plane of Minister of War. The Viviani Cabinet had quietly given way to
the Briand Administration, and, with that thoroughness of which the
French are capable in great crises, they began to reconstruct their
military organisation. His new post gave Gallieni a vast role, in which
his lively temper and insatiable capacity for work found full
employment. His part in the battle of the Marne had become known, and
enhanced his reputation. It was realised that he had acted with immense
decision. Thus he became newly popular with the Parisians, and his
singular features--the eyes gleaming behind the glasses as if they were
unsleeping in vigilance--were reproduced everywhere. His popularity
threatened to rival that of Joffre, except that Joffre appealed more
subtly and invariably to the army. The new Minister, however, was more
Parisian than the Generalissimo, more distinctly Latin--Parisian, also,
in a certain truculence more affected than real, for Gallieni is a
tender-hearted man, a little diffident outside the strict orbit of his
duty. He was particularly strenuous in his dealings with the
_embusque_. That furtive creature, who shelters behind the flag, was
brought forth from his snug post in the rear. Several hundreds found
employment at the Ministry of War; thousands more were scattered up and
down the country in depots, in stores and factories, in headquarters of
commanders. Gallieni routed them out mercilessly, and sent one hundred
and fifty thousand of them to their regiments. From his own ministry in
the Rue St. Dominique, one chilly November morning, there emerged a
melancholy column of five hundred military clerks, who wended their way
to the grey lines of the trenches, abominably wet and dismal, in
contrast with those comfortable Ministerial quarters. The Minister's
implacability pleased both Paris and the country. Both were ready to do
their duty, but needed to be told that there was perfect equality in
everything and no preferential treatment. Gallieni struck pitilessly at
abuses. A Territorial officer who drove his superior's car was punished
as firmly as a _medecin major_ who showed undue favour to certain of his
patients and retarded their return to the Front. At times, no doubt,
the Minister was guilty of exaggeration; but even this was typically
French and was better than inactivity. In calling up auxiliaries (men
exempted from military service because of physical defects) he
overlooked the economic needs of the country; but these matters were
soon put right.
He proved the foe of red tape and routine. He opened windows in his
Ministry, which had been closed for years, and let in fresh air. He
broke down the methods of the Circumlocution Office, doing away with
useless labour, installing typewriters and feminine secretaries, the
wives and daughters of those who had fallen in the field, and thus
relieving many men for purely military duties. "Simpler methods," he
cried to all who would hear; "I want results"; and, of course, he
obtained them. Then he suppressed recommendations. To Parliament, a
little dubious and jealous of its privileges, he explained that, whilst
open to proper representations from every soldier, he could not listen
to interested recommendations. He re-established the sovereign power of
discipline, but at the same time constituted himself a court for the
correction of abuse of authority. In the Chamber he conquered
sympathies, though obviously uncomfortable in the atmosphere. I saw him
the day after his maiden speech as Minister and congratulated him on his
success. "Ah, if you only knew how much this sort of thing costs me,"
he said, "you would not talk of my success," and he shrugged his
shoulders with a gesture half-humorous, half-ironical. The soldier
pleased in the tribune because of his directness and vibrant patriotism;
but when Socialists interrupted him it was plain that he chafed at the
restrictions of time and place which prevented him from making suitable
reply! On one occasion he was about to leave the House because of the
behaviour of the Socialists, and was induced with difficulty by M.
Viviani to return to his place on the Front Bench. Unconsciously he had
repeated the protest of General Pau a few years before. It was
unfortunate that it was not more effective, for the opposition of the
Socialists arose over a question of regulating the hours of cafes in
Marseilles--palpitating subject in time of a national war! The Minister
was happiest when dealing with the incorporation of the 1917 class--lads
of eighteen who were going to the Front. The Senate before whom he
spoke appreciated his patriotic quality, and the fact that, though a
disciplinarian and an energetic commander, he yet kept in his heart the
sense of sacrifice of young lives given to the country.
