Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, OCT. 24, 1940. THE MESSAGE TO FRANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 279, 24 October 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, OCT. 24, 1940. THE MESSAGE TO FRANCE.

The call of Mr Churchill to Jirench men and women in' all walks oi life, who alter.all are tlie real fabric ot the i'rencli nation, will go down in history as a masterpiece oi the English. language. There are few who i.;au or heard the Premier's words but must have been deeply moved by them; to. the Erench with the sword of freedom dashed trorn their hand by the Nazi in vasion and internal betrayal, and to all who look confidently to the the day of liberation of Europe from its terror, it is a most heartening speech, filled with all the richness characteristic uf every notable the statesman has made. To study tor a moment the plight of the Erench .people^—those men, women, and children who make up what was once a great nation and which will assuredly rise again—is to get a better comprehension of this rallying call. Their country lies broken under a monstrous evil which has as its aim, in the Avords of the Premier, to quench forever the fountain of characteristic Erench inspiration to the world—the doom of complete obliteration of its army, navy, air force, laws, religion, language, culture, institutions, literature, history, and tradition —by the savage methods already well established by the infamous Nazi army and secret police. It is a terrible outlook. Yet that is what is threatened; to-day's conditions are but those of an armistice, not the final terms. The defection of Erance has never at any stage been the subject of bitter recrimination by Britain against the Erench people as a whole, a point that it is well to remember. Only too bitterly has the truth been repealed that Nazi intrigue in high places was the primary cause of Erance's downfall. But for this that proud nation must still have been able to wield the sword of freedom alongside her ally. It is tragically evident that the real Erance —its men and women of everyday life—did hot know of the rottenness of its political and military structure. Mr Churchill, in speaking _ to the Erench people, "at your firesides, wherever you may be and whatever your fortunes," breathed a deep spirit of understanding and sympathy, the sincerity of which will not be lost on those under the Nazi heel who have heard the call despite the restrictions imposed by the invader on listening to foreign broadcasts. Eor that reason there will all the readier be recognition of what Britain aims to do and of which there has never been a shred of doubt —the liberation of the subjugated peoples, "the cleansing of Europe from the Nazi pestilence," and;not, as the German lie machine cunningly asserts, with self-enrichment. "Britain covets nothing from any

nation except its respect." That phrase will be enshrined in long years to come. In that great cause, then, all good Frenchmen will surely refrain from hindering where they cannot help their friends, as the British Premier has asked them to do. And if the soul of Erance still lives, as millions believe it does, there will be help wherever possible, the while her friends deeply understand the ruthless oppression she is suffering and seek to speed the day of her«liberation. Britain's unshaken purpose and growing ascendancy in arms should serve' as a' fan for the spirit of Erance that the Axis barbarians would obliterate.