OUR DEBT TO FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2800, 19 June 1916, Page 7

OUR DEBT TO FRANCE

MR. HOLMAN'S VIEWS AN INTERESTING SPEECH . ;■ Some interesting, allusions to one .of nur great Allies ivoro .'made-Jjy the Hon. W. A. Holman, .ILL.A.i Premier of New bouth Wales, in'aft address to tho Sydney University Union. Dealing first with prance's ,hereditary N enemy, -• Mr. Holman' -'. said: —"German science is a thing'.that. I -do. not pretend to discuss. I have not. the qualifications for/passing any. judgment upon it; but ■I .venture; to say that tho -attitude; of the scientific world, towards' Germany.' today—and when I say to-day I would like that, remark to apply also to a year or a f couple-6f years.ago—is one; of very'mueh franker and' self-respecting-criticism than was: possible; in those early days of which I speak. As to German pnilosophy; while I wish toi speak of that with all tho respect which attaches / to ■ one of the subjects in which men' get'degrees in a home of learning likei this. 'I am bound to-say : that the, general failure of our neo-Ger-man writers in philosophy, of ! gentlemen.' who have ton' continuing the German traditions of. the last;.few years,; is now sufficiently' notorious,to have reaohed the ears of an' outsider like myself; and I i believe that, the; superstition which once surrounded, lortain ; Gorrami • >iawes lias largely faded away., I: am not going; to. say .anything disrespectful about German musio; it seoms ,to mo that that will always survive as one of tho abiding glories of tho, race and of. the country; but except fpr a- few.belated thinkers liko Bernard Shaw,- who reproduce.- in this generation the -fallacies of the previous one, you will find 110 one now who speaks tif Wagner as a psychologist; We treat him :as. a musician, '.as- a great one,; and we - measure him on his merits as' a' musician:as:we do a" musician- of any' other nation ; but the. idea that his hav-

,• ing written much • incomprehensible non-' sense on- tho metaphysics of, music 'distinguishes his work >froin - the work i.of more lucid aidless pretentious composers is an idea .which I think wo now abandon. ;. And so,■■right throughtho field of intellectualactivityto-day—and again ~when I say.to-day I do not mean to-day, but before the war broke out—we find'the European world - largely : free; : from ..this nightmare of German, intellectual oppres- . sion ■ which ;has..-for ,some ;thirty• years weighed down its, talents and arrested its,progress." - '■'■:. But—there, were :-great; :.chemiats in' .Prance.,: "France not .only challenged the'technical soientifio supremacy of Germany '—she not only produced chemists t bettiei> than the.Gei-man chemists and physicists;; but she produced-tiie spirit of method in inquiry) and the.spirit;of organisation' in the administration of her public affairs, to ,a degree which, while differing in very j many details of application from the r spirit which prevailed in German- affairs, was nevertheless more flexible and better adapted on the whota to the requirementa of the. French character and;gave, larger possibilities of success in - any ~ future struggle arising out of the national rival-. 'ries.. These results were achieved largely, through tho • inveterate determination of' the-French, race to rely wholly;>upon itself/'. :. " v ,

' ; Then, there was the "discovery by tho French staff; of wliat was regarded by them as tho forgotten secret of Napoleon's strategy. .It seems almost too romantic to, believe .that -such' 'a ; thing •-: could bo possible, .but it must be romem,'bered that Napoleon's methods, tliat>is, .. .his guiding.principles,; were, not at, any ■ time . clearly r .or, critically .explained by , himself.,. He wrote, it is true,-', a. great - deal about his methods; but'-lie wrote : cryptically, and he.' : wrote' largely with : in. eye to his -own glorification. He fr'e- -' quently mis-stated the facts, and "allegi e.d, .by an after-thought, . that ho had entered upon .certain; manoeuvres with a -certain design when, -actually,.-he- had probably drifted into •" theni;.with no de-