In every department Gallieni laboured to promote efficiency and to
perfect the great machine in his hands. By some he was reproached for
living voluntarily in the great white light of publicity, but Gallieni
knew that unless he had the public emphatically on his side his reforms
could be crushed by politics. When once he had established his right to
freedom of action, then no political cabal, thinking of its influence at
the polls, could pull him down. It was for this reason that he took the
public into his confidence, so that it might know that the best was
being done that could be done. If Gallieni showed no mercy to the
shirker, it was because he wished to encourage the peasant in the
trenches and the mechanic in the factory by the thought that there was
justice for all and favouritism for none. Much of his work was
accomplished without the least blare of trumpets or the smallest
paragraph in the Press. He reorganised the medical service of the army
in the sense of bringing hospitals into line with authority, and
suppressed the _laisser-aller_ of the amateur and philanthropic
institution.
Though not in the ordinary sense a social figure--indeed, he is the
despair of hostesses--Gallieni has social graces and an artistic side to
his character wanting from the more burly figure of General Joffre.
Though he keeps his counsel in all professional matters, he is not
naturally silent; he has a dozen interests, not exclusively military,
and touches life at all points. As a young man, following his studies
in the military school, he consorted with a literary set in the Latin
Quarter, and the friends of his youth were Ernest Daudet and Jean
Richepin. He reads and speaks several languages, believing that one
should go direct to one's authorities, and his conversation is informed
with study, reflection and travel. He is the type of the modern
soldier: savant, philosopher and metaphysician. A wide experience and
intellectual tastes have given him toleration, but he has none for
incapacity and dereliction of duty. Though accused of overweening
ambition, he is ambitious only to serve the country. "For an old man
like myself, death on the battlefield would be a recompense," he said on
a recent occasion. "I should die in defending Paris with the enthusiasm
of a young lieutenant." This is the spirit which flamed from the
historic poster on the walls of Paris at the moment when the Government
departed to Bordeaux: "I have received a mandate to defend Paris, and I
intend to fulfil it to the end...."
It was patriotism which induced him to accept the heavy succession of
the Ministry of War from M. Millerand. Years before he had been offered
the post, but declined it "because it meant presence in the Chamber."
But the war changed everything; it was impossible to urge personal
reasons when the country was at stake. But he knows so little of
political labels that he makes his friends laugh in confusing one kind
of Republican with another. To him they are all the same, provided they
have the national interests at heart. For this reason he was equally
friendly with men of such divergent tendencies as Gambetta, Jules Simon,
Waldeck-Rousseau and Albert de Mun. It is because of his many-sided
appeal that he inspires collaborators with peculiar devotion. Two
qualities outstand: his perennial youth, represented by a figure which
might be that of a young cavalry officer, though he has passed the age
limit, and a scientific precision of thought which means that in
everything he is clear, precise, and piercing, like a sword-blade.
Illness caused him, unfortunately, to relinquish his post at the
Ministry of War in the spring of 1916, after a few months of strenuous
work, but his influence remains as that of a good patriot inexorable in
his country's service.
*CHAPTER XI*
*GALLIENI AND HIS COLONIAL EXPERIENCE*
If General Gallieni allowed his mind to take a retrospective turn in the
intervals of his intensive work at the Ministry of War, there must have
opened to him a dazzling prospect of colonial enterprise and adventure.
And in the picture would appear a gallery of celebrities, brown, black
and yellow, as well as white. The man who made the profoundest
impression on his character was certainly Faidherbe, type of the serious
Frenchman, whose spectacles added to the natural gravity of his face.
His work as pioneer had ceased before Gallieni's had commenced, but his
influence remained, powerful for good, and vitalising in its effect on
the young mind. He realised that when you beat back barbarism you must
attach the native to the flag and give him new objects for devotion.
Before the War of 1870, he was engaged in conquering the Niger Basin.
Gallieni was destined to complete that work. Like his master, as he
called Faidherbe, he was inspired by the great English explorers, Mungo
Park and Livingstone. The latter was discovering Lake Ngami when
Gallieni was born.
