PRSIDENT WILSON IN ENGLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 25 January 1919, Page 4

PRSIDENT WILSON IN ENGLAND

New York, Dec 26. The following message has been received from London: — \

have sprung up between yourselves and our soldiers That is because they came not only to associate themselves with you as the champion of liberty, but they came with personal affections in their hearts for the people of l l 'ranee, and it must have been that which you realised they did uo t come as strangers. In their thoughts they brought with them

A GREAT WELCOME

SCENES IN LONDON

Two million Londoners to-day lined two miles of streets canopied with Hags and bunting, and gave avoeifer- ’ ous welcome to the President of the ' United States. In the State carriage , with the King and the Duke of Con- : naught, surrounded by a Sovereign’s j escort of household cavalry, amid the j thudding of saluting cannon; Pre?i- , dent Wilson was received as he passed between the solid lines of soldiers —a popular welcome unprecedented in history. Loudon was not satisfied with the tumultuous greeting accorded during the ceremonial drive to Buckingham Palace, where the President is staying as the King’s guest. Two hundred thousand people, completely filling the huge semicircular assembly place facing the palace, cheered iucessantly until half an hour after Ins arrival. President Wilson appeared oil the balcony beside the King. With them were the Qneen, who waved a small American flag, Mrs Wilson, Princess Mary, and the Duke of Connaught. So prolonged and intense was the cheering that the President, showing great emotion, thanked in a few words the citizens of London for their magnificent welcome.

something that made them feel at home the moment they were at Havre or Brest, in Prance. lam very much moved by being thus drawn as they , have been into your midst, and into j your confidence, and for that I wish | to thank you very warmly for them, j and for the people of the United States. I, like them, shall carry away with me the most delightful recollections, and in my heart always say, as I now say, ‘ Yive la Fiance.’ ” Immediately after the reception at the Hotel de Ville, President Wilson, with General Pershing and a party, motored to Home, where he reviewed a detachment of the First Army of the American Expeditionary Forces. Addressing the troops, General Pershing said:—“Mr President and fellow soldiers, we are gathered here to-day to do honour to the Commander of onr armies and navies. For the (list, time an Americau President will review an Americau army on foreign soil, the soil, of a sister Republic, beside whose gallant troops we have fought to restore peace to the world. Speaking for you and your comrades, I am proud to declare to the President that no army has ever more 1 ally or more effectively served its

The trip from Ohaumouf, the headquarters of the American Army, to Calais was uneventful. Pour French cruisers escorted the Presidential party to the middle of the Straits of Dover, where six British warships relieved them, and escorted the President to Dover. Here President Wilson was met by the Duke of Connaught and the Ambassador, Mr Davis,-and at the decorated station the Mayor of Dover read an address of welcome to which the President replied: “ You have certainly extended to me and to those who are accompany-

loyally «. country, and none lias ever fought in a nobler cause. Mr President, by your confidence and by your support, you have made the success of our army, and to you, as our Commander-in-Chiof, may I now present tbe nation’s victorious army.” Mr Wilson then spoke as follows; — 1 ‘ General Pershing and fellow comrades, I wish that I could give to each one of you the message that I know you are longing to receive from those at home who love you. I cannot do that, but I can tell you how every ouo has put his heart into it. So yon have done your duty and something

ing me a very cordial aud gracious hand of welcome. We have gone through many serious times together, and therefore we can regard each other in a rew light as comrades and associates, because nothing brings men together like a common understanding and a common purpose. 1 think that in spite of all the terrible sufferings and sacrifices of this war, we shall some day, in looking back upon them, realise that they were worth while, not only because of the security-they gave the world against unjust aggression, but also because of the understanding they established between great nations which ought to act with each other in the permanent maintenance of justice and of right. It is therefore with emotions of peculiar gratification that I find myself here. It affords me the opportunity to match my mind with the minds of those who, with a like intention, are purposing to do the best that can be done in the gi’eat settlement of the struggle. I thank you very warmly, gentlemen, for your greetings, and beg to extend to you in the name of my own countrymen the most cordial greetings.” The President and Party then entered the Royal train and proceeded to Charing Cross Station, London. Waiting on the brilliantly decorated platform were the King and Queen, with Princess Mary, the Prime Minister (Mr Lloyd Geoige), and nearly all the members of the War Cabinet and Die principal naval and military officers of the Empire. This meeting between the President and Mr Lloyd George, aft sr introductions to the .Royal Family, was most cordial, as was that between the Queen and Mrs Wilson. The King and the President then inspected the guard of honour. Simultaneously with the departure of the procession from the station the guns of the Tower and in Hyde Park commenced firing a saiute of 41 guns, and the church bells rang out. An enormous crowd mussed around Charing Cross cheering wildly. It was more like an American election crowd than the normally staid populace of London. As the procession neared Marlborough House, Quee 1 Alexandra, the Queen of Norway, Prince Olaf, and Princess Victoria came out and unceremoniously stood on the pavement. The crowd fell back around them, and the President, as the carriage passed, leaned forward and waved greetings in response to the

