Sir. J. French’s Message Before Neuve Chapelie

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4627, 14 May 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sir. J. French’s Message Before Neuve Chapelie

The attack which we are about to undertake is of the first importance to the Allied Cause. The Army and the Nation are watching the result, and Sir John French is confident that every individual in the IV. Corps will do his duty and inflict a crushing defeat on the German VII. Corps which is opposed to us. H. UAWLINSON, Lieut.-General, ■ Headquarters, IV. Corps, Commanding IV. Corps, j 9-3-15.

draw itself together into a now realisation of collective effort. Six months ago the British officer had the social standing of a country gentle- , on an. and-thC-fjiW;it© soldier stood sonic- ; where between a footman and an under ! gamekeeper. Mow there is a now sort of officer, a now sort of ranker altogether, with -a quality bigger, vaguer; it is not the old Army grown large that tills our streets to-day; it is a new democratic Army. In six months the Army lias undergone a social revolution. . 1 EVERY MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY. | And almost as rapidly the sense of belligerent responsibility invades indu.striaHifo. The farmer riding across tho furrows to look at tho young lambs, the miner on his way to tho mine, the cloth- , worker, the steel-worker, the innkeeper, the washerwoman, the timber contrac- ; tor. and the moat salesman, the loan-moii-gw. and the chemist are all. we realise and they realise, playing thendirect part in this huge conflict, are helping" or hindering in this supremo struggle. _ _ | They may do almost as much injury to the national cause by cowardice and shirking and treachery, they are as capable of heroism and devotion within the lines of their occupation, as any soldier . in the trendies. i And wc begin to sec more ami more distinctly that wc are ns justified in do- . mantling self-sacrifice, ability and sue-; cess from our captains of industry as ; we arc from our captains in Flanders, t it is ridiculous to expect men to go to nearly certain death for a few shillings ; a day while we pay enormous salaries . that our timber buyers may bo model-- ; ately honest; it is preposterous that we ; should cashier and disgrace some poor ; old colonel for a momentary failure oi ;

conics a .social inconvenience or a national danger. That is the essentia! idea of Socialism. PLAIN - WORDS A POUT PEACE. This is a war that claims ns. all. U claims all that we have. It is our war, the whole people's war, as no other British war has ever been. And the settlement, too, must he ours. There is a disposition in certain quarters to decry the discussion of a possible .settlement, to attach' those "amateur statesmen” who are attempting to crystallise public opinion in these matters, and to leave the conditions of peace to the wisdom of those same diplomatists whose dishonesties and technicalities precipitated the war. But the .same overmastering forces that have democratised the British Army and threaten to revolutionise onr entire economic life tight against any such specialisation of the peace negotiations. This war has marvellously quickened the national mind. The massive popular intention in Britain, in France, in all the democratic countries, is to achieve the peace of the world. We want a plain and understandable settlement, and wo mean to thrash out its conditions now. We intend to do Unit in the full sight of the present enemy, and as far as possible, in cooperation with our kindred in the United States. After the War of the Peop!cs there must he a Peace of the Peoples. ( tin not envy the task of those courtly and diplomatic personages who are setting 'themselves in Britain and France, as in Ttat- and Greece and ■Rumania, to thwart the gathering will for an honest war. for outright victory fiver militarism and aggressive monarchy, and for a permanent world understanding.