"Propos d'un Normand" - Manuscrit autographe signé

Signed autograph manuscript by Alain bearing the title "Propos d'un Normand" and the mention "sans retard" in the upper left of the first leaf, two pages written in black ink on a double sheet.
This text was published in the Propos d'un Normand de 1911.
Interesting manuscript written following the appointment of Adolphe Messimy to the post of Minister of War: "Ce général ministre avait, en somme, très noblement répondu. Il faudra enfin décider, un jour ou l'autre, sans aucun mystère, que la Défense Nationale est républicaine." ["This general minister had, in sum, responded very nobly. We must finally decide, one day or another, without any mystery, that National Defense is republican."] Indeed, the newly elected minister sought to redefine relations between political power and military authorities. Alain reproaches the military world for its opacity ("Comment la France sera-t-elle défendue ? Nous n'en savons rien. [...] chez nous même les députés ne s'en font aucune idée." ["How will France be defended? We know nothing about it. [...] even our deputies have no idea."]) before proposing solutions: "Donc il faudrait qu'il soit bien entendu que chaque chef garde une large initiative, dans l'exécution d'un programme déterminé. Et ce programme ne dépend pas seulement de la science militaire ; c'est aux ministres, avec le conseil des grands chefs, qu'il appartient de le déterminer..." ["Therefore it should be well understood that each leader retains broad initiative in executing a determined program. And this program does not depend solely on military science; it is up to ministers, with the counsel of senior leaders, to determine it..."]
From 1903, Alain published weekly chronicles titled "Propos" in La Dépêche de Rouen et de Normandie. More than 3,000 of these "Propos," concise articles inspired by daily current events, would appear from February 1906 to September 1914.