Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

8o HISTORY OF THE WAR.

In France the month of October saw the forma-

tion of a new Ministry. M. Delcassé’s resignation

Oct 313. Reasons of health, combined with dis-

agreement with his colleagues on their Balkan policy, forced from office the man who of all living French statesmen had rendered the most conspicuous services to his country. M. Delcassé had never been strong, and he was one who habitually worked at high pressure, and drew most of the activities of his department into his own hand. He combined a bold imagination with great tenacity of purpose, and, like Joffre, his fellow-Southerner, he was a man of few words. Along with King Edward and Lord Lansdowne, he had been the architect of the Anglo-French entente, and for a decade he had been the man in all France most feared by Berlin. In the war he saw the justification of his policy, and since its start he had laboured without rest. It was generally believed that he played a main part in the negotiations which preceded Italy’s entrance into the contest, and we shall probably be right in attributing to him those conventions by which all the Allies bound themselves to entertain no proposals for a separate peace. His resignation was not free from mystery; but from his past record it may be confidently assumed that he took the step wholly in his country’s interests.

Ten years before, in June 1905, he had been driven from office, and the event had been regarded as a portent in every capital in Europe. His last resignation could have no such effects, for the centre of gravity had moved away from Chambers and Chancelleries. But it had one instantaneous result.

on the 13th had made that inevitable.

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