Faidherbe fought in the War of 1870 as commander of the Northern Army,
and won two rare successes against the Germans at Bapaume and Pont
Noyelles. Then he retired to senatorial and academic honours, and Briere
de L'Isle reigned in his stead as Governor of Senegal. Gallieni joined
him from his peaceful garrison of the Ile Reunion. There he could have
lazed and luxuriated to his heart's content, for there was nothing to
do, but that was not his nature. He preferred to give himself to
professional studies and to fit himself for the colonial career, for
which he felt already a vocation, if not a positive predestination. In
Senegal the opportunity came early to display his talents both as
soldier and organiser. Ahmadou, son of El Hadj Oumar, founder of a
Mussulman empire in Central Africa, was endeavouring to maintain his
position by terrorism. An English expedition from Gambia looked like
barring the way to French expansion in the Hinterland, and the Senegal
Government felt there was no time to be lost. Gallieni, now a captain,
fitted out his expedition, which started from Bakel in 1880. He took
with him presents to placate Ahmadou, for the object of the mission was
more political than military. We have a picturesque account of it, with
geographical and ethnological details and amusing sketches of negro
chieftains from the pen of Gallieni himself. He showed as much
erudition as enthusiasm for his work, and did credit to La Fleche, the
military school where he passed his boyhood, and St. Cyr, whence he
graduated, as sub-lieutenant, on the very day--July 15, 1870--when war
broke out with Germany. He was a real "son of a cartridge pouch," as the
phrase is, for his father, of an old Italian family, was the last
commandant of a French garrison on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees.
The Captain underwent many perils in his search for Ahmadou. His column
was ambushed and half its effectives killed. The remainder took refuge
in a valley, and the exultant enemy crowned the heights. Captain
Gallieni, with the decision that always has distinguished him, advanced
with a single interpreter to parley with the foe. The latter was so
impressed with his valour that it let him continue his journey. But
Ahmadou was coy, and hid himself in his capital of Segou, which he did
not allow the mission to approach. For seven or eight months Gallieni
and his companions were practically prisoners of the irascible Sultan,
who sent each morning to tell them that they would be executed that
day--news that affected them less than the deprivation of salt, to which
they were subjected. Finally, by much patience, Gallieni wrung a treaty
from his captor, giving France access to and commercial rights over the
river from its source to Timbuctoo. It was a great stroke, and bore
witness to the soldier-diplomat's courage and persistence.
Whilst waiting for the good pleasure of the negro Sultan, Gallieni was
not wasting time. He was taking stock of the country, of its resources
and its inhabitants, particularly in view of the extension of the
railway from Kayes (the capital of Senegal), which was at the basis of
French policy in the Soudan. The young officer's account of his travels
brought him fame in France, the Gold Medal of the Geographical Society,
the red ribbon of the Legion, and the rank of Major in the army. Though
Ahmadou's trickery had somewhat compromised the success of the mission,
important results had been attained, notably in knowledge of the
country, and in providing facilities for the line. He was to see
Ahmadou again.
He had returned to Paris for a few months' repose, and then had gone to
the Antilles. Yet the Soudan called him irresistibly. His work there
was not complete. He was now Lieutenant-Colonel and Governor of French
Soudan. Ahmadou was at his old tricks; he menaced the colony from the
north, whilst new adversaries arose in Mahmadou-Lamine, who had excited
the fanaticism of his followers, and had put a small community in
Senegal to fire and sword; in his son Soybou, who operated on the right
bank of the Senegal; and Samory, a rather famous chief, who was
suspiciously active in the south. It took Colonel Gallieni two
campaigns to settle the agitation. The first campaign was both military
and diplomatic. In its former character it had Mahmadou and his
depredations as its punitive purpose; in its latter capacity it carried
proposals to Samory to grant access to the Niger over his territory.
