REIMS & THE GERMANS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2272, 5 October 1914, Page 7

REIMS & THE GERMANS

'& CHRISTCHURCH RESIDENT'S EXPERIENCE. - ; ,

Mr. L. Manning, the well-known wool Jspert, of Christchurch, lived foi- some time in • and around Reims, ; studying his profession as a wool man, and has such very happy recollections of the p'ace that he has'felt deeply the cablegrams that have come as to its destruction, says a Christcburch paper. Ho says that one of the reasons why the Germans had special antipathy to Reims was that some of its leading citizens were Germans, who had thrown off their Gorman allegiance and citizenship. Thusi_ in 1870, Herr Wenz, of Reims, tho, ; biggest, wool operator in the .world, who had thrown off.'his' German nationality, was captured by the Germans as a hostage, and placed on the>■ front of the engine which took the leading troops towards" Paris, so that if anything happened .to the train'he" would go first. Mr. Manning thinks that Mr. Wenz-' trill have again been,one of the hostages which; we axe .told, the German Prince took. - ~.

Reims is famous for its Cathedral, : its woollen trade, and ita ohampagne. The woollen trade is stopped for the time being.. The Germans 'have de- ■ rtrpyed the Cathedral and drunk the 'champagn<=—as.mueh of it as they could consume. JUr. iMaunit,g tells of the eel. .<ars of Pommery and Greno two miles outside of. Reims and one of the great Bights. , There - the ;iinn has stored up to six million bottles of champagne in enormous cellars made by the Romans in the days of tho Empire, and still bearing the inscriptions carved on them by Caesar's legions. These are the biggest cellars, but there are well-known ex-Germans eminent-in the ohampagne business, around here also—Krug, Eeidsieck, Dentry,' and Gildermann, Louis and Theophilus Roederer. Ah these men have <good grounds for disliking their late follow countrymen, and bo have other ex-Germans

An enormous amount of Australian wool and some New Zealand -goes to Reims, where there are two huge combing mills; Jonathan and Isaac Holden, of Yorkshire, have huge milk as well as at Roubaix. The wool is combed into tops there, and the'yarn is distributed throughout the whole of Continental Europe and the United Kingdom. Tho mills are about a mile'and a half from the Cathedral; on the east side, from' which tne Germans will have been bombarding it, so that they have probably been destroyed. The Cathedral is, from an architectural and historical standpoint, , probably better known to English people than any other on the Continent, and its destruction is, as Delcasse has declared, a crime against humanity. The Ingoldsby Legends did more to acquaint English-speaking people with Reims' Cathedral than any other. It was one of the finest specimens of Gothio architecture in the world,. and besides ita own architectural beauty and associations, it was full of works of art that wore priceless, magnificent -paintings, frescoes, and 6tatuary. "AVhen I was at Reims," remarked Mr."Manning, _ I 'used to be amused at discovering that though English people knew the famous Cathedral through the Ingoldsby Legendsi and tho Jackdaw ef Reims, the people of Reims, who were so proud of their theatre, had never heard of eithor, and when I finally' got back to London I was busy eending over to Reims friends copies of Barium's book. .

'"The. Germans say that they endeavoured' to sparo the, Cathedral, hut it is as prominent an 'object as their own Cologno Cathedral, although that is.higher,, and if they wished to spare it, they need not have shot near it. The .fact is that the Germans are venomous becauso of English participation, and arc 'taking it out of the country.' They didn't act so in 1870, and though the hottest' fighting was flrcund Strassburg, and the marks of bullets are still to bo seen on tho >:tonos of the famous Cathedral of Strassburg, there are no shell marks on it, the artillery men- carefully avoiding it. With tho greater accuracy of aim possible with modern -artillery iher-o is oven loss' excuse to-day. "The country around Reims is almost flat. It is a canal country, but as you go towards Laon, furtlier north, whero the Germans have been in iorce_, v you get into 'more hilly country, and their line is now in such .readily defensivo position that it may take months to shift tliom unless they can "bo got at from the flanks or rear, and their communication endangered. Otherwiso they will have to-be literally "dug out." "Reims had not the great importance as a wool contro in 1870 as it has acquired sinco, and as. it capitulated there was little, damage done. Tho wool trade there is in very powerful and very enterprising hands,' and as scon as peace comes they will take steps to build it up. It' will want considerable financial and industrial reorganisation, however, as. all the workmen will row be with tho colours and many of them, will neve r . see Reims again."