[i]

THE GREAT WAR
IN VERSE AND PROSE

Selected and Edited by
J. E. WETHERELL, B.A.


With an Introduction by
HON. H. J. CODY, D.D., LL.D.
Minister of Education for the
Province of Ontario

Recommended for Use in Schools


Printed by Order of
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario


TORONTO
Printed and Published by A. T. Wilgress, Printer to the
King's Most Excellent Majesty
1919

[ii]

Additional copies of this book may be obtained from the Department of Education, Parliament Buildings, Toronto, for twenty cents each.

Copyright, Canada, 1919, by
The Minister of Education for Ontario

[iii]

CONTENTS

[vi]
[vii]

The selections contained in this book make up a sequence which records the history of the Great War from the stirring days of August, 1914, to the opening of the Peace Conference in January, 1919. These selections of verse and prose are arranged, not necessarily in chronological order, but still with a view to indicate approximately the historic succession of great events and the varying moods of those authors and speakers who have been the voices of the allied nations during the fifty-two months of warfare.

Although this anthology has been prepared for the use of schools, the plan of selection and arrangement has made it impracticable to grade the poems and extracts to suit the capacities of pupils of different ages. The judgment of the teacher must determine what is suitable for one grade and what for another. Many of the poems and some of the prose extracts will be found too difficult for young pupils.

Due acknowledgments have been made throughout the book to the authors and publishers who have generously made it possible to bring together so valuable a collection of the literature of the War. The meed of gratitude due to all the writers represented here can never be adequately paid. Special mention is made of Nizamat Jung, Native Judge of the High Court of Hyderabad, who has given expression to the wonderful loyalty of the races of teeming India, which have poured out treasure and blood without stint in defence of their Emperor-King.

A sufficient number of copies of this book should be kept in all school libraries; and it is suggested that the poems and prose extracts should be used in the reading classes, as often as is expedient, instead of the authorized Readers.

[viii]
[ix]

INTRODUCTION

The boys and girls of this generation have had the opportunity and responsibility of living through great times. In days to come they will look back with a feeling akin to awe on the hours when, in Sir Owen Seaman's words, they "saw the Powers of Darkness put to flight" and "saw the morning break." The future of our country will be determined by the youth of to-day. Problems of the greatest complexity and perplexity await solution, and can be solved only by honesty, intelligence, sympathy, breadth of outlook, sacrificial service, and the fear of God. The teachers and pupils now in our schools are in the midst of a great crisis, and will need greatness of soul that they may rightly face it. That they will respond nobly to the challenge of the age, I have not the shadow of a doubt.

Never was there a more timely occasion for the teaching of an ardent and enlightened patriotism. Those who understand the issues at stake in the Great War, the genius of the world-wide British Commonwealth, the national consciousness of our own fair Canada, the lessons taught us by the mighty struggle, will be well-instructed citizens of this Dominion, equipped by knowledge and by spirit to serve their country, their Empire, and the world.

[x]

The selections of Verse and Prose in this book set forth the varying and successive phases of the War, and seek to remind, to inform, and to inspire. The teachers will use them as vehicles of moral and patriotic instruction. The pupils will keep them forever in their hearts and minds. Surely if we wish to introduce any good element into the life of a nation, it can best be introduced through its schools and colleges.

It is well to recall the issues that have been decided; for in no struggle have greater hung in the balance. The crime perpetrated against the Belgians, aggravated by its accompanying treachery and brutality and immediately followed by unparalleled sanguinary atrocity, revealed as by a lurid flash the nature and the greatness of the menace to which Christian civilization was exposed. Prussian militarism, in this belated, almost incredible but all too terrible, outbreak of Pagan barbarism, threatened to overthrow all the best elements in international life.

(1) The very idea of a Commonwealth of Europe, the growing sense of solidarity, the recognition of general interests, the existence of international institutions such as the Hague Tribunal—were seen to be doomed, if Germany should come forth a victor.

(2) The law of international good faith,—the absolutely indispensable foundation for any international fabric,—would be abolished, if a single criminal state could defy it with impunity, and could profitably disregard treaties, oaths, Geneva Conventions, Hague Declarations, if these interfered with its own selfish advantage.

[xi]

(3) The fate of the smaller States of Europe, with their own special contributions to civilization, would be sealed, if the arrogant Kultur of Germany were forced upon a subjugated world.

(4) The principle of nationality, vital to a stable and organic modern state, would be crushed or remain as a source of constant unrest in Austro-Hungary, in the Balkan Peninsula, and in other disturbed parts of Europe.

(5) Democracy, with all it implies of self-government, freedom from external compulsion, peaceful development, and civic progress, was recognized as having come to deathgrips with its ancient foe—militaristic autocracy.

(6) The future development of all the Free States of the world, the Entente Powers and the neutrals, was threatened by the German blow for world-power. The very existence of the British Empire as a free, prosperous, and progressive commonwealth, was imperilled. The freedom of our own Dominion was assailed.

(7) Behind all political and material interests, profound moral issues were at stake. The struggle was against the "armed doctrine,"—that diabolical perversion of all sound political thinking,—that the essence of the State is might, that the State is above all moral restraints, that war is its normal and noblest activity, and that war may be waged with pitiless ferocity and scientific frightfulness.

All the forces that opposed freedom, self-government, and progress gathered around the despotisms of[xii] Central Europe. In 1914 they made their bid for world dominion. Never before had so much been at stake; perhaps never again will such issues be put to the test. Thank God, the judgment has been given; the righteous government of the world has been vindicated; Right has triumphed over Might.

Gradually the real nature of the struggle was recognized by the free peoples of the world. Their sons felt they were summoned to a new crusade. They went forth as champions of democracy against autocracy, of freedom against tyranny, of mercy against ruthlessness, of justice against iniquity, of decency against shamefulness, of good faith against perfidy, of Right against Might, of peace against war, of humane and Christian civilization against savage and pagan barbarism. All the world was presently forced to give a moral and political judgment on the issues.

Our own glorious British Empire, with its traditions of justice, honour, and liberty, soon became the soul and centre of the Allied resistance. By her Fleet, by her Armies, by her aircraft, by her financing, by her supplies, by her indomitable spirit—she endured and smote the foe. We pay grateful tribute to the achievements of all our Allies in the common cause; but we do not forget Britain's mighty burden.

Among the British Armies, no troops have won higher distinction than the Canadian Corps, under their great leader, Sir Arthur Currie. They were ranked among the most formidable fighting units on the Western Front, and as an offensive spear-head of shock[xiii] troops they were unsurpassed. They fought in almost every critical engagement of the War. They "saved the day" at the second Battle of Ypres, in face of the hideous emission of poison gas; they fought in the long-drawn agony of the Somme; they won Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, and Passchendaele in 1917; they were in the thickest of the battle in the last "hundred days", as they fought triumphantly at Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Mons. The last blow struck before the Armistice was signed, was struck by the Canadians, who entered Mons early on the morning of the eleventh of November. The course of the war for the British Armies on the Western Front was from Mons, where the "Old Contemptibles" were flung into the furnace of the fight in August, 1914, to Mons, won by our men from overseas in November, 1918. It was "a long, long way", a way stained by blood and sweat, but at last the grim journey ended. Canada has made a worthy contribution to world-freedom and world-brotherhood.

Canada is dearer to us than ever, because it has been purchased anew at a great cost of precious blood. Those who have fallen are worthy of everlasting remembrance. They will be commemorated by public monuments, by tablets of bronze, or brass or marble in public buildings, by "storied windows richly dight". They deserve this. But, before God, they deserve at our hands a better monument—even the monument of a purer, nobler Canada, more intelligent, more united, more sober, more kindly, more God-fearing. Dying for[xiv] Canada, they have recreated Canada. Let us be worthy of those whose deaths have kept us free.

Through the experiences of these recent years, we have learned the possibilities of heroism latent in every man. We need not hesitate to make high demands on our citizens for worthy ends. We have regained a right sense of the relative value of things, and we know that the first things are those which are ideal, spiritual, eternal. We know that persons are of infinitely more value than things; that the development and enrichment of personality mark the only true advance in civilization; and that the basis of national progress is the health, efficiency, and spiritual well-being of the people. We have realized the power of organized effort. We shall not forget the bonds of sympathy which common sorrows have created. We have gained a wider outlook on the world and a truer conception of the meaning of Empire. We understand more clearly the national problems that lie before us in this new era. A better Canada will not come of itself. It must be planned for and striven for. But it will come, if there is kindled in the souls of our citizens the same flame of sacrifice and service which burned so brightly in the hearts of Canada's citizen-soldiers of the Great War.

