HOPE IN BRITAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 283, 28 November 1940, Page 18

HOPE IN BRITAIN.

VOICE FROM FRANCE.

" HELP HER, WE BEG YOU."

The following letter is printed by the American magazine "Time"' as coining from a distinguished Frenchwoman—a scientist, in a famous university. It is unsigned because "the writer feared it mijjht fall into the hands of the Cestapo":— Monsieur. —This letter will reach you by one route or another. I hope, it is the letter of a woman of France, daughter of a school teacher, a school teacher herself and mother of a family of university students, students moulded in one of the greatest institutions of France. Like so many others, she lives since .June 17 in grief and indignation.

The same men who could not or would not forestall anything, assume for themselves with loud di'umt>eats the honour of restoring France according to new formulas which they apply with the aid of our defeat. . . .

But let us pass on. To this shame is added that of daily hearing the voice of the radio deride the courage, loyalty and dignitv of the Knglish in the forefront of the battle, who cover themselves with glory by resitting alone, after so many betrayals. To the insults of wicked Frenchmen, the British answer with words of comfort, and with acts which rekindle the hope of the other French people of France, ol the other French people who are much more numerous than one «>uspects —all those who listen to the broadcasts of the 8.8.C. as if near a wide oj>eii window where pure air enters.

We need to hwr all these voices so v arm, so confident, so familiar, English friends. Frenchmen in England, or in the United States, sfieak to lis. keep on speaking to lis; we lwten with fervour. often with the greatest emotion. No, France will not die. Help her, we IK*)J VOU.

It is h woman with white hair who writes to you, one of those teachers who have taujrht in the villages "hidden in the folds of France" as well as in the fine cities of the plain. Here as there, within these whitewashed walls where the nolile device of the Republic —Li'l>erte. Kgalite, Fraternite—imposes itself on the eyes of all as the glorious label of a regime, she teaches moral cleanliness, courage in action, res|»ect for the given word, tolerance. . . . May those who wrought the last hours of our defeat he forever castigated in the history of our country. Vive le (Jeneral dc (laulle, ces offi ciers, ces soldats qui defendent la France dans le supreme honneur! Vive la France! Vive les lion* Francais! Merci!