ch Highlanders,
after their cautious fashion, wondered at the exuberance of their
welcome. For the brave Irish, was not Marshal MacMahon of near-Irish
descent and the first president of the Third Republic? The Irish
alone would save that republic. Women begged for the regimental
badges to pin on their breasts. In turn they offered delicacies of
all kinds to the soldiers. For the first time in a hundred years
the British uniform was seen on French soil. Then it represented
an enemy, now a comrade in arms. The bond of union was sealed at
a midnight military mass, celebrated by English-speaking priests,
for British and French Catholic soldiers at Camp Malbrouch round
the Colonne de la Grande Armee. The two names recalled the greatest
of British and French victories--Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde,
Ulm, Austerlitz, and Jena.

Meanwhile, officers of the French General Staff had journeyed to
London to confer with the British General Staff regarding the camping
and alignment of the British troops. Meanwhile, also, the British
reserves and territorials were called to the colors. The latter
comprised the militia, infantry and artillery, and the volunteer
yeomanry cavalry, infantry and artillery. The militia was the oldest
British military force, officered to a great extent by retired
regular army men, its permanent staffs of noncommissioned officers
were from the regular army, and it was under the direct control of
the Secretary of State for War. The volunteer infantry, artillery,
and yeomanry cavalry were on a somewhat different basis, more nearly
resembling the American militia, but the British militia were linked
with regular-line battalions. The reserves, militia and volunteers,
added approximately 350,000 well-trained men for immediate home
defense.

On Sunday, August 17, 1914, it was officially announced that the
whole of the British Expeditionary Army had landed in France.
Conferences between the British and French General Staffs resulted
in the British army being concentrated first at Amiens. From that
point it was to advance into position as the left wing of the united
French and British armies, though controlled by their separate
commanders.

The French Fifth Army had already moved to hold the line of the
River Sambre, with its right in touch with Namur. Cavalry patrols
had been thrown forward to Ligny and Gembloux, where they skirmished
with uhlans. Charleroi was made French headquarters. It was the
center o