Department of Education,
Toronto, April 4, 1919

[1]

"FOR ALL WE HAVE AND ARE"

[3]

LORD KITCHENER'S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE
BRITISH SOLDIER

(August, 1914)

You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to perform a task which will need your courage, your energy, your patience. Remember that the honour of the British Army depends on your individual conduct.

It will be your duty, not only to set an example of discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the most friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this struggle. The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most part, take place in a friendly country, and you can do your own country no better service than in showing yourself in France and Belgium in the true character of a British soldier.

Be invariably courteous, considerate, and kind. Never do anything likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting as a disgraceful act. You are sure to meet with a welcome and to be trusted; your conduct must justify that welcome and that trust.

Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So keep constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new experience you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must entirely resist both temptations, and, while treating all women with perfect courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy.

Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.

Kitchener, Field-Marshal

[4]

PRO PATRIA

STATEMENT BY LORD KITCHENER

(House of Lords, August 25, 1914)

My Lords, as this is the first time I have had the honour of addressing your Lordships, I must ask for the indulgence of the House. In the first place, I desire to make a personal statement. Noble Lords on both sides of the House doubtless know that while associating myself in the fullest degree for the prosecution of the war with my colleagues in His Majesty's Government, my position on this bench does not in any way imply that I belong to any political party, for, as a soldier, I have no politics. Another point is that my occupation of the post of Secretary of State for War is a temporary one. The terms of my service are the same as those under which some of the finest portions[6] of our manhood, now so willingly stepping forward to join the colours, are engaging—that is to say, for the war, or, if it lasts longer than three years, then for three years. It has been asked why this latter limit has been fixed. It is because that should this disastrous war be prolonged—and no one can foretell with any certainty its duration—then after three years' war there will be others fresh and fully prepared to take our places and see this matter through.

The very serious conflict in which we are now engaged on the Continent has been none of our seeking. It will undoubtedly strain the resources of our Empire and entail considerable sacrifices on our people. These will be willingly borne for our honour and for the preservation of our position in the world; and they will be shared by our Dominions beyond the seas, now sending contingents and assistance of every kind to help the Mother Country in this struggle. If I am unable, owing to military considerations for the best interests of the Allied Armies in the field, to speak with much detail on the present situation of our Army on the Continent, I am sure your Lordships will pardon me for the necessary restraint which is imposed upon me.

The Expeditionary Force has taken the field on the French North-West frontier, and advanced to the neighbourhood of Mons in Belgium. Our troops have already been for thirty-six hours in contact with a superior force of German invaders. During that time they have maintained the traditions of British soldiers, and have behaved with the utmost gallantry.

[7]

BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND MORNING

THE VIGIL

(This poem was first published before 1914, but during the Great War it was very widely quoted, the refrain voicing the spirit of England.)

THE HOUR

OFF HELIGOLAND

(August 28, 1914)

A CALL TO ARMS

(At the Guildhall, London, September 4, 1914)

The issue has passed out of the domain of argument into another field. But let me ask you, and through you the world outside, what would have been our condition to-day, if through timidity, or through a perverted calculation of self-interest, or through a paralysis of the sense of honour and duty, we had been base enough to be false to our word and faithless to our friends? Our eyes would have been turned at this moment, with those of the whole civilized world, to Belgium, a small State which has lived for more[12] than seventy years under a several and collective guarantee to which we, in common with Prussia and Austria, were parties. We should have seen, at the instance and by the action of two of those guaranteeing Powers, her neutrality violated, her independence strangled, her territory made use of as affording the easiest and most convenient road to a war of unprovoked aggression against France. We, the British people, should at this moment be standing by, with folded arms and with such countenance as we could command, while this small and unprotected State, in defence of her vital liberties, made a heroic stand against overweening and overwhelming force. We should have been admiring as detached spectators the siege of Liège, the steady and manful resistance of a small army, the occupation of Brussels with all its splendid traditions and memories, the gradual forcing back of the patriotic defenders of their fatherland to the ramparts of Antwerp, countless outrages suffered by them, buccaneering levies exacted from the unoffending civil population, and, finally, the greatest crime committed against civilization and culture since the Thirty Years' War, the sack of Louvain, with its buildings, its pictures, its unique library, its unrivalled associations, a shameless holocaust of irreparable treasures, lit up by blind barbarian vengeance. What account could we, the Government and the people of this country, have been able to render to the tribunal of our national conscience and sense of honour, if, in defiance of our plighted and solemn obligations, we had endured, and had not done our best to prevent,[13] yes, to avenge, these intolerable wrongs? For my part, I say that sooner than be a silent witness, which means in effect a willing accomplice, to this tragic triumph of force over law, and of brutality over freedom, I would see this country of ours blotted out of the pages of history.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

Is there any one in this hall, or in this United Kingdom, or in the vast Empire of which we here stand in the capital and centre, who blames us or repents our decision? If not, as I believe there is not, we must steel ourselves to the task, and, in the spirit which animated our forefathers in their struggle against the dominion of Napoleon, we must, and we shall, persevere to the end.

It would be a criminal mistake to underestimate either the magnitude, the fighting quality, or the staying power of the forces which are arrayed against us; but it would be equally foolish and equally indefensible to belittle our own resources whether for resistance or for attack. Belgium has shown us by memorable and glorious example what can be done by a relatively small State when its citizens are animated and fired by the spirit of patriotism.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

Our self-governing Dominions throughout the Empire, without any solicitation on our part, demonstrated with a spontaneousness and unanimity unparalleled in history their determination to affirm their brotherhood with us, and to make our cause their own.[14]

From Canada, from Australia, from New Zealand, from South Africa, and from Newfoundland, the children of the Empire assert, not as an obligation, but as a privilege, their right and their willingness to contribute money, material, and, what is better than all, the strength and sinews, the fortunes and lives of their best manhood.

India, too, with not less alacrity, has claimed her share in the common task. Every class and creed, British and native, princes and people, Hindus and Mohammedans, vie with one another in a noble and emulous rivalry. Two divisions of our magnificent Indian Army are already on their way. We welcome with appreciation and affection their proffered aid, and, in an Empire which knows no distinction of race or class, where all alike, as subjects of the King-Emperor, are joint and equal custodians of our common interest and fortunes, we here hail with profound and heartfelt gratitude their association side by side and shoulder to shoulder with our home and Dominion troops, under the flag which is a symbol to all of a unity that the world in arms cannot dissever or dissolve.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

Never had a people more or richer sources of encouragement and inspiration. Let us realize, first of all, that we are fighting as a United Empire, in a cause worthy of the highest traditions of our race. Let us keep in mind the patient and indomitable seamen who never relax for a moment, night or day, their stern vigil on the lonely sea. Let us keep in mind our[15] gallant troops, who to-day, after a fortnight's continuous fighting under conditions which would try the mettle of the best army that ever took the field, maintain not only an undefeated but an unbroken front.

Finally, let us recall the memories of the great men and the great deeds of the past, commemorated, some of them, in the monuments which we see around us on these walls, not forgetting the dying message of the younger Pitt—his last public utterance, made at the table of your predecessor, my Lord Mayor, in this very hall: "England has saved herself by her exertions and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example." The England of those days gave a noble answer to his appeal and did not sheathe the sword until, after nearly twenty years of fighting, the freedom of Europe was secured. Let us go and do likewise.

Rt. Hon. H. H. Asquith

AUSTRALIA TO ENGLAND

(August, 1914)

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF
RT. HON. WINSTON CHURCHILL

(September 11, 1914)

I was reading in the newspapers the other day that the German Emperor made a speech to some of his regiments in which he urged them to concentrate their attention upon what he was pleased to call "French's contemptible little Army". Well, they are concentrating their attention upon it, and that Army, which has been fighting with such extraordinary prowess, which has revived in a fortnight of adverse actions the ancient fame and glory of our arms upon the Continent, and which to-night, after a long, protracted, harassed, unbroken, and undaunted rearguard action—the hardest trial to which troops can be exposed—is advancing in spite of the loss of one fifth of its numbers, and driving its enemies before it—that Army must be reinforced and backed and supported and increased and enlarged in numbers and in powers by every means and every method that every one of us can employ.

[17]

WHAT OF THE FIGHT?

