AN INSPIRATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16994, 3 May 1917, Page 6

AN INSPIRATION

MEANING OF ANZAU. STIRRING ADDRESS BY SIR ROBERT STOUT. Olio of tho features of tho Anzac dinner at tho Wellington Town llall on Saturday night was an impressive address by his Honor the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) reports tho Poat. Lot him, ho said, point out to thom what tho meaning of tho Anzac fight was. lie need not go into the details of the struggle on Gallipoli. They knew them well. The men of Anzac—-some of whose relatives were present at that gathering were told even when .they commencod the fight that it was almost impossible. There they were on the open beach to attack what were termed impregnable fortresses, and with not 6uch a largo body of troops behind that they could hope to overwhelm the defences. But they went on and on, fighting as they were told, fighting for their country, fighting for freedom, and fighting for civilisation. FOR EVER RENOWNED. "Will not, then, this Anzac fight be for ever renowned?" asked Sir Robert Stout, amid loud applause. " Let me direct your minds to a battle that was fought nearly 2400 years ago not very far from Gallipoli. Tho Persian horde attacked Greece, and in those days, as there 'arc now, there were traitors in Greece. The Persians, through treachery, passed through Thermopylae. They were opposed by Leonidas. He had only 300 Spartans, about 700 Thespians, and a considerable number of Thebans. But tho Thebans, in the language of to-day, were shirkers and pacifists; instead of fighting alongside the warlike Spartans, they laid down their arms and took no part in the battle, and the thousand left to fight tho enormous Persian army were every one j of them slain. And tho fight at Thermopylae _ passed into history and became an inspiration not only unto the Greek nations, but to tho whole world. But the name 'Thebans' became a byword and a reproach. Thev wore ' shirkers,' they were 'pacifists,'; they gave no help in the fight for liberty and for right. . Even to-day every schoolboy who roads the history of Greece is inflamed by the story of Loonidas's brave tight. The battle of tho Pass of Thermopylae was but the fight of 1000 men. But they made the supremo sacrifice; and as a Greek poet wrote: — In dark Thermopylae they lie. . Oh, _ death of glory, there to die 1 Their tomb our altar"'is, their name A mighty heritage of fame. "There have been great battles in tho world in which our race and ancestors were engaged. We have in our history such names as Waterloo, Balaclava, : Bannockburn, Cressy, Lucknow, and many more. "But this battle—this fight at Gallipoli— s is of peculiar interest to us in these southern lands, for our brave boys took part- in its glory. Lot 'us realise what a great battle becomes. A great battle, nobly fouarbt, becomes an inheritance- and an everlasting inspiration to the people of the-nation whose heroes fought therein.—(Applause.) The story of the battle is not the mere record of an historical fact. It is riot alone that the Australians, the' New Zealanders, and the 29th Division found undying glory.

"MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD." "A heroic act is incorporated into the soul of a nation. It becomes to that nation a_ heritage moro precious than gold. It gives the nation an ideal of courage, of sellsacrifice, of nobility. And poor indeed is that nation which has no soul, which has no past history that can vivify and inspire its citizens. The Anzacs have givon us this inspiration, have laid up for us this crown of glory, just as Leonidas and his small army have inspired all the world. And as long as tho English language endures this story will go ringing down the ages and inspiring the future generations of our race. That i 6 what the Anzacs have done for us. Browning says in his great poem, 'The Ring and the Book,' ' The moral sense grows best by exercise.' We have seen it exercised.

"For what, then, are Britain and her Allies fighting' May I quote a few lines of the poem of an Americdn who was anxious to enlist, but was barred cm account of his age? _ He addresses England, and tells us her mission, and her mission is also that of her Allies:—

" ' Mother, of Freedom, pledged to Right, From honour's path she would not stray But sternly faithful used her might *' To lead mankind the nobler way. My England patient, valiant, true, Not foes -without, nor frauds within Will shake I her purpose to subdue. The cohorts of embattled sin.' "