Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY. JULY 25, 1916. WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14053, 25 July 1916, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY. JULY 25, 1916. WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE.

It must be cheering to the hearts oi Englishmen to receive from their. Allies ! such generous tributes of appreciatioi and affection as are continually -being paid. Recently there was published "The Book df Belgium's Gratitude," m which Belgian statesmen)-*, writers and artists endeavored to thank the British people for all they liad done for their .stricken country, This has been followed by another contribution "L'Eff ort Britanriique™ .by M. .J^s Destree, to which has been appaiaedvart- eloquent preface by M. Georges Glemehcefuiythe eminent French statesman. • M. »Destree was before the war one of the , most prominent leaders of the Belgian Socialist party. He was a distinglished writer and art critic, and a» soon as the war brok© out. he devoted himself entirely to the struggle. Be visited England anbf witnessed the . marvellous work accomplished m that country aud the unexampled, outburst of- enthusiasm which had rendered it possible. Being, however, a tVallopn, m close touch with France and 'Italy, he was able to under.- . stand the impatience of some of t his friends, and the reason of some of. tlie criticisms, directed against our country. He decided, therefore, with his facile pen to explain England to them, and ho has done it with \sji<?h sympathetic understanding and penetrating knowledge of our, people -and institutions -that he has produced a most convincing book. To quote a review m the London Qbr server, the; work, is a cOnipre&ensiye review of England's-. contribution to the war from the point of view / of the Navy,, of the. Arniy, of finance :md diplomacy^ preceded by a brief sutnmary - .of . the, negptiatioiis on the eye. '61 the. struggle :- "How, England,, .; seeking only-peace, was drawn into, the \yaf<,l It explodes the pro--German fables about- "Albion's-,. perfidy" -on :ohe side, andj oh the other, * answers cpriclusivpty the. f eyerish , criticisms; - t of . thpse who arc underestimating England's-share'.inTtJjb.e Struggle- 'because they ':■ ignore, her, culties. HoW - can the Gorman argument that England sought this war \ agree with ; the reproacli: tliat she ' was nbt prepared for it? The that ., the pre-war period is - characterised by an almost childish faith m. German pacific intentions, while .the wprk accomplished during the t two. last,, years, jn spite M some mistakes and some delays, passes all that -the. most .. enthusiastic a^mirei of the Empire might have expected from the loyalty :of its people. Those delays and^-tliese -mistake are .even dyerlooked Iby the 'author. A.s a true lawyer, pleading a good cause, he only sees the injustice done to •a . great . people, to . w,h6m .his- 7 heart c is-., bound by /( the strongest ties of; gratitude. The .industiwal difficulty was partly -the outcoiriej according -to him,, of .the .spirit of independence and individualism .which. ; prevails, m, .the- working classes and among the employers; the postponement 7- of , conscription arises, in -the same : ivayb from ithe. KnglisK instinctive .hatred p.| i militarism .'-and -its -blind , -In every possible mistake the democrat sees- the -exaggeration of some quality, lit has,, taken England two years ,;tp throw her.;fidl weight into the struggle, ■ Jules -Destree wonders, how sucly a transformation has been at all possible.: only two ; years, when ■. everything to be .done, when the -public spirit had ' to be changed,, when; the cpunti-y'^; most sacred traditions had to be, sacrifice^! All .the 'conseriptionist countries . were morally I if; aiot -materially, equipped .for l the struggle... Owing to • her .'insular situation.' England had never considered the • possibility of -adopting the Continental ; principle : ;eyery ,' man a soldier. She has done m two years what- dither people did m half a century. This "fi^'e tribute ,is • amply supported by ; the French statesman .«-* "What -has made the old island. ; greater m ? the eyes j .of men,"- writes M. Cleraenceau, "is that for the first time m her long history she has ceased to be an' island, she has ceased to wish to be only an island, She has incorporated herself with the - Continent through her handsome . big boys who fight ( m the Flemish' trenches, their teeth clenched .on their short pipes, through her • cannons : and ; , her transports, and, most of, all, through the ■ c;alm spirit with which she has accepted a share m our tragic destiny and -our desperate struggle." Such a testimony of admiration, as the Observer points out, coming from the most critical, the most impatient, the most French of all Frenchmen ' will rejoice --English hearts, Clemenceatt ; ;has .always been for a. prompt offensive, ■ against, any division of -efforts; he was -so- strongly opposed to the landing at Salonika that his newspaper, had To be suspended' at * the time. Rightly or wrongly, lie has several times denounced w*hat> he. .palls ,the- slackness and the want of decision . of- the French Government.- -'But, the ■moment he. speaks of England he assumes quite a. different attitude. Like Destree, like all those who have learned to love "the old •' island" his admiration i - for her heriosm, loyalty and steadfast-

ness is much too great to leave room for . reproach or criticism. "Other nations," | he saya, "have poured more blood on. the epic battlefields of Europe. Others have had to sustain fiercer assaults, to show a wilder form of heroism m order to stem the Hun's onset. No other has j prepared herself with more - method, with more energy to fulfil her task to the end. No 'other. has been m the same way completely transformed m her traditions, m her social life, m her worship of independence." It is a fine tribute and it will serve with many similar articles m the French and British* ,ptrassu ono country appreciative of i the efforts made by her neighbor, to bind closer the ties of the« Entente and to assist m the. great co-ordination, of effort now notably visible oil the Soihme which will bring the war to a conclu--1 sion triumphant < for the- Allies.