[18]

THE MAN OF THE MARNE

(September, 1914)

COPY OF TELEGRAM FROM KING ALBERT TO
KING GEORGE AFTER THE BATTLE
OF THE MARNE

(September 13, 1914)

His Majesty the King, London

I desire to congratulate you most heartily on the splendid action of the British troops in the Battle of the Marne. In the name of the whole Belgian nation I express to you our deepest admiration for the stubborn courage of the officers and soldiers of your Army.

God will surely help our Armies to avenge the atrocities committed on peaceful citizens and against a country whose only crime has been that she refused to be false to her engagements.

[21]

INDIA TO ENGLAND

"A SCRAP OF PAPER"

(At the Queen's Hall, London, September 19, 1914)

There is no man in this room who has always regarded the prospect of our being engaged in a great war with greater reluctance, with greater repugnance, than I have done throughout the whole of my political life. There is no man more convinced that we could not have avoided this war without national dishonour. I am fully alive to the fact that every nation which has ever engaged in any war has always invoked the sacred name of honour. Many a crime has been committed in its name. There are some crimes being committed now. All the same, national honour is a reality, and any nation that disregards it is doomed. Why is our honour as a country involved in this war? It is because we are bound by honourable obligations to defend the independence, the liberty, the integrity of a small neighbour. She could not have compelled us. She was weak. But the man who declines to discharge his duty because his creditor is too poor to enforce it is a blackguard.

[23]

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

What is a treaty, says the German Chancellor, but a scrap of paper? Have you any five-pound notes about you? Have you any of those neat little Treasury one-pound notes? If you have, burn them. They are only scraps of paper. What are they made of? Rags! What are they worth? The whole credit of the British Empire! Scraps of paper! I have been dealing with scraps of paper in the last few weeks. We suddenly found the commerce of the world coming to a standstill. The machine had stopped. Why? The machinery of commerce was moved by bills of exchange. I have seen some of them; wretched, crinkled, scrawled over, blotted, frowzy; and yet those scraps of paper moved great ships, laden with thousands of tons of precious cargo, from one end of the world to the other. The motive power behind them was the honour of commercial men.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

This is the story of the little nations. The world owes much to little nations and to little men. This theory of bigness—you must have a big empire and a big nation and a big man—well, long legs have their advantage in a retreat. Frederick the Great chose his warriors for their height, and that tradition has become a policy in Germany. Germany applies that ideal to nations. She will only allow six-foot-two nations to stand in the ranks; but all the world owes much to the little five-foot-five nations. The greatest art of the world was the work of little nations. The most enduring literature of the world came from little nations. The greatest literature of England came[24] from her when she was a nation of the size of Belgium fighting a great empire. The heroic deeds that thrill humanity through generations were the deeds of little nations fighting for their freedom. Ah, yes, and the salvation of mankind came through a little nation. God has chosen little nations as the vessels by which He carries the choicest wines to the lips of humanity, to rejoice their hearts, to exalt their vision, to stimulate and to strengthen their faith; and if we had stood by when two little nations were being crushed and broken by the brutal hands of barbarism, our shame would have rung down through the everlasting ages.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

The Prussian Junker is the road-hog of Europe. Small nationalities in his way are flung to the roadside, bleeding and broken; women and children crushed under the wheel of his cruel car; Britain ordered out of his way. All I can say is this: If the old British spirit is alive in British hearts, that bully will be torn from his seat. Were he to win it would be the greatest catastrophe that has befallen democracy since the days of the Holy Alliance and its ascendency. They think we cannot beat them. It will not be easy. It will be a long job. It will be a terrible war. But in the end we shall march through terror to triumph. We shall need all our qualities—every quality that Britain and its people possess—prudence in council, daring in action, tenacity in purpose, courage in defeat, moderation in victory, in all things faith, and we shall win.

[25]

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

It is a great opportunity. It only comes once in many centuries to the children of men. For most generations sacrifice comes in drab weariness of spirit to men. It has come to-day to you, it has come to-day to us all, in the form of the glow and thrill of a great movement for liberty, that impels millions throughout Europe to the same noble end. It is a great war for the emancipation of Europe from the thraldom of a military caste, which has cast its shadow upon two generations of men, and which has now plunged the world into a welter of bloodshed. Some have already given their lives. There are some who have given more than their own lives. They have given the lives of those who are dear to them. I honour their courage, and may God be their comfort and their strength. But their reward is at hand. Those who have fallen have had consecrated deaths. They have taken their part in the making of a new Europe, a new world. I can see the sign of it coming in the glare of the battle-field. The people will gain more by this struggle in all lands than they comprehend at the present time.

But that is not all. There is something infinitely greater and more enduring which is emerging already out of this great conflict; a new patriotism, richer, nobler, more exalted than the old one. I can see a new recognition amongst all classes, high and low, shedding themselves of selfishness—a new recognition that the honour of a country does not depend merely on the maintenance of its glory in the stricken field, but in protecting its homes from distress as well. It is a new patriotism. It is bringing a new outlook for[26] all classes. A great flood of luxury and of sloth which had submerged the land is receding, and a new Britain is appearing. We can see for the first time the fundamental things that matter in life, and that have been obscured from our vision by the tropical growth of prosperity.

May I tell you, in a simple parable, what I think this war is doing for us? I know a valley in North Wales, between the mountains and the sea, a beautiful valley, snug, comfortable, sheltered by the mountains from all the bitter blasts. It was very enervating, and I remember how the boys were in the habit of climbing the hills above the village to have a glimpse of the great mountains in the distance and to be stimulated and freshened by the breeze which came from the hilltops, and by the great spectacle of that great range.

We have been living in a sheltered valley for generations. We have been too comfortable, too indulgent; many, perhaps, too selfish. And the stern hand of fate has scourged us to an elevation where we can see the great everlasting things that matter for a nation, the great peaks of honour we had forgotten, duty and patriotism, and, clad in glittering white, the great pinnacle of sacrifice pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven. We shall descend into the valleys again; but as long as the men and women of this generation last they will carry in their hearts the image of these great mountain peaks, whose foundations are unshaken, though Europe rock and sway in the convulsions of a great war.

[27]

THE TRIBUTE

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF LORD KITCHENER
AT THE GUILDHALL

(November 9, 1914)

The British Empire is now fighting for its existence. I want every citizen to understand this cardinal fact, for only from a clear conception of the vast importance of the issue at stake can come the great national, moral impulse without which Governments, War Ministers, and even Navies and Armies can do but little. We have enormous advantages in our resources of men and material, and in that wonderful spirit of ours which has never understood the meaning of defeat. All these are great assets, but they must be used judiciously and effectively.

I have no complaint whatever to make about the response to my appeals for men—and I may mention that the progress in the military training of those who have already enlisted is most remarkable; the country[29] may well be proud of them—but I shall want more men, and still more, till the enemy is crushed. Armies cannot be called together as with a magician's wand, and in the process of formation there may have been discomfort and inconveniences and, in some cases, even downright suffering. I cannot promise that these conditions will wholly cease, but I can give you every assurance that they have already greatly diminished, and that everything which administrative energy can do to bring them to an end will assuredly be done. The men who come forward must remember that they are enduring for their country's sake just as their comrades are in the shell-torn trenches.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

Although, of course, our thoughts are constantly directed toward the troops at the front and the great task they have in hand, it is well to remember that the enemy will have to reckon with the force of the great Dominion, the vanguard of which we have already welcomed in the very fine body of men forming the contingents from Canada and Newfoundland; while from Australia, New Zealand, and other parts, are coming in quick succession soldiers to fight for the Imperial cause. And besides all these, there are training in this country over a million and a quarter of men eagerly waiting for the call to bear their part in the great struggle, and as each and every soldier takes his place in the field, he will stand forward to do his duty, and in doing that duty will sustain the credit of the British Army, which, I submit, has never stood higher than it does to-day.

[30]

THE KAISER

[31]

EXTRACT FROM DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS

(British House of Commons, November 11, 1914)

The Empire is on its trial. The experience of these three months not only encourages us to believe, but inspires us with the confident hope that the longer the trial lasts, and the more severe it becomes, the more clearly shall we emerge from it the champions of a just cause, and we shall have achieved, not only for ourselves—for our direct and selfish interests are small—but for Europe and for civilization, and for the great principle of small nationalities, and for liberty and for justice, one of their most enduring victories.

THE CANADIAN

TO BELGIUM IN EXILE

(May 19, 1915)

A CHANT OF LOVE FOR ENGLAND

(This "Chant of Love", by a distinguished American poet, is a reply to Ernst Lissauer's notorious "Chant of Hate for England".)

"CANADIANS—CANADIANS—THAT'S ALL!"

