The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1925. BRITISH SENTIMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19454, 13 November 1925, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1925. BRITISH SENTIMENT

Tn a striking sentence the Press Association’s agency tells us that with the passage of the years the celebration of Armistice Day in Tendon becomes ever more reverential. There are some people who think that the annual commemoration of the dead who gave their lives for those who might live after them is a rather unnecessary expression of sentiment. But that is not the idea of the true Briton. Armistice Day to him is full of meaning, and it seems that the passage of years intensifies the meaning and emphasises ever more clearly the magnitude of the service performed by the men whose memory the British nations honour.

In this country and in Australia the greater commemoration is that of Anzac Day—the day which belongs especially to these two young peoples who grew to nationhood ten years ago last April. Our share in the anniversary so solemnly kept by the Mother Country is a modest one, though we certainly do not forget that Armistice Day seven years ago was the greatest day of deliverance in our history. We all appreciate the meaning of the day. and when we think of it we pray that never again in our time or the time of our children may such a deliverance be needed.

Moreover, the anniversary gives us an opportunity to consider with pride and satisfaction the record of the British nation since the war. Some of the leaders in Europe have not been faithful to the trust laid upon them by the men who fell, but Britain carried out of the conflict unspoiled the high purpose with which she entered it. and she has striven to give it full effect. The present efforts to eement a Paet of Europe show that she has not failed, and if each anniversary of Armistice Day finds her reverential in. her remembrance she will not fail.