File No. 763.72/2388

The Ambassador in France ( Sharp ) to the Secretary of State

No. 1912

Sir: As fairly expressive of the views of the President of the Republic, Mr. Raymond Poincaré, as to the attitude of France upon the question of prosecuting the war, I have the honor to enclose a translation of his recent address to the French Army issued by the Bulletin des Armées. Having heard this distinguished gentleman speak on a number of occasions, and having formed an early impression of some of his characteristics, I believe the sentiments therein expressed are fairly typical of his real convictions.

President Poincaré has frequently made short excursion trips to many places at the front, and seems to have kept himself closely in touch with the men who are doing the actual fighting.

The perusal of this address has been of interest to me, as I feel sure it will be to you.

I have [etc.]

Wm. G. Sharp
[Enclosure—Translation]

Message of the President of the French Republic ( Poincaré ) to the Officers and Soldiers of France

As you, my noble friends, I have perused with emotion, in the Bulletin des Armées, the messages that have been addressed to you, on the eve of the New Year, by the mayors of our large cities. The same language, hardly varied by [Page 15] some slight difference in tone, has been spoken to you by all the French cities, and it is easy for me, to-day, to extract from these numerous attestations the unanimous thought of the country.

Everywhere, you have seen the sacred union that established itself spontaneously seventeen months ago kept up without effort, under the enemy’s threat.

How could the civilian population not follow the example of concord and harmony that is set by you?

In the trenches and on the battle fields you do not think, do you, of reviewing your mutual political opinions? The troublesome memory of civil discords does not come and mar the fellowship in arms that binds you to each other in a feeling of common danger and a consciousness of the same duty.

You have your eyes fixed on an ideal that constantly diverts your attention from any secondary objects, and you know that your patriotic mission suffers no division. While you are thus sacrificing yourselves so wholly to the safety of the nation, is it not natural that the Frenchmen whose age, health, or functions prevent from facing, by your sides, the fatigues and perils of the war, should at least endeavor to drive away the evil suggestions of hatred and preserve jealously the public peace?

The mayors of France have told you of some of the charitable works that have risen from that happy reconciliation of hearts. Most of those institutions are destined to help you and your aged parents, and your children, and your wives, and your brothers, either wounded or prisoners. In the towns the farthest removed from the front, you are thus continually present in the minds of all and concentrate, if needed, on the tragical realities of the moment the thoughts of those who would be inclined to forget them. The bereavements that have darkened so many homes impose, besides, to [upon] the families that have the privilege of being less cruelly stricken a pious obligation of meditation and gravity. All Frenchmen now reconciled commune in the same trials, and there is not one that does not listen with respect to the manly lesson of the dead. Lesson of courage, patience, and will; a lesson of calm, confidence, and serenity.

You have seen pass before you the long procession of the departments and of the towns. You have heard their acclamations; not one discordant voice was heard. It is everywhere the same resolution, cold and reflected, to hold firm, to endure and conquer.

Everyone understands that the war stake is formidable, and that not only our dignity is called in question, but also our life. Shall we be to-morrow the resigned vassals of a foreign empire? Shall our industry, our commerce, our agriculture, become the tributaries of a power that flatters herself openly to aspire to universal domination? Or shall we safeguard our economical independence and our national self-government? A terrible problem that cannot be solved by compromise.

Any peace that would come to us in a suspicious figure or in equivocal terms, any peace that would offer suspicious transactions and bastard combinations, would only bring us, under deceiving appearances, disgrace, ruin, and slavery. The free and pure genius of our race, our most venerable traditions, our most dear ideas, our most delicate tastes, the interests of our fellow citizens, the fortune of our country, the soul of our native land, all that our ancestors have left us, all that belongs to us, all that makes us ourselves, would be a prey to German brutality. Who would like, by impatience or by fatigue, to sell thus to Germany both the past and the future of France?

Yes, certainly, the war lasts long, and it is hard and bloody. But how many future sufferings will be spared to us by the present sufferings. This war-not one Frenchman desired it, not one would have committed the crime to desire. All the governments that have succeeded each other in France since 1871 have striven to avoid it Now that, in spite of us, it has been declared, we must carry it on, with out [our] faithful allies, until victory, until the utter destruction of Prussian militarism, and until the total reconstitution of France. If we yielded to a momentary weakness, we should be ungrateful to our dead and betray posterity.

Is not the obstinate perseverance in the will to conquer the surest way to chain down victory? In the war that you are keeping up so valiantly in France, in Belgium, and in the east, the part of the destructive engines has taken an essential importance, and the imperious duty of the public powers is to provide you, every day, with more powerful material and more abundant [Page 16] munitions. But moral strength is also an essential condition of the final success. The vanquished country will not be necessarily the one that will have endured the most losses; it will not be the one that will have endured the most miseries; it will be the one that will grow tired the first.

We will not grow tired. France has confidence because you are there. How many times have I heard your officers repeat: “Never, in any time, have we had a finer army; never have the men been better trained, braver, more heroical.” Whenever I see you, I feel a thrill of admiration and hope. You must conquer. The year that begins will bring you, my friends, the pride of ending with the defeat of the enemy, the joy of going back to your homes and welcoming victory with those you love.

Raymond Poincaré