Against Mahmadou, Gallieni proceeded with great vigour. On Christmas
Day, 1880, two columns converged under the walls of his stronghold
Diamou, about 125 miles from Bakel. The town was taken, but the chief
had flown. However, the expedition was a fine piece of organisation,
and no French column had ventured hitherto as far from its base;
Gallieni had sown his rear with a succession of posts.
He parleyed more than he fought. It was his principle to conciliate
rather than arouse opposition by strong measures. He founded a school
for hostages, and sent the sons of the chiefs there as an excellent way
of extending French influence, and established "villages of liberty,"
where freed slaves could live in peace and till the soil, thus promoting
economic development and the repopulation of devastated areas.
The second campaign, undertaken in 1887-8, was just as active as the
first and just as fruitful in results. In the interval, numerous
missions of a politico-geographical character were organised. Swamps
were drained, bridges thrown over streams, roads traced, and posts
founded. Negotiations were resumed with Ahmadou. Soybou, who had
continued his violence, was captured and given a soldier's death, out of
respect for his youth and personal courage, and thus, like a good
Mussulman, he entered into the Paradise of Mahomet, with the
indispensable tuft of hair. It was a chivalrous concession that gained
for the Governor new suffrages amongst the tribesmen. Nor did the young
chieftain long precede his father to the bourne of defeated rebels, for
Mahmadou-Lamine, was presently trapped to his last hiding-place and
killed. Gallieni completed his military measures by building a large
fort to dominate the district, and then pushed the railway up to
Bafoulabe, a considerable performance in a bare, desert country.
Remarkable changes took place in the character of the people in a very
few years. The Colonel gained more territory by persuasion and
negotiation than with the sword. He added 900,000 square kilometres to
the French colonial domain, and 2,600,000 to its inhabitants. He was the
real creator of the French Soudanese Empire, and laid the foundations of
its political and administrative organisation. The results of his
experience were embodied in a brilliant book: _Two Campaigns in the
French Soudan_.
Now he was again in France, a full Colonel, commanding a regiment in the
colonial army which he joined on leaving St. Cyr in the War of 1870.
With that gallant force, popularly known as the "Porpoises," he was
present at the heroic defence of Bazeilles, a hamlet near Sedan, by the
famous Blue Division. The Division burnt its last cartridges before
yielding to the overwhelming numbers of the Germans, who made prisoners
of the survivors. Amongst them was Gallieni. He was interned in
Germany, just long enough to enable him to learn the language of the
conquerors. It was an early proof of his intellectual alertness.
The black faces of the Senegalese must now give way, in his colonial
recollections, to the Mongolian type of Indo-China. The Black Flags
over-ran Tonking. They were evidently encouraged by Chinese gold.
Every day the list of their crimes lengthened: posts attacked, villages
laid waste. No part of the colony, even the most settled, was free from
them. Gallieni received orders from the Home Government to restore order
and tranquillity. The officer, now with an established colonial
reputation, began a systematic study of the problem. He found that his
predecessor, Colonel Pennequin, had written a work from which it
appeared that the French were putting their money on the wrong horse in
giving dominance to a race which was merely one of the three principal
ethnical elements of the country. Injustice was created by this
illogical preference, and tyranny had grown up. Colonel Gallieni
re-established the balance by placing the races on a footing of
equality. Then he attacked the question of the pirates. He discovered
that economic conditions were partly responsible, and that brigandage
flourished in particular soils. He set to work to change the temper of
the people, to reorganise resources and to group and satisfy local
demands for labour and self-development.
