The Ensign WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1917. "THE GLORIOUS FOURTH."

Mataura Ensign, 4 July 1917, Page 4

The Ensign WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1917. "THE GLORIOUS FOURTH."

I -day is the 1 11 st anniversary of the arntion of America independence. July 4, 177fi, the Declaration of Inndenoe of die 13 States, of which American Cuion was then formed, adopted l>y Congress. On Novom--30, 1782. Great Britain aeknow?cl the independence of the f.'mfced ;s anil on September 3, 1783, a. y ot peace was concluded. America ed tin- world in the ways of peace; now she lias come to war. Her of noarly-a century and a-hall ago tor freedom for herself; now she is ;ing in the greatest struggle in ry for the freedom of the world. r. Page (the American Ambassador •eat Britain) has put it, the Cnited 'K has taken up arms to ".succour craey when it is desperately rind nously assailed." Great days for Republic are ahead : she has set :o help in the enterprise of saving firth as a place worth living in. The i's mightiest Republic has heard ligh call of duty and the nation is nis against the common enemy, it L a new thing in America's experito he at war, but what is new is for the first time she comes to a in the Old World. Of that coming 7 con.scqu'-mccs will flow. Dr. Page Jefined his country and its ideals, tated at an American welcome to t Britain expressed in a gathering it* American Luncheon Club: at is the Tinted Stares? A vasr torv of Jireat resource-,? "S es. A red millions of prosperous pconlep But the T'nited States is more tlipse. The Republic is a system loiety, a scheme of life, a plan of am, a state of mind, an ideal that human being shall have the gjt possible opportunity for his in- *

dividual development and that nothing *hail be put in the way of that development. This ideal is the Republic, it is for this and upon, this that our ; fathers established it. This we have not :ovgotten, nor shall we ever forget it. it is to make sure that this ideal shall not now perish from the earth that brings us into the war. High as the ,'ost and great as the toll demanded of ss may be, we shall be the better for .funding whero we have always stood—vhatover the cost." The United States if America has-a nobie tradition which ■ las. never been broken —she has never oeeu engaged in a war except for .iberty. She recognises now, in keeping nth her passion for her independence. .hat Germany has become the common mcmy of civilisation and that the United States must play its part in overthrowing her. She has long realised that war was coming, and ought to com*? aid mentally she was ready for it. Like Great Britain, however, she was iiot prepared in other ways; hut, like Britain she is speedily overcoming those difficulties, with the advantage of example before her. Now she marches with her millions of men and her thousands of millions of treasure. The Germans have studiously disparaged the aid which the United States can give as "hey have studiously disregarded the history of the American Civil War.! America's Allies know better. They know that the American people abound in magnificent fighting men. Never before the vast battles of the present war was there such fierce, unflinching and continuous encounter as when Grant viid Lee met in sight of Richmond. The United States still breeds the same men President Wilson is under no illusionis to the immensity of the task. In his speech before Congress prior to the United States declaring a state of war igainst Germany the President said, •'We are now about to accept the gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to cheek and nullify its pretensions and its power.'' The free States of the world have tu destroy the whole fabric of Prussian militarism. The moral importance of the blow struck for justice and freedom by the United States of America is. boo, beyond extenuation. As Mr Lloyd George has pointed out, America will be present at the conference table which will seal the peace when the Allied armies have marched to victory. • Behind the settlement will be her guarantee, backed by her vast strength and her boundless resources, and with her aid peace will become more than a dream. The "Glorious Fourth" has never been as glorious as to-day.