A TRIPLE OFFENSIVE.

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 914, 18 January 1918, Page 8

A TRIPLE OFFENSIVE.

Verdun, CaSais, Paris. npHE Hun in his insane wrath at the determination of the.Allies, threatens a ' new and stupendously powerful offensive on the Western Front. The All Mightiest, from the safety of his palatial home at Potsdam, has decreed a new "On, On to Calais" movement. "Willie, the Knut," too, dreams once again of swamping the French at Verdun, and a great central offensive with Paris for its objective is a-'lso threatened. The Hun is to make one last and desperate throw for a victory which will drive France out of tliei World Struggle, and even, so he fondly hopes, bring proud Britain to her knees, a humble suppliant for Germany mercy, » « «• ® So the story goes, as told alike by German and neutral Powers, and, no doubt, it is time enough. But whether the threatened final parailysis of France can be effected by the Kaiser's armies, strengthened to an unparalleled extent though they may be by the transference of divisions from the Eastern Front, i;s quite another matter. There is, we believe, no need for any anxiety either in Paris or London over these Hun and "neutral" screechings of "Woe! Woe!" to the French and British. If in 1914, when the French Army was unprepared for war, and when the British Army, though, as it proved, so useful, was so numerically_ small, the Hun could not reach Calais or Paris, what are his chances of doing so today when he will have to meet millions of well-trained, battle-experi-enced men, backed by an array of artillery which even the resources of Essen cannot equal? * * * •» If only the British democracy stands firm and refuses to listen to the mischievous gospel of peace at any price preached by unprincipled, cowardly agitators, backed by politicians who long ago ought to have been placed against the nearest wall and shot out of hand, the cause of the Allies is perfectly safe. It is the world curse of "Red Feddism," of Bolshekism, the curse' which has wrought s o much evil in Australia and which is reflected right here in Wellington, which is the only real danger. Come the whole world in arms And we shall shock them; Naught can make us rue If Britain to herself be but true. This sentiment rings as true to-day as when it was placed in the mouth of an English King by the greatest of English poets and dramatists. As for France, despite the advanced Radical and Socialistic spirit of its statesmen, its national heart is sound at the core. Let the Hun begin his triple offensive as soon as he likes. The struggle may be the bloodiest the war has witnessed, but its final result can only be the discomfiture of the Chief Assassin and the downfall of Prussian militaristic tyranny.