words attributed to General Cadorna, who is reported to have said: “I shall send more troops to Macedonia when there is a General to command them.” All this made a certain impression in France, but the capture of Monastir raised Sarrail’s prestige, although the exaggerated praises lavished on him by his political friends did him harm, especially those of M. Painlevé, the Minister of Public Instruction. Criticism did not cease, and an Italian Ambassador is reported to have said that Sarrail “preferred to reap the grain harvest in Thessaly rather than laurels round Monastir.” An Italian Minister said to a French diplomat in connexion with the disagreement among the Allies in Macedonia: “All this would not have happened if you had given us a General who besides having our sympathy also enjoyed our confidence, but you have sent to Salonica, and you maintain there, a General who is merely imposed on you by your internal situation.” The real reason why Sarrail, who was not popular even in French Government circles, where he was admitted to be unsuited to his duties, continued to be supported must be sought in his political antecedents. The men at the head of affairs in France believed at that time that, after the war, there would be a strong revival of religious, Legitimist and anti-Republican feeling, and of the generals of high rank General Sarrail was the only one on whom the Government, or rather the Radical-Socialist Party, believed that it could count absolutely for the defence of Republican institutions. Sarrail, in fact, as I have said, was a FreeMason and an anti-Clerical, and during the Combes Ministry he had co-operated--the only field officer who would agree to do so--in the system of _fiches de delation_ against officers guilty of religious practices. He was therefore so thoroughly compromised in the eyes of the Clerical, anti-Masonic, Monarchical parties, that there was no danger of his coming to an agreement with them. Naturally he was anything but popular with the enormous majority of officers of all ranks, and even those who were not fervent Clericals had no sort of regard for him. At the same time, the French Government did not wish to have him in France, because they feared him as an incorrigible intriguer and wished to keep him out of the way. For all these reasons, the Government did not dare to recall him, although they did not wish to entrust him with an important Command on any part of the front. They therefore gave evasive replies to the protests of the Allies.