-{Prasaian War as Lieutenant. The early age of 24 saw him with the rank of Captain, from which time onwards he accomplished his principal service in the French colonies. It was in 1894 that hie name first came before the public, for in that year he occupied Timbuctoo. Following upon this he was much occupied in Madagascar, and here the harbour and forts at Diego Suarez were constructed under his direction. Returning to France he became Chief of the General Staff, which meant that on the outbreak of war he would assume command of the French armies. That choice, so amply vindicated at the First Battle of the Marne, was one of the great pieces of fortune for the world. Writers have required whole volumes to explain how he. mancuvred the five French armies then aligned on the frontier, subsequently created two additional ones, held the Germans and by a return to the offend sive, '"'the flashing sword of ven-glance'', drove the enemy across the Aisne. That battle placed the German armies in a wrong
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.