. sign at all. . His - own - writings are in - this ': and in other." ways of smaller value .than' ; - one'would, expect, so-1 understand.- to a: ;. .' military studeiit. in,V understanding ''-his .methods. . 1 ;" ' '' task of ftnfaVelliilg interpret-" ing his ihethods;felj- : int6'.the 'Kancls of a ' number of writers, • a.. Swiss 'and. half : a dozen' Germans;' who " undertook''.it. t A ' body of. doctrine had grown'..-up as.. to ! ', .what Napoleon's methods' Actually-, When the French army, had been, reor- ; . . ganised iu the kirly. eighties, hojvever, -a ■. ce/tain. Captain"Gilbert, who;was a mem- , 'ber of the historical-section-of the gen- . eral 'staff; after, closo study ..of 'the' history ■of . Napoleon's campaign's, canie to '; the. .- conclusion that Napoleon liad two metli- ' odsT-one, I 'gather, mainly/ suitable for -' attack, the other mainly Suitable- for defence. This officer announced to the staff.'! that: tho '.German - view, . the ' view ..; ' that had been acted'upon by. Von Moltko, that Napoleon's, victories were,due to Ycertain-method .of . manoeuvring, , was -a ; ; partial ; and . imperfect' view; that there '. - was another method of manoeuvrihg;which would beat,,.if, 'rigidly : adhered to, tha .. r system' ■ that, the . Germans had' adopted. • 'i'nis discoveryT-bscause rit- was';.nothing, else.-than.', a-', scientific , .'discovery—was closely considered by the' French-staff; It ■ > .was approved '-by. generals : like. 'Bonnal and tanglois, and it waa given. effect toby Joffre and Foch, during- the, 1 recent V ' struggle. The French, nation- Btaked ife- ; existence with the moist resolute fortitude , . upon the validity, .of-a-certain 1 definite logical process, ilt reminds one of the . travellers in Julis -Ferhe's. story, who put . themselves inside a'cannon-ball, and had it fired to the moon when the/formula . - . had been worked "out, ,in .absolute, confi- . dence in the validity-;of mathematics. In ;, exactly the same way the French nation, ; with'that unhesitating confidence in-logic which has always distinguished .it, staked , *ts whole fortunes : on tho correctness "of . ]'the new military deductions. ' Of course, the event gloriously, justified it. These ' two; things, the discovery of a new methiod of strategy-, and-the discovery of - Colonel Picquart, * and the. consequent reor- . ganisation of the French artillery and of tho French army generally after the period. of,, decadence: which-' was marked by the Dreyfus', Case;; were- the two-in-cidente which turned the history of' tho - ■ "French armx and made' of it the formid- ; able weapon, of war which'we have found it ■to be durins the last' few months; the .; one power which-stood between continental Europe arid universal German domina:tion. -. ■' : : "We and. the French- have many idealsin common., The'-Frenchi-are a'clnvalrous nation, and so are'we. The Normans, . ..who imprinted many surviving traditions and ideals upon-.our learned'them . fix>m the- Franks;; and although, there have been divergencies, yet; side by'.'sido,•certain' conceptions of:'warfaTe and cer-. , tain conceptions.,of the/intercourse Of . humanity, :have "como down 'to both' of us. Wo hold that a resolute resistance ' , . in disaster, is the highest display • of human courage. It. i 9 hot. dash that , we claim; it ;is not, at all events,-'merely . idash, : not merely. readiness' in 1 attack, , but it' is. that serenity of Soul :which ."rises superior to disaster and defeat, and which , maintains' in the darkest hour'a "stead--fast countenanco and a determination to put forth every energy, which may still wrest' victory, out of defeat. That conception is the conception of tho French as -well; and they.' havo ~proved it in many a stubbornly fought field. . They are slightly more dialling than' we are, and We possibly aro slightly more stubborn than-they'aro; ..but there are no. moro dosliiiig races than 'tho English and the , French. And.our,.valiant Allies, ; who in tho faco . of- the strength ivith which Germany: marched to the assault _at the commencement of this war, and in tho faco of the - overwhelming losses and the overwhelming /sufferings which they havo endured sinoe tho commencement of this war, havo to-day, with, out one single word of whimpering, without a solitary nots of complaint from end to'end of thei country, steeled themselves for tho endurance -of".tho compaign, and are - determined to hold their ground until-'tho long promised, and often i delayed, hour -arrives, when British relnforcements shall come to their succour. Here is a nation which sets us an example. of steadfastness and resolution in its hour ot trial. These things make us proud of their alliance, make us indeed recognise the debt, which we and all Europe owo to theni 10-<lay, and makes us, I hope, gentlemon, determined to play our part like men also in this struggle, resolving never to-give in-'until victor is hnally accomplished." :