(April 22, 1915)

The night of April twenty-second was probably the most momentous time of the six days and nights of fighting. Then the Germans concentrated on the Yser Canal, over which there was but one bridge, a murderous barrage fire which would have effectively hindered the bringing up of reinforcements or guns, even had we had any in reserve.

[36]

During the early stages of the battle, the enemy had succeeded to a considerable degree in turning the Canadian left wing. There was a large open gap at this point, where the French Colonial troops had stood until the gas came over. Toward this sector the Germans rushed rank after rank of infantry, backed by guns and heavy artillery. To the far distant left were our British comrades. They were completely blocked by the German advance. They were like rats in a trap and could not move.

At the start of the battle, the Canadian lines ran from the village of Langemarck over to St. Julien, a distance of approximately three to four miles. From St. Julien to the sector where the Imperial British had joined the Turcos was a distance of probably two miles.

These two miles had to be covered, and covered quickly. We had to save the British extreme right wing, and we had to close the gap. There was no question about it. It was our job. On the night of April the twenty-second we commenced to put this into effect. We were still holding our original position with the handful of men who were in reserves, all of whom had been included in the original grand total of twelve thousand. We had to spread out across the gap of two miles and link up the British right wing. Doing this was no easy task. Our company was out first and we were told to get into field-skirmishing order. We lined up in the pitchy darkness at five paces apart, but no sooner had we reached this than a whispered order passed from man to man: "Another pace, lads,[37] just another pace". This order came again and yet again. Before we were through and ready for the command to advance, we were at least twice five paces each man from his nearest comrade.

Then it was that our Captain told us bluntly that we were obviously outnumbered by the Germans, ten to one. Then he told us that, practically speaking, we had scarcely the ghost of a chance, but that a bluff might succeed. He told us to "swing the lead over them". This we did by yelling, hooting, shouting, clamouring, until it seemed, and the enemy believed, that we were ten to their one.

The ruse succeeded. At daybreak, when we rested, we found that we had driven the enemy back almost to his original position. All night long we had been fighting with our backs to our comrades who were in the front trenches. The enemy had got behind us and we had had to face about in what served for trenches. By dawn we had him back again in his original position, and we were facing in the old direction. By dawn we had almost, though not quite, forced a junction with the British right.

The night of April the twenty-second is one that I can never forget. It was frightful, yes. Yet there was a grandeur in the appalling intensity of living, in the appalling intensity of death as it surrounded us.

The German shells rose and burst behind us. They made the Yser Canal a stream of molten glory. Shells fell in the city, and split the darkness of the heavens in the early night hours. Later, the moon rose in the splendour of springtime. Straight behind the tower[38] of the great cathedral it rose and shone down on a bloody earth.

Suddenly the grand old Cloth Hall burst into flames. The spikes of fire rose and fell and rose again. Showers of sparks went upward. A pall of smoke would form and cloud the moon, waver, break, and pass. There was the mutter and rumble and roar of great guns. . . .

It was glorious. It was terrible. It was inspiring. Through an inferno of destruction and death . . . we lived because we must.

Perhaps our greatest reward came when on April twenty-sixth the English troops reached us. We had been completely cut off by the enemy barrage from all communication with other sectors of the line. Still, through the wounded gone back, word of our stand had drifted out. The English boys fought and force-marched and fought again their terrible way through the barrage to our aid, and when they arrived, weary and worn and torn, cutting their bloody way to us, they cheered themselves hoarse; cheered as they marched along, cheered and gripped our hands as they got within touch of us. Yell after yell went upward, and stirring words woke the echoes. The boys of the Old Country paid their greatest tribute to us of the New as they cried:

"Canadians—Canadians—that's all!"

[39]

FROM "A CANADIAN TWILIGHT"

WE WERE MEN OF THE FURROW

[42]

DEVON MEN

CHALK AND FLINT

[45]

A GRAVE IN FLANDERS

[46]

INTO BATTLE

(May, 1915)

[48]

CHRIST IN FLANDERS

[50]

THE BLIND MAN AND HIS SON

(1915)

EXTRACT FROM "THE WAR AND THE SOUL"

I do not for one moment believe that the world is less Christian than it was before the war, or less intent on spiritual things. The exact contrary is the case as far as my experience goes. I have more than once stated that, if any man wants to be cured of religious pessimism, or any other kind of pessimism, he had better go to the front. If I had been an unbeliever before I went there, I should speedily have been cured. There one sees things every day, almost every hour, to make one marvel at the greatness of the human soul. You will see hell wide open, it is[52] true, but you will see heaven likewise. Such heroism, patience, self-devotion, cheerfulness under affliction, readiness to fling life away to save a comrade or a position—surely these mean more, and are worth more, than the immediate object of their exercise.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

As humanity has been constituted up to the present, war has been the means, more than any other agency, of bringing out on the grand scale that truth of sacrifice without which flesh can never be made to serve the ends of spirit, and the kingdom of the soul be won. This could be realized without war if only the race as a whole could be lifted to the requisite level. It often has been realized without war in individual cases, but never for long on the wider basis of the communal life.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

What men are learning on the battle-fields of Europe of the glory of sacrifice and its mystical potencies is drawing them back to God by way of the cross of Christ; our vulgar, blatant, worldly, commercial, pleasure-loving age is seeing meanings in that cross it never saw before, and getting rid of many delusions in the process. We are being saved as by fire. Let us recover the simplicities of life, and we recover faith. We are re-learning the old, old lesson that man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We are realizing almost with the surprise of a new discovery, that not what we have but what we are, is the secret of blessedness or[53] wretchedness, that there is nothing to mourn over but the evil in our own hearts, and that death, however sad and dreadful in its accompaniments, is but the prelude to vaster ventures of the soul and unimaginable joys. Nothing can be killed that is worthy to be kept alive or essential to our highest well-being here or hereafter.

THE GUARDS CAME THROUGH

RED POPPIES IN THE CORN

EXTRACT FROM LECTURE
"HOW WE STAND NOW"

For my own part I am more proud of Great Britain than ever in my life before, and that largely because, in spite of this froth or scum that sometimes floats on the surface, she is fundamentally true to her great traditions, and treads steadily underfoot those elements which, if they had control, would depose us from being a nation of "white men", of rulers, of[57] gentlemen, and bring us to the level of the enemy whom we denounce, or of the "lesser breeds without the law".

Probably many of us have learned only through this war how much we loved our country. That love depends, of course, not mainly on pride, but on old habit and familiarity, on neighbourliness, and memories of childhood. Yet, mingling with that love for our old country, I do feel a profound pride. I am proud of the response to the Empire's call—a response absolutely unexampled in history, five million men and more gathering from the ends of the earth; subjects of the British Empire coming to offer life and limb for the Empire, not because they were subjects, but because they were free and willing to come. I am proud of our soldiers and our sailors, our invincible sailors!

I am proud of our men in the workshop and the factory; proud of our men, and almost more proud of our women—working one and all, day after day, with constant overtime, and practically no holidays, for the most part demanding no trade safeguards, and insisting on no conditions, but giving freely to the common cause all that they have to give.

I am proud of our political leaders and civil administrators, proud of their resource, their devotion, their unshaken coolness, their magnanimity in the face of intrigue and detraction, their magnificent interpretation of the nation's will.

A few days ago I was in France in the fire-zone. I had been at a field dressing-station, which had just[58] evacuated its wounded and dead, and was expecting more; and, as evening was falling, full of the uncanny strain of the whole place and slightly deafened with the shells, I saw a body of men in full kit plodding their way up the communication trenches to take their place in the firing trench. I was just going back myself, well out of the range of the guns, to a comfortable tea and a peaceful evening; and there, in trench after trench, along all the hundred miles of our front, day after day, night after night, were men moving heavily up to the firing-line, to pay their regular toll of so many killed and so many wounded, while the war drags on its weary length. I suddenly wondered in my heart whether we or our cause or our country is worth that sacrifice; and, with my mind full of its awfulness, I answered clearly, Yes. Because, while I am proud of all the things I have mentioned about Great Britain, I am most proud of the clean hands with which we came into this contest; proud of the Cause for which with clear vision we unsheathed our sword, and which we mean to maintain unshaken to the bitter or the triumphant end.