To his policy was given the name of "Spots of Oil." It happily
expressed the system, which consisted in planting small posts in a
region and advancing them gradually towards the interior, so that the
radius was continually extended. He made instructors, agriculturists
and mechanics of his white non-commissioned officers in these military
posts. Both teachers and taught delighted in the arrangement, and the
work proceeded rapidly. He was repeating in Asia the methods he had
carried out so successfully in the Soudan. Against the pirates he acted
with great energy, rounding them up with mobile columns until they were
forced to yield. Upon the northern frontier leading into China he
planted a triple line of block-houses linked by telephone, heliograph
and pigeon post. To this day the installation remains, attesting the
soundness of the defence against Chinese bands. And his friendship and
understanding with Marshal Sou, the mandarin who represented the Son of
Heaven as governor of Kang Tsei, was largely instrumental in stamping
out piracy. The wily Oriental learned to esteem the high intelligence
and energy of his white neighbour. With the capture of De Tham, the most
formidable pirate, the activity of these hordes ceased, and in four
years Gallieni had established peace. His doctrine had again prevailed:
Draw the sword as little as possible; fight energetically when you have
to fight, but whenever the occasion offers, discuss, negotiate, inspire
sympathy; and, above all, civilise.
But Gallieni's chief work was done in Madagascar; it was the
coping-stone of his colonial edifice. Civil administration had broken
down in the island. Notwithstanding a costly expedition, French
influence was practically confined to the capital, Antananarivo, and
revolt had broken out behind the advancing columns. The island, indeed,
was seething with insurrection, and the new Resident, or Governor as he
was soon to be, discovered that the Hovas were partially responsible for
this state of things. Though they were given special privileges by the
French--again in defiance of ethnology--they were unworthy of them.
Gallieni, acting as he had done in Tonking, treated them as he did the
other sections of the population. Fearing to alarm local sentiment, he
called a halt in some reforms inaugurated by his predecessor and
retarded the liberation of slaves, for which both masters and servants
were unprepared. He began gradually to institute reforms, and to carry
out the pacification of the island. He colonised with brains, in fact.
Occasionally, he had to use force and show that he intended that French
suzerainty should be a reality and not a mere shadow, such as Queen
Ranavalona apparently regarded it. Two Ministers paid the penalty of
their conspiracy before the Queen was invited to depart and take up her
residence in Algeria as the permanent guest of the Republic. These
measures received the belated approval of Parliament, though it had
hesitated to take the initiative.
Having got the government of the island into his hands, Gallieni
proceeded to apply his system in all its completeness. His most
successful experiment was the division of the island into districts,
each in charge of a commandant. To these commandants he sent
recommendations worthy to rank with the best efforts of Roman
Proconsuls. They were penetrated with good sense, enlightenment and
precision. "When you root out a nest of pirates, think of the market
you must plant on the morrow," was one of his instructions. Another
was: "Every advance made must be with a view to the permanent occupation
of the country." Both admirably expressed his policy. He believed in
markets and schools, in roads and bridges, as instruments of domination.
His fashion of securing collaboration was also crowned with success.
With great care he selected his lieutenants, and then allowed them a
free hand. He refused to burden his mind with details, and left himself
free to reflect upon and discuss the larger issues. Thus, he summoned
an authority on horse-breeding, and gave him _carte blanche_, within
certain financial limits, to establish a stud-farm and provide the
island with cavalry. "Give me your report in two years' time," he said;
"meantime, do the best you can." At the appointed hour the report was
forthcoming, and the Governor proceeded to act upon it. It was typical
of his _modus operandi_. This faith in his _entourage_, after having
tested capacity and fidelity, was justified by its results.
His governorship of the island lasted nine years, and its effects were
so satisfactory that it seemed as if a miracle had happened. Then, at
his own request, he was nominated inspector of troops in Western and
Eastern Africa, in the Antilles and Pacific. Thus his colonial career
was rounded out, and his title confirmed of "the great French
coloniser." In each of his posts, whether in the Soudan, in Tonking, or
Madagascar, he had shown capacity and resourcefulness, an earnest and
intelligent enthusiasm which had triumphed over obstacles, because
science was joined to energy and knowledge to practical principles.
Thus the empire he founded was not built upon sand, but upon the
bed-rock of native welfare and material advancement. His success in
dealing with natives arose as much from his sympathy as from his
determination to study the character and antecedents of his
_administres_ with the care with which the physician studies the details
of the case upon which he is engaged. Thus success came not as
something due to fortune or caprice, but as a definite and calculated
result.