This is not war. It
is against wild beasts that we fight. There is no arrangement
possible with wild beasts." This is the one vital point which
we in England _must_ realize. We are dealing with animals who
have scientifically and philosophically removed themselves
inconceivably outside civilization. When you have heard a
few--only a few--tales of their doings, you begin to
understand a little. When you have seen Rheims, you
understand a little more. When you have looked long enough at
the faces of the women, you are inclined to think that the
women will have a large say in the final judgment. They have
earned it a thousand times.
III
BATTLE SPECTACLE AND A REVIEW
Travelling with two chauffeurs is not the luxury it looks;
since there is only one of you and there is always another of
those iron men to relieve the wheel. Nor can I decide whether
an ex-professor of the German tongue, or an ex-roadracer who
has lived six years abroad, or a Marechal des Logis, or a
Brigadier makes the most thrusting driver through three-mile
stretches of military traffic repeated at half-hour intervals.
Sometimes it was motor-ambulances strung all along a level; or
supply; or those eternal big guns coming round corners with
trees chained on their long backs to puzzle aeroplanes, and
their leafy, big-shell limbers snorting behind them.
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