FRENCH NATIONAL FETE DAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2828, 20 July 1916, Page 6

FRENCH NATIONAL FETE DAY

-♦ MESSAGE FROM NEW ZEALAND "VICTORY IS CERTAIN" Tho editor of the London "Daily Chronicle" recently sent a cablegram to the Right Hon. \V\ I l '. Massey asking dim to send a message of appreciation of "the spirit and temper exhibited by Franco during nearly two years' war." This is the cablegram that Mr. Massey eent in reply to the request:— "New ZealanSers greet their French comrades with affection and admiration on this their National Fete Day. For the first time in history it has been our privilege, along with the other oversea Dominions of' tho British Empire, to talco up arms in defence of the rights of tree nations, and to send our soldiers to 6ght side by side with tho gallant sons of Prance. "This war during its progress has disclosed many things to the world. Preeminently it has transfigured tlio French people and" revealed tho sonl of tho nation as a mighty, irresistible force, sustained by Divine faith, chivalric courage, heroic endurance, and patient selfsacrifice. Illumined by the fierce light of war, France stands, as sho has stood all, through the accumulated horrors and outrages of nearly two years' warfare, us an. object-lesson to all civilised nations. She has given convincing proof that, while bruto force and barbarism may hold sway for a time, Right will surely triumph in the long run, and those principles of good faith, justice, and liberty which have been so wantonly violated by the robber nations of Europe shall be preserved untarnished. "Wo shall never forget those first tragic days of the war, when tho Germans, by sheer force of numbers and overwhelming superiority in munitions, seemed to bo driving all before them, leaving in their wijco the spoliation of fair towns and villages and the memory of unspeakable outrages inflicted on their inhabitants. In Now Zealand'out warmest sympathies were' roused, and we were strengthened in our resolve to send every available man into tho fighting line in order to assist in carrying the war through to a successful and vie-' torious end.

"Witen tho enemy was in turn beaten on the Manic and stubbornly held by the French on a fiw-hundred-niilo front on the Aisno and Ysor, in tho Argonne, and in tho Vosgos, wo rejoiced, although our hearts were saddened by the sacrifices that had been required. No less has tho heroic defence of Verdun filled us with pride. The spirit of La Nouvelle Franco spells final victory to thb comrades of those who have so freely and nobly given their lives for the land of their birtlf. The ultimate triumph Is theirs, Their fame is as imperishablo as their deeds aro immortal. To Franco and her dauntless army, to our Allies, and to our own British soldiers, we say. Fight on: Victory is certain! God will defend the Right. ' "W. F. MASSEY, "Primo Minister."