more. You have done your duty and done it with a spirit which gave it distinction and glory. “ And now we are to hail the fruits of everything. You conquered when you came over what you came over for, and you have done what it was appointed you to do. I know what you expected of me. ' Some time ago a gentleman from one of the countries with which we are associated was discussing with rne the moral aspects of this war, aud I said that if we did did not insist upon the high purpose which we have, accomplished, the end would not be justified. Everybody at home is proud of you, and has followed every movement of this great army with confidence and affection. How the people of the United States are now waiting to welcome you home with an acclaim which probably has never greeted auy other army because, we are a country like this country, we have been so proud of the stand taken • for which this war was entered by the United States. You knew what we expected of you and you did it. I know what yon and the people at home expected of me; and am happy to say, my fellow countrymen, that 1 do not find in the hearts of the great leaders with whom it is my privilege now to co-operate any difference of principle or of fundamental purpose. It happened that it was the privilege of America to present the chart for peace, and now the process of settlement has been rendered comparatively simple by the fact that all the nations concerned have accepted that chart, and that with the application of these principles as laid down, the world will now know that the nations that fought this war, as well as the soldiers who represented them, are ready to make good—to make good not only in the assertion of their own interests but make good in the establishment of peace upon the permanent foundation of right aud of justice. Because this is not a war in which the soldiers of the free nations have obeyed masters. You have commanded, but you have no masters. Your very commanders represent you in representing the nation of which you constitute 'so distinguished a part. And the people and everybody concerned in the settlement know that it must be a people’s peace; that nothiug must be done in the settlement of the issues of the war which is not as handsome as the great achievements of the armies of the United States and the Allies.

flattering handkerchiefs of the Royal group, while the King saluted. Outside the Berkeley Hotel, as the procession turned into Piccadilly, the President received his welcome from the American colony. Every window and balcony had been provided with large baskets of laurels, and American naval and military o[fleers showered flowers on the President and King. They also threw them iuto the carriage occupied by the Queen and Mrs Wilson After the reception at the Palace) when the President and Mrs Wilson with their Royal hosts appeared on the balcony, the President was handed a small Union -Jack by the Queen, and this he waved for some time to the huge delight of the enormous crowd Five aeroplanes in battle formation flow over the Palace.

“ It is diflicult, very diflicult, men. in any normal speech like this, to show yon my real heart. “ You men probably do not realise witlpwbat anxious attention and cave we have followed every step you have advanced, and how proud we are that every step was in advance and not in retreat. Thai every time you set your face in any direction you kept your faces iu that direction.. A thrill has gone through my heart as it has gone through the hearts of every American with almost every gun that was fired and every stroke that was struck in the gallant fighting that you have done. There has been only one regret in America, and that was the regret that every man there felt that he was not there in France, too. It has been a, hard thing for us to perform tasks iu the United States; it has

AOUUKSS TO THIS TKOOI'S IN' I'KAXCK A message from Chaiunont (France), dated December 25, states: President Wilson arrived here early this morning. He went immediately ! lo the Hotel de Villc, where, in response to an address, he said:—“l feel that I have been peculiarly honoured in the generous reception you have given me, and it is the more delightful because it so obviously comes from the heart, and I cannot but believe that it is an instinctive response to tho feeling that is in my own breast, because .1. think that even you who feel contact with our soldiers I cannot realise the depth and sincerity of tho feeling of the United States for Franco. It is ancient friendship, but it has been renewed, and has taken oil a new youth. It is a friendship [ which is not only tentative, but one j based upon a communion of principle. You have spoken very generously and beautifully of Hie relations which

been a hard thing to take part in

directing what you did without coming over and helping you do it. ft has taken a lot of moral courage to stay at home, but we are proud to back yon up everywhere. It was possible to back you up, and now I am happy to find what splendid names you have made for yourselves among the civilian population of France, as well as among your comrades in tho armies of the French, and it is a line testimony to you men that these people like yon, and love you, and trust you ; and the finest part of it all is that you deserve their trust.

“ 1 feel a comradeship with you to-day which is delightful as I look down upon theso undisturbed fields and think of the terrible scenes through which yon. have gone, and realise now that the quiet of peace, of the tranquillity of settled hopes, lias descended upon us, And while it is hard, far away from home, confidently

to bid you 1 A Merry Xinv,’ I think I can coufidnlly promise you ‘A Happy Hew Year,’ and I can, from the bottom of my heart, say ‘ God bless you.’ ” After the review President Wilson and party motored to Montigny le Roi, where he and Mrs Wilson took their Christmas dinner with the officers of the 2t)'.h Division. In the afternoon lie visited the troops in their billets.' The President returned to Chaumont in time to leave at 6 p.m. for London.