[59]

LUSITANIA

(May 7, 1915)

[61]

THE WHITE SHIPS AND THE RED

(May 7, 1915)

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH AT THE GUILDHALL,
LONDON, ENGLAND

(July 29, 1915)

In the Dominions beyond the seas the same ideals have led inevitably to the establishment of self-governing institutions. That principle, which in the eyes of the short-sighted seemed destined to drive the far-flung nations of our empire asunder, has but united them by ties stronger than could be dreamed of under any system of autocratic government. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada—all these great free nations possessing full rights of self-government, enjoying parliamentary institutions, living by the voice of the people—why have they joined in this conflict, and why are their citizens from the remotest corners of the earth fighting under a common banner and[65] making common cause with the men of these islands in the greatest war the world has ever known? And why are the descendants in Canada of those who fought under Wolfe, and of those who fought under Montcalm, when contending for the northern half of the American continent, why are they now standing together in the empire's battle line? To speak of later events, why do we find beyond the Channel, in France or in Belgium, the grandson of a Durham and the grandson of a Papineau standing side by side in this struggle? When the historian of the future comes to analyse the events of this war, he will realize that some great overmastering impulse contributed mainly to this wonderful result. One such impulse is to be found in the love of liberty, the ideals of democracy, and the spirit of unity founded thereon, which make the whole empire one in aim and purpose. But there was also the intense conviction that this war was forced upon our empire; for in honour we could not stand aside and see trampled in the dust a weak and unoffending people whose independence and liberties we had guaranteed. Beyond and above all this we realized the supreme truth that the issue forced upon us by this conflict transcends even the destinies of our own empire and involves the future of civilization and of the world.

[66]

THE RED CROSS NURSE

[67]

EDITH CAVELL

(October 12, 1915)

THE SOLDIER

EXTRACT FROM "THE MEANING OF WAR"

The moral energy of nations, as of individuals, is only sustained by an ideal higher than themselves, and stronger than themselves, to which they cling firmly when they feel their courage waver. Where is the ideal of the Germany of to-day? The time when her philosophers proclaimed the inviolability of right, the eminent dignity of the person, the duty of mutual respect among nations, is no more. Germany, militarized by Prussia, has cast aside those noble ideas, ideas she received for the most part from the France of the eighteenth century and of the Revolution. She has made for herself a new soul, or rather she has meekly accepted the soul Bismarck has given her. To him[70] has been attributed the famous maxim "Might is Right". But in truth Bismarck never pronounced it, for he had well guarded himself against a distinction of right from might. Right was simply in his view what is willed by the strongest, what is consigned by the conqueror in the law he imposes on the conquered. In that is summed up his whole morality. Germany to-day knows no other. She, too, worships brute force. And because she believes herself the strongest, she is altogether absorbed in self-adoration. Her energy comes from her pride. Her moral force is only the confidence which her material force inspires in her. And this means that in this respect she is living on reserves without means of replenishment. Even before England had commenced to blockade her coasts, she had blockaded herself morally, in isolating herself from every ideal capable of giving her new life.

So she will see her forces waste and her courage at the same time. But the energy of our soldiers is drawn from something which does not waste, from an ideal of justice and freedom. Time has no hold on us. To the force which feeds only on its own brutality we are opposing that which seeks outside and above itself a principle of life and renovation. Whilst the one is gradually spending itself, the other is continually re-making itself. The one is already wavering, the other abides unshaken. Have no fear, our force will slay theirs.

[71]

TO OUR DEAD

[72]

THE DEAD

IN A BELGIAN GARDEN

[74]

". . . . . THAT HAVE NO DOUBTS"

—Rudyard Kipling

ON THE RUE DU BOIS

(Written at Sailly, France, 1915)

[77]

EXTRACT FROM "FEAR GOD AND TAKE YOUR
OWN PART"

(February, 1916)

The English navy was mobilized with a rapidity and efficiency as great as that of the German army. It has driven every warship except an occasional submarine, and every merchant ship of Germany off the seas, and has kept the ocean as a highway of life not only for England, but for France, and largely also for Russia. In all history there has been no such gigantic and successful naval feat accomplished as that which the seamen and shipwrights of England have to their credit during the last eighteen months. It was not originally expected that England would have much to do on the continent; and although her wisest sons emphatically desired that she should be ready to do more, yet this desire represented only a recognition of the duty owed by England to herself. To her Allies she has more than kept the promise she has made. She has given Russia the financial assistance that none but she could give; her money effort has been unparalleled in all previous history. Eighteen months ago no Frenchman would have expected that in the event of war England would do more than put a couple of hundred thousand men in France. She has already put in a million, and is training and arming more than double that number. Her soldiers have done their duty fearlessly and well; they have won high honour on the fields of horror and glory; they have[78] shown the same gallantry and stubborn valour that have been so evident in the armies of France and Russia. Her women are working with all the steadfast courage and self-sacrifice that the women of France have shown. Her men from every class have thronged into the army. Her fisher folk, and her seafarers generally, have come forward in such numbers that her fleet is nearly double as strong as it was at the outset of the war. Her mines and war factories have steadily enlarged their output, and it is now enormous, although many of the factories had literally to build from the ground up, and the very plant itself had to be created.

Coal, food, guns, munitions, are being supplied with sustained energy. From across the sea the free Commonwealths of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and the Indian Empire, have responded with splendid loyalty, and have sent their sons from the ends of the earth to do battle for liberty and civilization. Of Canada I can speak from personal knowledge. Canada has faced the time that tries men's souls, and with gallant heroism she has risen level to the time's need. Mighty days have come to her, and she has been equal to the mighty days. Greatness comes only through labour and courage, through the iron willingness to face sorrow and death, the tears of women and the blood of men, if only thereby it is possible to serve a lofty ideal. Canada has won that honourable place among the nations of the past and the present which can only come to the people whose sons are willing and able to dare and do and die at[79] need. The spirit shown by her sister-commonwealths is the same. High of heart and undaunted of soul the men and women of the British Islands and of the whole British Empire now front the crisis that is upon them.

TO THE MEMORY OF FIELD-MARSHAL
EARL KITCHENER

Born, June 24th, 1850
Died on Service, June 5th, 1916

KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM

KITCHENER'S MARCH

[83]

THE CROWN OF EMPIRE

[84]

I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH

[85]

IN MEMORIAM

[86]

GUNS OF VERDUN

[87]

VERDUN

(Spoken in the vault of the citadel of Verdun, September, 1916)

I wish to tell you how glad I am that you asked me to sit at table with your officers in the heart of Verdun's citadel. I am glad to see around me those who have come back from battle, those who will be fighting to-morrow, and those who, with you, General, are sentries on these impregnable walls. The name of Verdun alone will be enough to rouse imperishable memories throughout the centuries to come. There is not one of the great feats of arms which make the history of France which better shows the high qualities of the Army and the people of France; and that bravery and devotion to country, to which the world has ever paid homage, have been strengthened by a sang-froid and tenacity which yield nothing to British phlegm.

The memory of the victorious resistance of Verdun will be immortal because Verdun saved not only France, but the whole of the great cause which is common to ourselves and humanity. The evil-working force of the enemy has broken itself against the heights around this old citadel as an angry sea breaks upon a granite rock. These heights have conquered the storm which threatened the world.

I am deeply moved when I tread this sacred soil, and I do not speak for myself alone. I bring you a tribute of the admiration of my country, of the great[88] Empire which I represent here. They bow with me before your sacrifice and before your glory. Once again, for the defence of the great causes with which its very future is bound up, mankind turns to France. "À la France! Aux hommes tombés sous Verdun!"

Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George

FOR THE FALLEN

[90]

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

[102]

THE SILENT TOAST

(Vimy Ridge, April, 1917)

PROSPICE

[105]

THE OUTER GUARD

[106]

SMALL CRAFT

[109]

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF
RT. HON. A. J. BALFOUR IN TORONTO

(May, 1917)

I come into Canada to a great free country, composed not only of friends, but of countrymen. We think the same thoughts, we live in the same civilization, we belong to the same Empire, and if anything could have cemented more closely the bonds of Empire, if anything could have made us feel that we were indeed of one flesh and one blood, with one common history behind us, if anything could have cemented these feelings, it is the consciousness that now for two years and a half we have been engaged in this great struggle, in which, I thank God, all North America is now at one. We have been engaged in this great struggle through these two years and a half, fighting together, when necessary making all our sacrifices in common, working together toward a common and victorious end, which I doubt not will crown our efforts.

May I, as a countryman of yours, though not a citizen of Toronto, may I say how profoundly the whole Empire feels the magnitude of the effort you have made, and how we value it for itself and for an example to all posterity, an evidence to the whole world of what the British Empire really means, not only for the whole of that civilized body of nations of which we form no inconsiderable part.

