A FUND FOR FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 235, 22 June 1918, Page 6

A FUND FOR FRANCE

Tie desire-to show in a practical and tangible way our sympathy with the French people in the' terrible ordeal through which they are now passing is so natural and reasonable ..that it was almost impossible to believe that our Government would persist in its opposition to the movement to raise funds for the French Bed Gross and other patriotic .purposes approved by tho French Government.' It is satisfactory to know that tho matter ■ haa been reconsidered and that the authorities have now decided to grant tho necessary permit in accordance with the War Legislation Act. All legal obstacles , having been removed, tho originators of the movement will ■ now be able to proceed with tho commendable task <.n the full achievement of which they have set tbteir. hearts , and. .minds with siich laudable enthusiasm, and they can confidently rely upon a- generous response fr-'un .the citizens of Wellington to their appeal. In all her long and eventful history France has never been so jirea't as she is today. How magnificently she has fought! How terribly she has suffered! French soldiers are dying by thousands that France ; niay live: that civilisation may not be destroyed by Prussian savagery; that the world may ; bo,free.. ,Wc must.-never forget that -.France •. is fighting our battle as well as- her: ■Arir. Her blood is being shed for us. This is no mere figure of speech; it is literally true. This thought ought, to make us. who are living in quietness and prosperity in those happy isles, very filling to contribute liberally to the French Funrii All that we can do must fall far short of all that we would like to do; but our gift, and the spirit in which it is given, will bo a substantial insurance to tho ncople of France that we admiro their splendid courage and endurance and that our hearts are touched by the sufferings which they are bearing so heroically. No words can adequately describe what the French have suffered. "What can we do to repay these martyrs?"- asks, an American lied Cross-.'officer.- "The agony of France • is uri&ciievablc. More than 1,110,000 of her civilians, exclusive of. her Army,. have died since the wai—a thirtieth of her population." The Hun carries devastation, wherever he goes. He is an absolutely pitiless pillager. What ht> cannot, use or carry with him he wantonly destroys. But he cannotdestroy the soul of France or break her spirit. Her exalted heroism in this'supremo crisis of her history has evoked the wonder and admiration of the civilised w r orld.

Tn a lecture Recently delivered in London the Aube Sertillanc-es defined.heroism as the action of a man outside, beyond, better, higher, than his normal self! He went on to saythat this quality . ■ . ■.

wns latent in ordinary times; some great crisis like that through which we were passing was needed to bring it out in its full perfection. During the war heroism of the finest sort hnd been shown in a thousand ways, not only by the combatants themselves. But by civilians, and not only individually, but collectively, as at Keiins, where, despite the almost constant bombardment, two thousand children were beitif caVefully educated in the shelters, and plants and flowers were tended in the streets just as in peace lime. This, declared the lecturer, wae the symbol ; of what France, aye, and England, too, was doing and would continue to do. Heroism sprang from three sources, the divine, the human, and the national, and it was deeply significant that the war should have caused, so marked a revival of religious feeling throughout France, not alone among the civilian population, but among the fighters at the front, England and France and their Allies.were indeed engaged in a crusade against, a pagan tyranny, against an adversary who was the enemy of tho whole human race. While.in normal times prudence was the ordinary, every-day attribute most demanded, now, in this witches' sabbath it was heroism that was called for on the part of one and nil; and ?n the humblest soldier in the trenches, the most obscure civilian behind the linos, who did his duty faithfully and unselfishly, was doing'bis shure in the common task, and was in reality as heroic as were the' greatest heroes of old.

These French heroes—soldiers and civilians, women as well as menarc working and fighting and suffering and dying in order to stem the tidal wave of Prussian liarbarism which (jiri'iitcns to overwhelm the world. It is our duty and privilege to give them our utmost moral and material support; to encourage them with our sympr thy; to alleviate their sufferings; to show our-grati-tude for'their hn.very; to share with them the hardships , of the present struggle as well as the" glory of tho coining triumph. It i:,- well that they should be reminded that we in faroff JJcw Zealand realise as fully as they do what defeat would mean for us, for thorn, and for the world, and thatwe are as eager as op r kinsmen 'in the Homeland to show; our gratitude for the glorious services Franco

has rendered to humanity during four years of war. Self-respect demands that our response to the appeal now made .should be prompt, generous, and spontaneous. Any suggestion that the appeal is inopportune at a time when many calls have been and are being made- upon the public must be silenced when it is , considered' that the wonderful security and prosperity we enjoy iirc due in no "small' degree to the heroic efforts and sacrifices France has made so freely for the success of the great cause .for which sha and her Allies arc fighting. ■