The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18th, 1922. A GENERAL MISCONCEPTION.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 January 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18th, 1922. A GENERAL MISCONCEPTION.

The fact that there are people in France to-day, despite the lessons of the Great War, who consider Britain n weak military power, suggests that a very general misconception is abroad. The Kaiser and his co-generals wore equally at fault in misjudging the army which Britain could throw into the field. Doubtless Germany had been watching Britain baited by Ireland and defied by the suffragists. Ireland was known to be on the verge of civil war, and the agents of Germany.were dong their best to foment strife in Ireland, so as to keep Britain busy in that quarter. Tne suffragists went on with their excesses unchecked. And there were labor difficulties, and what not, to contend with, so Germany had some grounds for believing the British were effete. The invaders of Belgium never dreamt that Britain could pull herself together so quickly. That from every part of the Empire her sons would rush to arms and swell the ranks of the greatest and grandest army the world had ever seen. It began with the tiny expeditionary force—the advance guard of the “contemptibles” nnd the beginning did not end till the enemy cried: “Hold, enough!” Doubtless some such misconception of the real position is clouding the minds of the excitable French people. They are witnessing the riots and rebellion in Ireland, in Egypt, and in India, and this indiscipline, and lack of upholding authority causes the French critics to misjudge the British. They overlook the temporising character of the Bri- ( tiah, and the desire to secure peace rather than make war. Particularly » Britain loth to make war on her own people, and this clement attitude is by some regarded as a sign of weakness. But it is only necessary to rouse the lion as Germany did, to find that Bri- (

tain is not indifferent to the situation Really the French should have learned this lesson from the reality of the war. and the prodigies of valor the British performed. How Britain poured men. munitions and money into France is n matter which should be better understood by the French nation than any other part of the world. With the knowledge so possessed, France should be the last to point the finger of scorn at the British army, or for one moment to doubt the ability of Britain to come to tlie rescue of France, should similar circumstances arise through the unwarranted invasion of French territory. The war, however, is blamed for a good deal, and its terrible ordeal upon the French people may have shaken their understanding somewhat. Some excuse must be offered for their want of faith in the British, for if the deeds of the latter will not- have created faith in their neighbour, surely nothing which can be said now will do so. Britain proved her worth by deeds for France, and it is a poor requittal indeed to find now that leaders of thought in France are doubting the genuineness ol present day promises from the British.