THE R.N.D. WAR MEMORIAL.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18410, 17 June 1925, Page 14

THE R.N.D. WAR MEMORIAL.

UNVEILING IN ST. JAMES'S PARK. \— —' , (note ovb ows caaaEßroHDirrrr.) LONDON, April 30. Major-General Sir A. Paris, the General Officer Commanding the Royal Naval Division at the defence of Antwerp in 1914, unveiled, .on Anzac Day, a memorial, on the Horse Guards' Parade, St. James's Park, to the 582 officers and 10,925 other ranks of this arm of the service who fell in the war. The memorial, designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, is in the form of a fountain, with an obelisk rising from a shallow basin, built of Portland stone, and is raised above the balustrade flanking the Admiralty building at its south-west corner, "nearest to St. James's Park. The base is decorated with the crests of the units composing the Royal Naval Division. On the panel or the west side of the base are the following lines, written by Rupert Brooke while he was on active service with the Division: — Blow out, you bugles, over tie rich dead! There's none of these so lonely and poor of old, But dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold. These laid the world away;- poured out the red Sweet "wine of youth: gave up the years to he Of work and joy, and that . unhoped serene, That men call age; and those who would have been, Their sons, they garc, their immortality. The Order of Service contained the famous sonnet which Brofoke also wrote while in the Royal Naval Division, beginning:— If I should die, think only this of me; That there's some oorner of a. foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made* aware, , Gave, once, hex flowere to love, Her ways to roam, A" body of England's, Breathing English air, "Washed by the rivers, blessed" by suns of home. As the fountain commenced to play, .it was dedicated by the Rev. Basil Close. A short Roman Catholic service conducted by Father Eric Green, terminated the proceedings.

"Towards the Ideal." Mi' Churchill, 'who delivered an address, remarked on the grace and simplicity of the design. "We are often tempted to ask ourselves, ' he said, "what have we sained by the enormous sacrifice made by those to whom this Memorial.is erected. But this was never the issue with those who marched away. No r question of advantage presented itself to their minds. ' They only saw the light shining- clear on the path of duty. They only saw the duty to resist opr.ression, to protect the weak, to vindicate the profound but unwritten law of nations, to testify to truth and justice, and mercy among men. They never asked the question,' 'What shall we gain ' but only the question, 'Where lies the right?' It was thus that they marched, away for ever, and yet from their dncalculating exaltation and devotion,- detached from all consideration of material ;gain, we may be sure that good will come to their countrymen, and to the island they guarded so well. "Bold indeed will ba the tyrant who seeks again to overthrow by military force the freedom which they established, and after the confusion has passed away it will be perceived by all that the freedom, not only of'individuals, but also of States, has been' established upoh a broader anc? stronger foundation. Humanity fofr all its sufferings and disappointments has yet moved forward through the great war at least one long stage to-? wards, the realisation of.its ideals. And this country and Empire, saved iby its,, sons from the worst perils which have confronted it during its long'history, remains still able to : guide, to encourage, and in a large nieasure to inspire the progress of the world; .Doubts and disillusions may be answered by the sure assertion that the sacrifice which these men made was hot made ( in vain. And this fountain which we ! have just seen unveiled to the memory of the Royal Naval Division will give forth riot only the waters of honour,,but the water* of healing and the waters of The ceremony was attended by .-a large gathering of members of the Division, relatives of the dead, and naval and military officers. Mrs Brooke,, mother of the poet, was present; also Vioe-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, General Sir lan Hamilton. Lieut.-Oolonelß. O. Freyberg, V.C., Brig,-Gen. A. M Asouith, D.5.0., Captain H. D. King, MP DS.O., and Captain Oliver Backhouse. A guard of honour waR furnished bv the London Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

achieve his desire; he can never accomplish tho veriest fragmeut. of what he wills to do; and in the same way in the breast of every artist who is an artist—andMt is not everyone who uses a brush that, is an artist—lies that ideal which is ever calling, which he is ever following up, and never in this world captures It is that which drives men on to their best and. finest work. I doubt if any real artist has over satisfied himself. ..Occasionally there comes what Kipling calls 'magic,' whether it is in poetry, in prose, or in art, before which the voice of criticism is dumb—the art that speaks straight to the soul of tho world. . You artists can hope to achieve that, and I think perhaps, if I were to choose any words with which to conclude, I would choose the words that might be taken either for your work or for ours, the words that Browning pUt into the mouth of Andrea del Sarto: I, painting from myself and to myself, , Know what I do, am unmoved by men's blame, Or their praise either."

(Prolonged cheering.) Mr Churchill's Pictures. Lord Birkenhead said the Prime Minister, having to decide who was to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, carefully considered what artistic contributions could be mado by any of tlie possible competitors for that post.* Ho was guite certain that the Prime Minister had <4iever even examined his (Lord Birkenhead's) own efforts. Mr Baldwin quite hurriedly, and very'Tashly assumed that the only possible competitor for the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer was one who had painted certain pictures: (Laughter.) "I have examined the pictures of the Chancellor 'bf the 'Exchequer very carefully. (Laughter.) He has been kind enough to give me two of them —(loud laughter)—and he has informed me, although I do not believe him —(more laughter)—that anonymously he had sold four of them for £3O each at th 9 Paris Exhibition." (Loud laughter.) In determining the finance of the coun-try-for the next four years, the Prime Minister did not say: "Do I need a financier?" He did not say: "Shall I select a man who is skilled in figures?" He said: "No:' give inc a man who, whether it 13 a gcod picture or a tyad picture,, can paiat /one." (Load laughter.). '