APPEAL OF THE WOMEN OF FRANCE TO THE WOMEN OF ALL COUNTRIES.

White Ribbon, Volume 24, Issue 285, 18 March 1919, Page 10

APPEAL OF THE WOMEN OF FRANCE TO THE WOMEN OF ALL COUNTRIES.

So< leties representing more than a million Frei ch women have appealed to the womer of all countries on behalf of the war victims of their own <x who have suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the enemy’s forces. The ap|>eal i* in the following eloquent words: —

“Among the solemn protests which the whole world is making against the deportation of Belgian and French women, French women wish to make their voices heard.

“How <an they help trembling with indignation as they learn that, under the German * okc, there disappears all respect for tk° family ahd its ties? I hex learn that the women of France, Belgium, and Servia, and others, have been or are to be torn cruelly from their husbands and children xvhenever the invader needs them for service of hi> officers or mills or trenches.

“Among all the enemy’s < rimes not one so chokes with anxiety the heart ot woman. Is it not round the woman that every civilisation has grouped the family? Is it not the long patience of xvoman that, through the centuries, has defended the intimacy of home, the weakness of childhood, the moralitx of youth

“This is why we invite women to join in our protest. All are enlightened. Not one can he ignorant of international laws slowly wrought for the safety of non-combatants; and none can be ignorant that, by the very avowal of those responsible, such laws have been trampled under foot.

“The stirring protests of the* highest political, social, and religious authorities have been unable to stop brutal dispersions; the < riminal Governments pursue them, counting on the fear or apathy of the peoples. “Are they to have the sup]H>rt of women’s silence? Shall women forget that respect of another’s right is th<> surest guarantee of our own right, and that should history in its returns ex|*>s«* to like dangers other generation* and other peoples, they and their daughters could lift up their voice* neither to complain nor in malediction.

“To whatever country she may belong -ally, neu*ral, or enemy—each

xxoman must a< knowledge her responsibility. To be silent is to absolve the soldier* who violate home and arrest passers-by to choose their vie -

tints, is to become then accomplices. To be silent is to foiever renounce all app. al to treaties and to right, all deni. md that to public or piivate action there shall be given the authority of a

moral foundation. “Where the xxoman who will re fuse to hear our appeal and judge savagery ? I.et all whose homes are respected unite in one movement of justice ,md compassion. From the height of tin ir anguish and sorrow our sisters, victims of force, *an noxv ho|H‘ for help only from the conscience of the xxorld.” The National W C.T.U. of America has drawn up the following resolutions, and requested all their bran< hes to them and forward to headquarters : “We women of the United States hereby—“(l) Associate ourselves with the women of France in their protest and appeal, which is annexed hereto. “(2) Demand the trial before an in ternational tribunal, and punishment, on conviction, as a criminal, of every officer, soldier, or civilian of any of the said Central Poxvers or of any of their allies who shall he accused, whether as principal or accomplice, of any sexual offeme against a woman in the course of the war. “(3) Declare our own deliberate feeling, judgment, and position to he that all women so injured by a despicable enemy ought to be treated and regarded, not as shamed, but as wounded in xvar. W’e implore our allies to confer that status on them, hot h officially ard in the public mind.”