THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 144, 17 June 1918, Page 7

THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE.

CI EMINCEAU'S -DECLARATION

SUCCESS WITHIN OUR GRASP

PARIS, June 5

Speaking in the Chamber of Deputies, the "Prime .Minister, M. Ciemuicean, said that although the time was n. terrible one, the courage and heroism of the troops were equal -to the situation. M. Clemenceau paid ahigh tribute to Generals Foch and Petain "Foch possesses tlif> confidence of the allies and the: Versailles Council ha.-; decided to thank him publicly." M. Clemenceau " said that difficulttimes wer e coming. The only question was whether they could stand t<h;-m. (Load cheers.) "For four years our effectives have been wearing themselves out." he continued. '•Our front is held by a line of soldiers which is be coming thinner and thinner. Our allies also have suffered enormous losses, and now arrives a fresh mass of Ger man divisions in good condition. Is there anyone who does not realise that undi r the weight of this tremendous •vav-p our lines had given way at .some ooints? The extent of their recoil has become great and dangerous. I say nothing more.*: Rut nothing has occurred to shake our confidence in. our soldiers." (Loud cheers. )>

TRIBUTE TO THE ARMIES. The Prime Minister'.- tribute to the French fokiiers "lighting one against fiwe." aroused great enthusiasm. A number of deputies sprang up shouting "Vive I'armee '" The President of the Chamber, M. Paul Deschan>J, interposed : "The Chamber unanimously •recognises 'the heroism of our soldier.?. " m (Loud cheers ) Continuing, M. Clemenceau said he could not maintain that there had notbeen mistakes, but it was his 'busin.ess to discover and punish mistakes, and ;n that he was supported 'by two great soldiers—Fork .and Petain. (Loud cheers.) These men were at present fighting th e hardest battle of the war with a. heroism which he was unable to find words to d'scribe. "The army" he added, "is better than any thing we could have expected." Loud cheers.)

"Our men must have faith and must die for their irbals if they wish to give us victory. We have yielded ground—much more ground <tha n we should have wis'hed. There are men who paid for this retreat with their blood. I know some who accomplished acts of {heroism, li'kja, those Bretons who were surrounded in a wood all night. long, and who. next- day, sent a message :by carrier pigeon, 'You may come and find us. W e shall hold out half a -day yet.' " (Loud cheers.)

HOLD OX TO THE END. "These men make tire Fatherland; t-hev continue it, prqiong it—that j Fatherland without which no reform . is possible. They die for their ideal, for their history,, which is foremost among the histories of civilised peoples. Be calm, confident, and determined, and hold on to the end in this hard 'battle. (Loud cheers.) Victory is to you,' because the Germans, who are .not so intelligent as we are told, have only one method, namely,\ to throw their whole weight into the venture -, and push it- to the end. _ | "The only thing that matters 1* | final success*. You have before you a j Government 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 be defended to the death, and no force will be spared to obtain success. , We will never yield. That is the word of oornmoud of our Government. W e will never yield at any moment." "The Germans enqe more are staking everything on a coup which was meant to frighten us, so that we may abandon i'.'"~ ?i For what was their great <-iTmt 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. Why did they begin again; and why have they once more 'begunV "In order to obtain this effect of terror. The effectives o£ the Belligerents are being exhausted, those -of the Germans as well as our own, but. meanwhile the Americans are coming to play a hand in deciding the game."

.SACRIFICES NOT IN VAIN". M. Clemenceau concluded: "The events -in Russia give our enemies 1,000,000 ad'ditiolnail men on the Franco-British front, but we' 1 - have allies representing the foremost nations of the world, who have pledged themselves to continue the war until .the attainment of success, which even now we hold within our grasp if we exert the necessary energy. The people of France has accomplished its task. Those wfio have fallen have not fallen 'in vain, since they .have made French history great. It remains for the lirincr to complete the magnificent work of the dea<3."

The Premier's speech was loudly cheered from all pares of the House, and a vote of confidence in the Government was carried by 377 votejs to 110, the minority inch "ng 35 Socialists and ,19 Socialist Ra. ' --. belonging to the more or less pe> r.nnent Opposition of whiclr ?\1: Caiiiaux was the riuprem e chief. * The Paris on-respondent of the Times, -states that the Socialists have apparently made up their minds that last week's military reverses were dno to the incompetence of the generals. They refused for a long time to allow M. Clemenceau to pay a tribute to the army. He stuck to his point, thundering "Foch and Petain are fighting the hardest battle of the war. You ask me to demand an explanation from the man whose head I have seen drop, with fatigue from his map-lade n table. I shall not! Fling mo from the Tribune if that is what vou* want."

The Socialist opposition rloe* not wen':en the Government, as the eountiv view* with horror any anti-Govern-ment intrigue at the moment.