The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1918. THE FIRST SEVEN DIVISIONS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11478, 5 March 1918, Page 4

The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1918. THE FIRST SEVEN DIVISIONS.

AT the Albert Hall, in London, on the 15 th December last, a gi-eat national function was held'wluch may suggesUthe advisability of repeating it, or of something similar, in all the Dominions. That was a great commemoration service of the First Seven Divisions, which - fought in France under Sir John French at the commencement of the waf. We can all recall the exaltation with which we read in vivid narrative of the orderly bustle of embarkation, Lord Kitchener’s historic message, of what was surely a miracle of transportation to Franco, the immense lino of transports flanked with Britain’s mighty Navy, the disembarkation in France, the long cheerful march through wondering France, to the lilting strains of Tipperary, and Anally that heroic hut tragic retreat from Mons to the Marne weary, decimated, but undaunted and unbeaten. We venture to think that hundreds of voars henc§ British hearts will thrill with pride and adiniration at an Episode in history which msd e

greater demands upon tne courage, tenacity and all those qualities included under the term of morale than many events ■ which are distinguished hy red letter days in our calenders. Tney carried back with them to the limits of their retreat their battle spirit unimpaired, so tiiat when Yon Kluck found it necessary to retrace his steps, they pounced upon his retiring legions like lions. They may be said to have saved France and they saved England. For had the GJermaus captured Paris they would also have taken all the French ports, and no British Army could have lauded in France. The Continental part of the war would have been over in a few weeks and Britain would have been obliged to fight the German power, supported probably by the French Navy and, perhaps, by the French Army. In rendering these priceless services to France and their own nation, however, most of them paid tor their splendid and unexampled patriotism with their lives. It was only '■right, therefore, that the nation should commemorate their actions and their sacrifices with solemn and magnificent ritual. The great hall was filled in every part. Kichly embroidered flags of the regiments, in the making of which women had come, from every part of the three Kingdoms, merely for the honour of putting in a few stitches, hung festooned across the building and, as was only appropriate, only British music was performed by choir and orchestra. It was Mr Balfour's office to read the verses of Ecclesiasticus beginning, “Lotus now praise famous men. ’ ’

“There he of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported. 1 ‘And some there he, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. . . .

“But these were merciful men, whoso righteousness hath not been forgotten. . . . “Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out.

They were Britain's sons. T hey made the supreme sacrifice for their mother land, for its splendid position in the galaxy of the nations, for its liberty, its humanitarian civilisation, and its social and political eminence which have constituted a general lead in the progress of the world. Their sacrifice has not been in vain. The Empire live£ Nothing now can be done for.them but to preserve the memory of their glorious services. And it seems to us that hitherto wo have neglected that duty. That may he because the daily kaleidoscopic unrolling on the world’s great screen lias chained our interest to the present. When the war is over, and we are free from daily distractions and are able to see recent history in the proper- perspective wo shall apportion our admiration and gratitude upon just and proper lines. But it seems to us that when it 'comes to commemorating in imperishable stone the deeds of those who have been fighting for the Empire we should give the First Seven Divisions their due by erecting a great monument to them in every capital city of the Empire, for “There be of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might bo reported. ’ ’ They fought and they retreated and it is a moot point as to which is the most heroic, to’attack or to give way in the face of the enemy when the great dominating passion of an army is to strike. One is inclined to think that our school hooks and school histories might now neglect the classic days of Greece and Rome in the selection of examples of heroism —Horatio holding the bridge, the Spartan defence of the pass of Thermopylae, the retreat of the Ten Thousand. In these less shining, unromantic times we can show instances of heroism and self sacrifice for the ideal of patriotism as splendid as auy in the past.