HIGHEST TRADITIONS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 4, 5 July 1922, Page 9

HIGHEST TRADITIONS

BRITISH RAGE IN WAR

DEEDS OF/OUR FOREFATHERS

HOW THE EMPIRE WAS"(WON

A remarkable tribute to the^ characteristics of the British soldier in fighting .for the nations freedom and in performing deeds that gave us the Empire and ■the rights and privileges we now- enjoy was paid Toy Mr. F. H. Bakewell, M. A., Chief Inspector of Schools, in ihis lecture to the sth Battery, New Zealand Artillery, at the Commuiuty. Club- ' last night under ■ the, National. -Defence League's educational scheme. -■. The title of his lecture was "Characteristics and Traditions of the British Race in War," and he concluded by quoting the example of the New Zealand Division in the late war as being one th«y should all endeavour to live up to if it chanced unhappily they should ever be called upon ,to defend their freedom and that of the ■women and cbildi-en who looked to them for protection.. 'Captain Eckoff presided, and among those present were BrigadierGeneral G. S. Richardson, LieutenantColonel Cowles, and Messrs. H. .0. Day and G. L. Stewart. :

The lecturer, who was recorded a most attentive hearing throughout, said that; Sn.his previous lecture he dwelt on the' great danger that menaced the Australasian portion of the Empire owing to >tho smallneas of .its population,- the vast extent of our territory which was practically unoccupied, and the tremendous (forces that -we might bo called upon to iace in its defence. That evening he intended reviewing what compensations there might be for this enormous disparity in numbers, to take itock as it' were of our fighting assets, and that chiefly from the point of. view of moral force. . ■. ■/'AMAGNIFICENT TRADITION." "In the first place," he eaid, "bear in mind that you *re a democratic army, and democratic armies nave always sho. wn themselves capable of the greatest efforts and'the greatest achievements. CiromwelTs army, the Revolutionary armies of France, and the national armies of 1812-15 raised in Europe to overthrow the ambitious, plans of Napoleon were all examples of this type of army. You are being: trained as soldiers, not at the wish, or in the interests of any particular individual or class, but because it: is the will of the people as expressed in Parliament that it should be so, that is, it is really your own, will. You must remember that, just as in our national sports, cricket and football, f the training, the word of the umpire, andi the whistle of the referee, are all part of the game, bo are your drills and parades, and the whistle of your officers, all part of the still greater game that you are called upon to play, as citizens> of the Empire. .'...■. „

"Secondly, as a branch' of tKe British race, you have inherited a magnificent tradition. In every activity of which the human race is capable—■government, science, literature, industries, exploration, and discovery—our nation stands in the front rank, and in no activity have we a more splendid tradition than in-,, waTi,,;,; For ?moi» tjran..a_ thousand years in history th!e'reputation of the men from the British Isles has been that of the fiercest fighters in Europe. Old chroniclers, and historians, French, Spanish, and-othera, again and again and often very grudgingly, bear witness to the warlike qualities of our people. The poet". Burns expresses the desire1 that some power would 'the giftie gie us, to see ourselves .as ithars see us.' So it is my. intenticin to-night, not to talk bo much pf what we think about ourselves, but to tell you a- little and read you a, little of what men of other nations have said and) Wave thought about us as fighting mien.. \ , " . ■

UNYIELDING OBSTINACY! AND ■7; ■■'■■■;. STUBBORNNESS. '■>■ :<"Fierce, foiinidablt, and et-übbarn fighters, wio: never know when they are beaten.' Tjhat is the reputation our forefa.-ti.CTS earned in the wars of Europe, and it is curious to notice the different ways- old writerr try to account iox the possession of these qualities. One Branch-! man thinks that it must be owing to the terrible climate of the British Hies.. It was so vile that it made its inhabitants fight lik^ very devils to'get out of it. ■Another idea'was that it was due.to the huge quantities of betef and beer which, even in,.tEiose days, appeared to be bur staple'article* of dieft;. but with more reason it was generally recognised that the real cause was due to our being a free people, and, as a free people, not only entitled to bear 'arms but trained and inured; to ths use of arms from youth up." .' / He proceeded to quote 'examples of this unyielding; obstinacy; and etubbornness in •battle as given by French an diother:'historians. H« told of how a small band .of Englishl archers, comprising 400 runaway apprentice? fromi London,^ who were called upon to subdue a robber baron in .the neighbourhood of Calais, defeated. every force brought agaiiist -. them, until they were surrounded by-a force: of n*airly 3000, and were wiped out to a man, laughing and jeering at their foes as they fell; of the heroic stand of ■ British soldiers in Spain in : 1455, i when the1 Spaniards/ marvelled at-/'their obstinacy in. battle, and their slowness to recognise defeat"; of their terrible struggles in iha Peninsula War, of how the_ French i always recognised them as their most dangerous enemiesi; of tJie deadly silence in the British ranks when awaiting an at-, tack—a silence which was "uncanny, and disconcerted the French troops"; and of tho famous "Soldiers" Battle" of Albuara, of which Soult, thei French general, itf referring to . the1 British solidters, said: "There is no beating, those troops iit spite of their generals. I always thought them bad soldiers. Now I am sure of it. For I. turned their right, pierced their centre, they were everywhere broken, the day was mine, and yet they, did not know, it, andi would not run." "LIKE TRYING TO CHARGE THROUGH A WALL." " 'Sire,' said General Foy, on the morning of Waterloo to Isfapoleon, who had expressed his intention of quickly driving the British out of their position, 'Those men will fight like .devils.' 'I know these troops well," said Soult, 'and, believe me, they will die on the ground on which they stand before they give way.1 Napoleon smiled to his staff, and said, 'These troops have always beaten Soult, and he's frightened of them.' Yearr afterwards, at St. Helena, however,' when recalling incidents of .the battle, he confessed that his attacks oil the British line were like trying to charge through r wall. ."■ "But it was not in battle only," said Mr. Bakewell, "that the British race showed its fine qualities." He instanced the case of the wreck of the Birkenlioad, when 400 common British soldiers parade 3 silently on daclc while tho women and children wore being saved, and they themselves went down to their doom. The German Kaiser, who was even then. making preparations which resulted in the Great War, thought so much of the incident that he had the

account of how our men on the Birkenhead died read on parade to every regiment of the Prussian army, "as a model of soldierly discipline and duty." Again, only lately in New Zealand they found that the same qualities prevailed, and he instanced the cases of the rescue of the men. from the Wiltshire, and of the five men who died at Mangahao ;in trying to save their comrades. They were heroes who upheld the highest traditions of- the race. Quoting the case of the "Private of the Buffs," who, in the China War of 1860, died under torture in refusing to "kow tow" to the mandarin Isandula in the Zulu War, where the British camp was wiped out almost to a man, an incident of the relief of Ladysmith, and the fears of, and tributes to, the British soldier by the Germans in the late war, the lecturer proceeded to refer to the reputation established by the New Zealand Division in . France, ■■ his remarks in this connection being reported in another column.

. The lecturer was accorded a hearty vote of thanks by acclamation. Brigadier-General Richardson, in specially thanking Mr. Bakewell on be-. half of the Defence Department, said he hoped they would all be inspired by his address, as he himsslf 'had been inspired.- . , "

The hostess for the evening was Miss Eix-Trott, who,,with her assistants, had supper arrangements in, readiness..