These are proud thoughts; they will some day be proud memories. We are associated together in a[110] struggle never equalled yet in the history of the world, and I rejoice to think that in that struggle on which posterity will look back as the greatest effort made for freedom and civilization, the British Empire in every one of its constituent parts, and surely not least in this great Dominion, in this proud Province, and in this city not least, has shown what the unity of the Empire really means, and how vain were the anticipations of those who thought that we were constituted but a fair-weather Empire, to be dissolved into thin atoms at the first storm that should burst upon it.

We have, on the contrary, shown that the more storms beat on the fabric of our Empire the more firmly it held together, and were so far from shaking it in any single part. Events that have recently occurred, that are occurring, and that will occur in the future, will join every part of it together for ever in memories which will remain with us, the actors in this great drama, until we die, and which we shall be able to hand to our children and our grandchildren as long as civilization exists.

THE SPIRES OF OXFORD

(Seen from the train)

[112]

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF
MONSIEUR VIVIANI IN OTTAWA

(May 12, 1917)

It must not be forgotten that in the month of February, 1915, at Ypres, in the north of France, near the Belgian frontier, in a country devastated by floods, after the terrific assault of the German soldiers by means of asphyxiating gases—Germany, the country that has caused science to swerve from its true ends, and, instead of pouring its benefits upon mankind, has visited humanity with manifold evils and crimes—that same Germany had to meet your Canadian soldiers. On that terrific day, your sons, rising in their might, saved the situation.

And throughout many battles, throughout numerous and recent victories, the soldiers of Canada stood up heroically against the foe. Even at this moment, we have before our eyes your boys, so alert, so athletic, so brave, the first to storm, victoriously carrying their flag to those heights of Vimy which were reputed to be impregnable.

Hail to all these soldiers; let us bow our heads reverently before those who fight, those who suffer, and those who have laid down their lives for their country. They had a clear perception of what their action meant; when they left this country they were well aware that it was not only Great Britain that they were called upon to defend, that it was not only[113] France that they were going to protect against the attacks of invaders:—their clear vision upturned toward Heaven, detected the higher object; they were well aware that it was the sacred cause of humanity, of democracy, and of justice, that they were defending.

THE NAME OF FRANCE

EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH OF
MARSHAL JOFFRE IN MONTREAL

(May 12, 1917)

I thank you, with all my heart, for the warmth of the reception you have given me, and I can assure you that the acclamations with which you have greeted me will be heard in France. I know the services rendered by Canada in France. Your soldiers have fought beside our soldiers, and many have died in the fight we are waging. They have always shown indomitable courage, and in them Canada has done her duty.

[115]

Your Canadian soldiers have won the admiration of France. I have seen your men in action, they are courageous; they are indomitable and marvellous; they despise death; and their bravery is only equalled by that of the soldiers of France.

I thank you for the demonstration you have given me, and I am happy that I have been able, during my stay on this continent, to come up to this great city of Montreal for a few hours, to meet a people who show us so warmly that we in France have a place in their affections. All I can say is, and I say it with all my heart, "Vive le Canada!"

FOR THE MEN AT THE FRONT

[117]

WHAT HAS BRITAIN DONE?

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF
RT. HON. DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

(Delivered at Queen's Hall on the Third Anniversary of the Declaration of War, August 4, 1917)

While the Army is fighting so valiantly, let the nation behind it be patient, be strong, and, above all, united. The strain is great on nations and on individuals, and when men get over-strained tempers get ragged, and small grievances are exaggerated, and small misunderstandings and mistakes swell into mountains. Long wars, like long voyages and long journeys, are very trying to the temper, and wise men keep watch on it and make allowances for it. There are some who are more concerned about ending the war than about winning it; and plans which lead to victory, if they prolong the conflict, have their disapproval, and the people who are responsible for such plans have their condemnation. Let us keep our eye steadily on the winning of the war. May I say let us[119] keep both eyes? Some have a cast in their eye, and while one eye is fixed truly on victory, the other is wandering around to other issues or staring stonily at some pet or partisan project of their own. Beware of becoming cross-eyed! Keep both eyes on victory. Look neither to the right nor to the left. That is the way we shall win. If any one promotes national distrust or disunion at this hour, he is helping the enemy and hurting his native land. And it makes no difference whether he is for or against the war. As a matter of fact, the hurt is deeper if he is for the war, because whatever the pure pacifist says is discounted, and, as far as the war is concerned, discredited.

Let there be one thought in every head. If you sow distrust, discontent, disunion in the nation we shall reap defeat. If, on the other hand, we sow the seeds of patience, confidence, and unity, we shall garner in victory and its fruits. The last ridges of a climb are always the most trying to the nerves and to the heart, but the real test of great endurance and courage is the last few hundreds or scores of feet in a climb upwards. The climber who turns back when he is almost there never becomes a great mountaineer, and the nation that turns back and falters before it reaches its purpose never becomes a great people. You have all had experience in climbing, no doubt—perhaps in Wales. Any mountaineer can start; any sort of mountaineer can go part of the way; and very often the poorer the mountaineer, the greater is his ardour when he does start; but fatigue and danger wear out all but the stoutest hearts, and even the[120] most stout-hearted sometimes fail when they come to the last slippery precipice. But if they do turn back and afterwards look up and see how near they had got to the top, how they curse the faint-heartedness which bade them give up when they were so near the goal!

WHAT HAS ENGLAND DONE?

(This is the reply of an American poet to a question often heard in the United States.)

[122]

IN THE MORNING

[124]

ORDER TO THE CANADIAN ARMY CORPS

(March 27, 1918)

Looking back with pride on the unbroken record of your glorious achievements, asking you to realize that to-day the fate of the British Empire hangs in the balance, I place my trust in the Canadian Corps, knowing that where Canadians are engaged, there can be no giving way. Under the orders of your devoted officers in the coming battle, you will advance, or fall where you stand, facing the enemy.

To those who fall, I say: "You will not die, but step into immortality. Your mothers will not lament your fate, but will be proud to have borne such sons. Your names will be revered for ever by your grateful country, and God will take you unto Himself."

Canadians, in this fateful hour, I command you and I trust you to fight as you have ever fought, with all your strength, with all your determination, with all your tranquil courage. On many a hard-fought field of battle you have overcome this enemy, and with God's help you shall achieve victory once more.

[125]

THE SOUL OF A NATION

(March 28, 1918)

[126]

THE LIVING LINE

(March, 1918)

[129]

AN HISTORIC ORDER

(Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, April 12, 1918)

Three weeks ago to-day the enemy began his terrific attacks against us on a fifty-mile front. His objects were to separate us from the French, to take the Channel Ports, and to destroy the British Army.

In spite of throwing already one hundred and six divisions into the battle, and enduring the most reckless sacrifice of human life, he has yet made little progress toward his goals.

We owe this to the determined fighting and self-sacrifice of our troops. Words fail me to express the admiration which I feel for the splendid resistance offered by all ranks of our army under the most trying circumstances.

Many among us now are tired. To those I would say that victory will belong to the side which holds out the longest. The French Army is moving rapidly and in great force to our support. There is no other course open to us but to fight it out.

Every position must be held to the last man. There must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight to the end. The safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind depend alike upon the conduct of each one of us at this critical moment.

[130]

THE GUNS IN SUSSEX

TO A SOLDIER IN HOSPITAL

[134]

SPEECH DELIVERED BY LIEUT.-GEN. SIR A. W.
CURRIE IN LONDON BEFORE AUGUST
OFFENSIVE, 1918

Just before the Canadian entrance into the great offensive of August, 1918, General Sir Arthur W. Currie, during a short visit to London, delivered the following message from the Canadian Army Corps under his command:

The situation is a serious one, and it is better for all peoples to know the fact. Germany has struck four mighty blows with success on each occasion, and it is just a question of how many of these blows we can stand. Personally, I think that the factor that can be turned in our favour is this: If we stop and fight the Boche, we will kill a sufficient number to make him silly, while America develops enough strength to turn the man power in our favour. The British soldier realizes that he is a better man than the Boche, and he believes that the German army can be beaten. Our men do not regard the Boche as a superman; and, remembering the crimes they have committed, we shall never take such delight in killing them as when we next meet them. Germany is simply a mad dog that must be killed, a cancerous growth that must be removed.

