UNITY OF THE SLAIN

Northern Advocate, 11 July 1936, Page 6

UNITY OF THE SLAIN

Some six weeks ago the Anglo--German-Fronch Committee elected to watch over the War Graves Agreement which was signed last December met in London for its first session. It approved the work done for permanent German memorials in British cemeteries in France. It confirmed the assurance that for all time the 6500. British dead in Ger-

;raany shall rest in their present i graves. The German representatives afterwards visited the graves jot' German soldiers in England and considered in what more lasting way they might be marked. | This visit to London was used by “The Times” to point a moral. It said that the meeting of the committee of the three nations was {more than a consummation of [many recent pledges of friendship between former enemies and {allies. It might, said the paper, I mark the beginning of a greater | task to which Governments rather than Commissions might well devote their energies—the task of burying the international rancours of the present in the graves of their victims in the past. The rulers of Europe—most of them of the generation that fought in the War —are now teaching the young the lessons of unity and sacrifice they learned there. But, adds “The .Times,” the new doctrine may end in a fresh catastrophe if it is pushed to extremes. The very exaltation of its prophets may blind them to its risks; they have yet to rule the sharpest possible division between war itself and the selflessness which it often evokes before their efforts can be regarded as wholly pacific and their missionary zeal can win a favourable echo beyond their own frontiers. Their ideal—still, happily, within reach —should be the fellowship of unconflicting national pride. Of that fellowship as yet the world has only a symbol in the combatants buried side by side on many a battle front. The Imperial War Graves Commission and the foreign organisations with which it co-operates are setting an example which Governments might imitate on a wider