SPIRIT OF FRANCE.

Bruce Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 4 July 1918, Page 6

SPIRIT OF FRANCE.

BLOODY BUT UNBOWED.. WE WILL NEVER CAPITULATE. LONDON, June 5. M. Clemcnceau (French Promier), speaking iii the Chamber of Deputies, said that although ,tlio time was a tei'•liblc one, .tho courage mud heroism of the troops were equal .to the situation. The Premier received an ovation and the Government a vote of conu: dehce by 377 votes to 110. j\f. Clemcnceau said that difficult times were coming. The only question was whether.they could stand them.— (Loud cheers.) 'For four years our effectives had been wearing themselves out. Our front is held by a line of soldiers which is becoming thinner and thinner. ■ Our Allies also have suffered enormous losses, and now arrives a fresh mass of German divisions in good condition. Is there anyone who does not realise that under the weight of this tremendous, wave our lines had given way at some points. The extent of their recoili has become great and dangerous. I say nothing more. But nothing has occurred to shakc-our confidence in our soldiers.'—(Loud cheers.)

Heroism of Our Soldiers. Tho Premier's tribute to the French soldiers. 'lighting one against live, and sleeping for three or four days/ aroused great enthusiasm,. A number of Deputies'/Sprang up : shouting 'Vive H'armee!' M. Dcschancl interposed: 'The Chamber unanimously recognises the heroism of our 'soldiers.''—(Loud cheers). The Premier proceeded to say that he could not maintain that there had teen no mistakes; but it was his business to discover and punish mistakes, and in that he was supported by two great soldiers—Foch and Petain. — (Loud cheers.) These imen were at present fighting the hardest battle of the war with a heroism which he was unable to find words to express. 'The army,' he added, 'is better than anything we could have' expected.'— ('Loud cheers). Our men must have faith, iand must die for their ideal if they wish to give us victory. We have yielded ground—much more ground than we should have wished. There are men who paid for,this retreat with their blood. I know some who accomplished acts of heroism, like those Bretons who were surrounded in a wood all night long, and who, next day, sent a message by carrier-pigeon, ' Yon may como and find us. We shall hold out half a day yet.'—(Loud cheers.)

Hold On! , v 'Those men aniako the Fatherland; "tney continue it, prolong it—that Fatherland without which no reform is possible. They die for their ideal, for their Jiistoryj which is foremost among .tho histories of civilised'peoples. Bo calm, .confident <and determined and hold on to the end in .this hard battle'. —(Loud* cheers). Victory is to you, betiause the Germans, who are not so intelligent as they are told, have only one method, namely, to throw their whole weight 'into , the venture and push it to the, end. b ' The only thing that matters is final success, ■■ You have before you a Govicrnnient which, }as I told you', did not enter power ever to accept surrender. —(Loud cheers from Left and Right.) As long as we are here the Fatherland .will bo defended to the death,-and no force -will lie spared to obtain success. 'We will npver .Yield. That is tha word of command of 'our Government. We will never yield at any moment.' Everything Sta/ked, by Germany. ' The • Germans once more arc stak-

ing everything on a coup which, was meant to frighten us, so that we imay abandon the struggle. For what was their great effort made on the Yser in 1914? In order to reach Calais, and separate us from the British, and compel the latter to renounce the struggle. Wjhy did they begin again, and why have .they once more begun? In order to obtain, this effect of terror the effectives of the belligerents are being exhausted, those of the Germans as well as our own, but'meamvhilo the Amerinans are coming to play a hand in deciding .the game.'

M. Clemcnceau concluded: 'The events in Russia give our enemies 1,000.000 additional men on tho Fran-co-British front, but we havo Allies representing the foremost nations of the world, who have pledged themselves to continue the war until, the at-

tainment of success, which even now we hold within our grasp if we exert the necessary energy. Tnc people of France has accomplished its task. Those who have fallen have not fallen in vain ,since they have made French history great. It remains for the living, to complete the magnificent work"'of the dead.'

The Premier's speech was loudly cheered from all parts of the House. The /minority which voted against tho motion of confidence in M. Clemcnceau comprised 85 Socialists and 19 Socialist Radicals, belonging to the more or less permanent opposition of which M. Caillaux was the supremo chief. .