I suppose that I am the proudest man in the British Isles to-night, but I am not the happiest. I am the proudest man because I command the finest fighting force in all the Allied armies. An officer of Canadian birth, who has spent the whole of his military career with the British Army, and married an[135] English wife, told me the other day that he was proud to be a Canadian, for everywhere he went men spoke of the deeds of the Canadian Army Corps. When the women with their children and the old men were fleeing before enemy forces on the Western Front on a not very distant occasion, and learned that the troops meeting them were Canadians, they turned round and went back home. On another occasion, when visiting a British Headquarters, I saw a Brigadier sitting by the roadside, tired, and dirty, and wan. He called out, "Who's that coming along?" When the reply was, "General Currie", he said, "Are the Canadians coming down here?" Told that they were, he threw his hat in the air and declared, "Then we are all right now".

When we came to England first, we were not regarded as the finest fighting soldiers. We had many things said about us unjustly; and suggestions were put about that it was improbable we should ever become good soldiers. Everywhere to-day, at General Headquarters and all other places, it is recognized that Canadian soldiers are fit to take their place beside the veteran soldiers of the British Army, with whom we are proud to serve.

I know that it has been said that Canadians and other Overseas troops are placed in the hottest parts of the war area. The greatest fighting of the war has been this year, and we have not taken any particular part in it. The Boche has not attacked the Canadian Front. He knows that he has never yet met the troops from Canada without suffering severely.[136] The turn of the Canadian Corps must come. The temper of the Canadian soldier is that there is no position he is asked to take that he will not take; and I know that the Boche will not take any part of our line, except over the dead bodies of your Canadian fellow-citizens. That is why I am not the happiest man in the British Isles to-night. The Canadian Corps is going to die. It is simply a question of who can stand killing the longer.

I have never seen the Corps in finer fighting fettle than it is to-day. The Canadians are now more efficient than ever; and we could not be in that position unless we were backed up by General Sir Richard Turner and his staff in England. There is a feeling of co-operation now that never existed before; and the better the liaison we have between France, England, and Canada, the better it is for the fighting forces.

And so we stand in a great cause, on the eve of great events. We have to preserve the British Empire. It would be a terrible calamity if anything should happen that would make the peoples of the British Empire hesitate at such a juncture. The British Empire must be saved.

[137]

THE AIR MEN

(This poem was written before 1914, but it so well portrays the conditions which prevailed in the last year of the Great War that it is here reproduced.)

[138]

EXTRACTS FROM SPEECH

(September, 1918)

Canada's war record is made, though not completed. Nothing she can do in the future will detract from her great past in this world struggle. She has shown herself a true daughter of Great Britain. She has spared neither sons nor treasure to help her Alma Mater to save the world.

Well done, Canadians, you are a great people, and you may proudly stand among the nations who are saving the world.

KING GEORGE'S MESSAGE TO THE NAVY

(November 11, 1918)

Now that the last and most formidable of our enemies has acknowledged the triumph of the Allied arms on behalf of right and justice, I wish to express my praise and thankfulness to the officers, men, and women of the Royal Navy and Marines, with their comrades of the Fleet auxiliaries and mercantile[139] marine, who for more than four years have kept open the sea, protected our shores, and given us safety.

Ever since that fateful Fourth of August, 1914, I have remained steadfast in my confidence that, whether fortune frowned or smiled, the Royal Navy would once more prove the sure shield of the British Empire in the hour of trial.

Never in its history has the Royal Navy, with God's help, done greater things for us, nor better sustained its old glories and the chivalry of the seas.

With full and grateful hearts the peoples of the British Empire salute the White, the Red, and the Blue Ensigns, and those who have given their lives for the Flag.

I am proud to have served in the Navy. I am prouder still to be its head on this memorable day.

SKY SIGNS

[141]

ORDER TO THE CANADIANS
AFTER THE CAPTURE OF MONS

(November, 1918)

Some of you have already commenced, while others are about to march on the Rhine, liberating Belgium in your advance. In a few days you will enter Germany and hold certain parts, in order to secure the fulfilment of the terms of the armistice preliminary to the peace treaty. The rulers of Germany, humiliated and demoralized, have fled. That unscrupulous nation, who in 1914 set at naught every treaty and violated every moral obligation, who has since perpetrated the most ferocious atrocities on land as well as on sea, is beaten, famished, and at our mercy. Justice has come. Retribution commences. During four long years, conscious of the righteousness of your cause, you have fought many battles and endured cruel hardships, and now your mighty efforts are rewarded. Your fallen comrades are avenged. You have demonstrated on the battle-field your superior courage and unfaltering energy. By the will of God you have won, won, won, marching triumphantly through Belgium. You will be received everywhere as liberators, but the kindness and generosity of the population must not cause any relaxation of your discipline or alertness. Your task is not yet completed, and you must remain what you are—a close-knitted army in grim, deadly earnest. German agents scattered throughout the country must not be able to report to their German[142] masters any weakness or evidence of disintegration of your fighting power. It is essential that on the march and at the halt discipline must be of the highest standard. Every possible protection should be taken at all times to guard against hostile acts by organized bodies, and to lessen the possibilities, always present, of isolated murders or desperate guerilla acts by factions of the enemy. Above all, it is of capital importance to establish in Germany the sense of your overwhelming moral and physical standing, so as to complete by the presence of your potential strength the victories you have won on the battle-field. All external signs of discipline must be insisted upon, and the example in this, as in all instances, must come from the leaders.

Clothing and equipment must be, if possible, spotless, well kept, and well put on. Badges and distinguishing marks must be complete, while the transport should be as clean as the circumstances will allow. In short, you must continue to be, and appear to be, that powerful-hitting force which has won the fear and respect of your foes and the admiration of the world.

It is not necessary to say that the population and private property will be respected. You will always remember that you fought for justice, right, and decency, and that you cannot afford to fall short of these essentials, even in the country against which you have every right to feel bitter.

Rest assured that the crimes of Germany will receive adequate punishment. Attempts will be made,[143] by insidious propaganda, to undermine the source of your strength; but you, the soldier citizens of the finest and most advanced democracy in the world, will treat such attempts with the contempt they deserve. You know that self-imposed, stern discipline has made you the hardest, most successful, and cleanest fighters of this war. Beginning by the immortal stand at the second battle of Ypres, you befittingly closed by the capture of Mons your fighting record, in which every battle you fought is a resplendent page of glory. I trust you, and the people at home trust you, while the memory of your dead comrades demands of you to bring back that glorious record, pure and unsullied, to Canada.

TRIBUTE

ON THE NAVY

(December, 1918)

Our safety from invasion, our daily bread, every means whereby we maintain our existence as an independent people, our unity as an Empire, or federation of commonwealths and dependencies—all these float from hour to hour upon our naval defence.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

If that defence is neglected, weakened, or fettered, we should be in continual danger of subjugation or starvation. We should be forced to live in continued anxiety. If that naval defence were overthrown or outmatched by any other Navy or probably by a combination of navies, we should hold, not merely our possessions, but our lives and liberties only on sufferance.

Where else in the whole world can such conditions be paralleled? We have the right to demand from all other nations, friends and foes alike, full recognition of these facts. We are also entitled to point[145] out that this naval strength that we require, and which we are determined to preserve, has never been used in modern history in a selfish and aggressive manner, and that it has, on four separate occasions, in four separate centuries—against Philip the Second of Spain, Louis the Fourteenth, Napoleon, and the Kaiser—successfully defended civilization from military tyranny, and particularly, preserved the independence of the Low Countries.

In this greatest of all wars, the British Navy shielded mighty America from all menace of serious danger; and, when she resolved to act, it was the British Navy that transported and escorted the greater proportion of her armies to the rescue and deliverance of France.

Our record in a hundred years of unquestioned naval sway since Trafalgar, proves the sobriety of our policy and the righteousness of our intentions. Almost the only ports in the world open freely to the commerce of all nations were those of our Island. Its possessions and our coaling-stations were used freely and fully by ships of all nations. We suppressed the slave trade. We put down piracy. We put it down again the other day. Even our coastwise traffic, so jealously guarded by every Power in the world, was thrown open to all comers on even terms, by that ancient people in whose keeping the world has been wisely ready to intrust the freedom of the seas.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

We are sincere advocates of a league of nations. Every influence Britain can bring to bear will be used[146] to make such a league a powerful reality. This fine conception of President Wilson has been warmly welcomed by British democracies all over the world. We shall strive faithfully and loyally to carry it into being, and keep it in active benefit and existence. But we must state quite frankly that a league of nations cannot be for us a substitute for the British Navy in any period that we can foresee.

Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill

THE DEBT UNPAYABLE

[147]

KING GEORGE IN PARIS

(November 28, 1918)

In proposing the health of President Poincaré, the King said:

It is difficult for me adequately to express the great pleasure that I feel in being your guest here to-night in this fair city of Paris, and in the midst of the great nation with which during past years I and my people have mingled our sorrows and our joys, and are now triumphantly crowned by overwhelming victory over the common enemy.

