PREFATORY NOTE
WITH the exception of two or three speeches of which no stenographic record remains, the following pages contain all the public addresses made by M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre during their stay in the United States. They were in every case improvised; for the ceaseless stress of hurried work imposed upon the Mission by the brevity of its stay in this Country and its innumerable duties allowed neither preparation nor revision, nor even careful translation. They are consequently but an imperfect memorial of historic utterances. In justice to one of the greatest living masters of speech, it is right to warn the reader that, in many places, even the French text of M. Viviani's addresses is uncertain. Had he been able to revise it, even hurriedly, this translation would have been more faithful at any rate to the letter of his words. But such as it is, it constitutes perhaps in its very imperfections a more characteristic testimony of the war conditions of haste and spontaneousness under which these speeches were delivered.
For this translation I alone am responsible; no one could more keenly realize nor regret its inevitable short-comings. But like the speeches themselves, it had to be improvised among a thousand other urgent duties; no leisurely revision was possible; and my sudden departure has prevented my even reading the proof-sheets with care. Nevertheless, in spite of all the disadvantages under which this booklet is produced, I trust it will meet with the favour of a public which, in all circumstances, has shown us understanding, sympathy and all indulgence. There are inevitable repetitions, though, thanks to M. Viviani's marvelous gift for renewing the expression of identical themes, these are fewer than might be expected. On second thoughts I have suppressed none; what the speeches may lose in aesthetic value, they retain in historic and local interest. It appeared to me that each city would desire to keep a record of the words pronounced within its precincts, and that I was not justified in suppressing any. And thus, such as it is, this booklet gives a not unfaithful image of one aspect of a great event. The burning words so eloquently spoken with impassioned gesture and all the moving inflections of a thrilling voice stand here cold and motionless, stripped of the glow and glory of quick life. But their force, their sincerity, their message remain. They remind us with a noble simplicity that the whole world is at the parting of the ways; they are informed by the mysterious presence of a great destiny. For in all history no date is more charged with fate than that on which the United States entered into this war. For the first time in the evolution of the planet, the life of one whole hemisphere is about to mingle with the life of the old world, which, till now, had almost a monopoly of history. The consequences of this irruption of new forces into the immemorial traditions, the thousand-year old struggles of our confused and distracted Europe, are incalculable. It is not only that new energies, political, social and military, are being thrown into the vast conflict for the liberation of man; new rhythms are being introduced into the whole life of the older races: and in the world which shall arise with the dawn of peace, the part that America will play none can foresee. But the spirit in which America enters upon this conflict, the aims that France and all free men are now seeking to realize are defined here in words not unworthy of meditation and record.