THE HUNTLY PRESS PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 1914. Notes and Comments.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 6, 28 August 1914, Page 2

THE HUNTLY PRESS PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 1914. Notes and Comments.

The meeting held in the King’s hall last LOCAL week showed PATRIOTISM. (hat the patriot .: isin of the mining town is as fervid as that displayed in any part of the Dominion. The high patriotic note struck by., the chairman (Mr J. P. Bafley) in his opening speech was well maintained by the Rev. J. Richards, the Rev. J. T. MeVVilliam, and others peakers, while the members of the audience by their cheers and by the fervour with which they sang *’ God Save the King,” and “Rule Britannia,” as well as by their response to the request for subscriptions to the Defence Fund, as tangible signs of their practical patriotism, proved that their sympathies were with the movement, that they had heard, and were ready to answer, the Empire’s call. The enthusiasm was refreshing, the imperial spirit'was strong, and the confidence in the result of the colossal war how being waged harboured no suggestion of defeat, but foretold and anticipated victory for tire allied arms. Sectional strife, industrial animosity, political acerbity, and even personal antipathies were forgotten in a unanimous desire to.show devotion to the .Empire which stands for truth, for .justice, for freedom, and for liberty, and love for the country which, though separated from New Zealand by thousands of miles of ocean, they regard as home and the cradle of their race. The imperial bond was strengthened, the ties of kinship Were drawn closer, and the imperial heritage with wlii.ti the' living are entrusted took a deeper meaning, while the responsibilities which this great heritage entails were emphasised. Truly, in the unity and solidarity of the race is compensation for the sacrifices and the suffering consequent upon a great national crisis. Tennyson’s question, “ God of Buttles ! Was ' R ever a battle like PRES BINT this in the world '' AR - b< f >r > ? ’ is being asked by thousands of people at this juncture when, in point of numbers, anil in the scope and magnitude of the operations involved, the greatest battle ever recorded in the world’s history is. being waged on the Fruneo-Belgian frontier where hundreds 6f thousands of men, stretched over a fioutage of a hu ml rod -miles, are engaged in a Titanic struggle on a scale so vast that human ini agination is staggered. The huge h-rfs* over which Xerxes wept, the march of Napoleon with his 600,000 men into Russia, the great battle of Waterloo where some 200,000 were engaged, and Mukden in winch less than a million men. took p ud. shrink int > insignificance when compared with the hosts employed in Europe to-day. It is with time as it is with numbers; for, whereas days only were required to bring a battle to a decisive close, weeks must now elapse before any final pronouncement can he made. The lay mind puzzles over the general scheme of attack and defence, but finds it impossible to fit I he varums mo: o ments in to a comprehensive and .coherent plan. The hardships and privations of the masses oftroops k'pt continuously in the fighting line, the nervous strain engendered, and the slaughter tint must in >vlt idly a ;e >m i me the use of in > lorn we itVj is of m uv d e r u u s e fri a a c y c i n i > 3 faintly pictured, but tin sari is of advances and retreats, of tactical and strategic movements, necessary in such an aggregate of military strength, cannot be grasped mentally, and the relation of the various detached conflicts to the battle as a whole bringing victory and defeat to sections of one army or the other, cannot In judged until either the plan of attack on one side has faded, or exhaustion has brought the colossal struggle to'a Temporary, close. Heretofore the bravery of the' gallant Belgians has absorbed our attention, but now oiir hopes and sympathies centre round Mens whore the British are located. We know that oiir country-men will fight to the last, gloriously upholding the traditions of the race and adding new laurels to the glories of their* regiments, and, though details come slowly and the accounts are meagre, we can contemplate the end with equanimity, confident that, while defeat is possible, it will never be accompanied by disgrace. News of reverse- in various parts of the fighting Jdug. is to be expected, an -!,J 'V> i j.q things do hot proceed V w > would wish, we mu d s i •-pend judgment and wait. l *iy lb - .issue. The Empire. Juts'f bp d i forced: into a waf-iri which h n mDbade it take part; it Imm gone into the struggle with clean hands; and the result <»f the present battle, even if ug o ust the allies, will not nu- in a final victory, though a r.’Y", must naturally .increase an 1 go far to perfect the morale of the German and Austria’] tro >ps. In the meantime it is warn to suspend judgment, t:).}j':-sL<t‘ - the temptation to draw in ranees from detached and individual encounters, and await the conclusion ’of the great battle as a whole with ail. the pat ience at oiir coni maud.

The news that the end of the Austrian Em* Austrian P aror is . Empkkoh. V l n’ an th f h ® ls following to the great beyond Pope Pius X, whose life was consecrated to, and, undoubtedly, shortened by his anxiety tor, the preservation of peace and the conservation of the status quo —illustrates the truth of Shakespeares's words— Uneasy lies the head that bears the crown.” It is curious to note how the dying Emperor Inis lived throughout his long reign in the face vof grim j fa mil v tragedies, wheu’disasters have been so numerous that I Nemesis, it would seem, has tracked him continuously and relentlessly;fbr; during the last sixty odd years, he has witnessed an “ unending family panorama of suicide, accident, murder and madness. His wife was assassinated in Italy. His only son was buried in a suicide’s grave. His brother, Maximilian, was shot by a firing squad in Mexico. His sister-in-law was burned to death in Paris. His only daughter died of typhoid fever. Prince Louis and the Archduke Johann were drowned. Maxi, milian’s wife became insane Archduke Ladislaus was shot while hunting. Otto, the Emperor’s brother, went mid.. Otto’s son Karl, now heir to the throne, is married to the Princess Zita, who is one of the twenty children born to Duke Robert of Bourbon-Parma, and eighteen of these twenty, are insane. Two long lines of madness ha ve merged to produce the present heir to the AustroHungarian throne.” And having witnessed these grim tragedies, this old and broken man, whose last act was to plunge Europe into an awful and calamitous war, is passing while his army is suffering ignominious defeat at the hands of despised Servia.