The Genius of the Marne: A Play in Three Scenes (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from The Genius of the Marne: A Play in Three Scenes

Marne but yesterday's glory! Be this as it may it did not surprise me that in long brooding he had dis covered a symbol, a synthesis, an interpretation of the genius that brought about the victory. The mystery of genius has always occupied the mind of man, and the play for which I have been asked to contribute a few lines of introduction is, at least I take it to be, Mr. Balderston's explanation of the inspired tactics of the retreat that led up to the Battle of the Marne. The play contains one scene truly original, one which remains in my mind and will, I think, always remain in the mind of the reader the scene in which Napoleon appears at the crit ical moment and dictates to the sleeping general the plan of the battle. Joff're seems to have had the plan of the Battle Of the Marne in his mind all the while from Charleroi to the Marne, but it seemed to refuse to take precise shape. The sleep-walking scene, as it appears to me, is admirably introduced by an argument between the General and his staff each general in turn presses the necessity of a de cision on Joff're; a decision must be taken, and at once. But think, reader, what this decision involved whether Paris was to be destroyed and the retreat continued to the Loire, or whether the world's destiny was to be decided at the Marne. In the middle of the night an exhausted general is called upon to decide.

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