“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 asked every general I met, if the German advance had been merely ruthless or if it had been barbaric.

He made no direct reply, but he said: 

“You must remember that the Germans are not only fighting against an army, they are fighting against nations; trying to destroy their past, their present, even their future.”

“How does America feel as to the result of this war?” he asked, “I suppose it feels no doubt as to the result.”

Again I was forced to explain my own inadequacy to answer such a question and my total lack of authority to voice American sentiment.  While I was confident that many Americans believed in the cause of the Allies, and had every confidence in the outcome of the war, there remained always that large and prosperous portion of the population, either German-born or of German parentage, which had no doubt of Germany’s success.

“It is natural, of course,” he commented.  “How many French have you in the United States?”

I thought there were about three hundred thousand, and said so.

“You treat your people so well in France,” I said, “that few of them come to us.”

He nodded and smiled.

“What do you think of the blockade, General Foch?” I said.  “I have just crossed the Channel and it is far from comfortable.”

“Such a blockade cannot be,” was his instant reply; “a blockade must be continuous to be effective.  In a real blockade all neutral shipping must be stopped, and Germany cannot do this.”

One of the staff said “Bluff!” which has apparently been adopted into the French language, and the rest nodded their approval.

Their talk moved on to aeroplanes, to shells, to the French artillery.  General Foch considered that Zeppelins were useful only as air scouts, and that with the coming of spring, with short nights and early dawns, there would be no time for them to range far.  The aeroplanes he considered much more valuable.

“One thing has impressed me,” I said, “as I have seen various artillery duels—­the number of shells used with comparatively small result.  After towns are destroyed the shelling continues.  I have seen a hillside where no troops had been for weeks, almost entirely covered with shell holes.”