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CHAPTER XXIII FRANCE CHANGES MINISTERS /^F greater permanent meaning in the European ^^ conflict than the results of German victories in Lorraine and Picardy or Russian triumphs along the Prussian marches was the decision of the French Re- public on August 26 to call to the colors three of its most distinguished statesmen, Delcasse, Millerand, and Briand, men whom peace politicians held too " strong," but a national crisis clearly demanded. Exactly in the same fashion in England, a Radical government, had sent Kitchener to the War Office. What had happened in France was now fairly clear. Our own history in 1861 and in 1898 should supply sufficient parallels. England at the outbrealc of the Boer war and In the days of the Crimea, suf- fered from similar inherent disadvantages. For the fact is that the first day of war is invariably the weak- est for democracies, as it frequently is the strong- est for monarchies. A State like Germany is, in a sense, always mobilized, always on a war footing. England, France, the United States, are hopelessly handicapped by their system of government expressly designed to prevent in peace a centralization of power, absolutely necessary in time of war, 124

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