We can all remember the repeated and desperate efforts made by the German armies to reach and capture this great capital; but, thanks to the bravery of the splendid French Army and the loyal co-operation of the Allies, the aims of the enemy have been defeated; and by the skilful direction and the strategy of the distinguished Marshal Foch, the troops of the invader have been hurled across the frontier and compelled to sue for peace.

Mr. President, I congratulate you and the noble French nation upon the great victory that has been achieved, in which my generals and armies are proud to have taken part. In the life and death conflict in which our nations have been together engaged for civilization and for right against the methods of barbarism and the forces of destruction, the French and British peoples have learned in unity of purpose to appreciate each other and their respective ideals.

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They have created a union of hearts and an identity of interests that, I trust, will ever grow closer, and contribute materially to the consolidation of peace and the advancement of civilization.

Lastly, let me add one word of sympathy for those heroic Frenchmen and French women who have suffered at the hands of the invader such as few have suffered, except in Belgium. And let us not forget the immortal dead, whose names will ever be enshrined in one of the most glorious pages of the history of the world.

My soldiers have fought during all these years of relentless war side by side with the soldiers of France, whose valiant deeds have added fresh lustre to their immortal traditions. The sailors of our two navies have, together, kept these as in a comradeship and mutual trust which the length of the war itself has only served more and more to foster and strengthen.

With all my heart I thank you for your friendly feelings and the terms in which you have proposed my health. Accept also my cordial thanks for your generous hospitality and for the opportunity which you have afforded me in these ever memorable days of victory to pay my respectful homage to the French nation.

[149]

BRITAIN'S DAY

(December 7, 1918)

(This message was cabled to the United States on the day set apart for publicly acknowledging the achievements of the British Empire in the Great War.)

The achievements of the British Empire for humanity are too manifold to enumerate in a short message. Entering the war to defend the rights of nations, she has unhesitatingly given her sons and her wealth. Gathered from her loyal dominions, the men of the British Empire have carried their victorious eagles over many a bloody field. Steadfast in adversity, wounded with a thousand wounds, Britain's hammer blows have never weakened or faltered. But for the tenacity of her people the war would have been lost.

To those of us who have been associated with them and who have fought beside their gallant troops, words of praise seem inadequate to express our admiration. These things our kinsmen have done, and these things have brought an inseparable union between them and ourselves. To the British people, we extend our thanks for the powerful aid her navy has given, and offer our great respect for the resolute Anglo-Saxon determination with which she has held on, and we offer our right hand of friendship that our two nations may be more firmly linked together to insure the future peace of the world.

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GIFTS FROM THE DEAD

[151]

THE WOMAN'S TOLL

[152]

PILGRIMS

EPITAPHS FOR THE SLAIN

(For a British graveyard in France)

(For those who fell in the first Battle of Ypres)

(For a War Memorial)

[154]

(For a general grave on Vimy Ridge)

EXTRACT FROM
FIELD-MARSHAL SIR DOUGLAS HAIG'S
OFFICIAL REPORT

(January, 1919)

(Too great an emphasis cannot be placed on the following paragraph from Sir Douglas Haig's official report of January, 1919, on the operations along the British front during the last days of the Great War. That the German army was thoroughly beaten when the armistice was declared, is here put beyond doubt by this laconic summary of the military situation, when the order to cease firing was proclaimed.)

The military situation on the British front on the morning of the 11th November can be stated very shortly. In the fighting since November 1st, our troops had broken the enemy's resistance beyond possibility of recovery, and had forced on him a disorderly retreat along the whole front of the British armies. Thereafter, the enemy was capable neither of accepting nor refusing battle. The utter confusion of his troops, the state of his railways, congested with abandoned trains, the capture of huge quantities of rolling stock and material, all showed that our attack had been decisive.

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PRESIDENT POINCARÉ AT THE OPENING OF
THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

(January 18, 1919)

Gentlemen: France greets and thanks you for having chosen as the seat of your labours the city which for more than four years the enemy has made his principal military objective and which the valour of the allied armies has victoriously defended against unceasingly renewed offensives.

Permit me to see in your decision the homage of all the nations that you represent toward a country which more than any other has endured the sufferings of war, of which entire provinces have been transformed into a vast battle-field and have been systematically laid waste by the invader, and which has paid the human tribute in death. France has borne these enormous sacrifices although she had not the slightest responsibility for the frightful catastrophe which has overwhelmed the universe, and at the moment when the cycle of horror is ending, all the powers whose delegates are assembled here may acquit themselves of any share in the crime which has resulted in such an unprecedented disaster. What gives you the authority to establish a peace of justice is the fact that none of the peoples of whom you are the delegates has had any part in the injustice. Humanity can place confidence in you because you are not among those who have outraged the rights of humanity.

[156]

There is no need for further information or for special inquiries into the origin of the drama which has just shaken the world. The truth, bathed in blood, has already escaped from the Imperial archives. The premeditated character of the trap is to-day clearly proved.

In the hope of conquering, first, the hegemony of Europe, and next, the mastery of the world, the Central Empires, bound together by a secret plot, found the most abominable of pretexts for trying to crush Serbia and force their way to the East. At the same time they disowned the most solemn undertakings in order to crush Belgium and force their way into the heart of France.

These are the two unforgettable outrages which opened the way to aggression. The combined efforts of Great Britain, France, and Russia were exerted against that man-made arrogance.

Your nations entered the war successively, but came one and all to the help of threatened right. Like Germany, Great Britain had guaranteed the independence of Belgium. Germany sought to crush Belgium. Great Britain and France both swore to save her. Thus from the very beginning of hostilities there came into conflict the two ideas which for fifty months were to struggle for the domination of the world—the idea of sovereign force, which accepts neither control nor check, and the idea of justice, which depends on the sword only to prevent or repress the abuse of strength.

Faithfully supported by her dominions and colonies,[157] Great Britain decided that she could not remain aloof from a struggle in which the fate of every country was involved. She has made, and her dominions and colonies have made with her, prodigious efforts to prevent the war from ending in a triumph for the spirit of conquest and destruction of right.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

The intervention of the United States was something more, something greater, than a great political and military event. It was a supreme judgment passed at the bar of history by the lofty conscience of a free people, and their chief magistrate, on the enormous responsibilities incurred in the frightful conduct which was lacerating humanity. It was not only to protect themselves from the audacious aims of German megalomania that the United States equipped fleets and created immense armies, but also, and above all, to defend an ideal of liberty over which they saw the huge shadow of the Imperial eagle encroaching further every day.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

While the conflict was gradually extending over the entire surface of the earth, the clanking of chains was heard here and there, and captive nationalities from the depths of their age-long jails, cried out to us for help. Yet more, they escaped to come to our aid. Poland came to life again; sent us troops. The Czecho-Slovaks won their rights to independence in Siberia, in France, in Italy. The Jugo-Slavs, the[158] Armenians, the Syrians, and the Lebanese, the Arabs, all oppressed peoples, all the victims long helpless or resigned of great historic deeds of injustice, all the martyrs of the past, all the outraged consciences, all the strangled liberties, reviewed the clash of arms and turned toward us as their natural defenders.

War gradually attained the fulness of its first significance and became, in the fullest sense of the term, a crusade of humanity for right; and if anything can console us, in part at least, for the losses we have suffered, it is assuredly the thought that our victory is also the victory of right. This victory is complete, for the enemy only asked for the armistice to escape from an irretrievable military disaster. In the interests of justice and peace, it now rests with you to reap from this victory its full fruits.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

By establishing this new order of things, you will meet the aspirations of humanity, which, after the frightful conclusions of the blood-stained years, ardently wishes to free itself, protected by a union of free peoples, against every possible revival of primitive savagery. An immortal glory will attach to the names of the nations and the men who have desired to co-operate in this grand work of faith and brotherhood, and who have taken the pains to eliminate from the future peace causes of disturbance and instability.

This very day, forty-eight years ago—on the 18th of January, 1871—the German Empire was proclaimed by an army of invasion in the chateau at Versailles.[159] It was consecrated by the fate of two French provinces. It was thus a violation from its origin and, by the fault of its founders, it was born in injustice. It has ended in oblivion.

You are assembled in order to repair the evil that has been done, and to prevent a recurrence of it. You hold in your hands the future of the world. I leave you, gentlemen, to your grave deliberations, and declare the Conference of Paris open.

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NATIONAL ANTHEM