The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1914. THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 84, 4 September 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1914. THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM.

The effect of British assistance upon the morals of the French is only estimable when we consider the peculiar tempera- ' ment of that gay nation (writes, tho Auckland Herald.) The French have never fought well unless they fought, hopefully, whereas t)i(< British never fight well unless they fight with their backs to tile wall. The French need the constant exaltation of glowing moods to bring out the heroic qualities which they possess in so great a measure; the British grow obstinate against odds, and have ever done their best in the sullen temper of the North. This is tho lesson of all, tho wonderful French victories, as of all the amazing campaigns that Ivave made pages in British history. In France, to-day, the presence of British troops in their defensive fighting line must ...be to French courage as an inspiring flame. Under any circumstances the French would fight desperately for their country; side by side with the steady English th-iy canflot but be heroic. Their passionate pride of nationality; their keen sense of emulation; their individual and collective ambition to show to their allies that they are not inferior people: must nerva the French to' excel themselves. The British soldier may not understand how much lie is doing for France, but it is unquestionable that our British troops beat back the German attack, in the indomitable duty-doing which is part of their being, they set every French soldier's 1 heart aglow with ecstatic determinaton. And if we look for an influence' that even British troops are the better fo£, that lias sunk very deep into the toul of the islanders as it has rouSed the martial instincts of the British throughout the world, it is to be found in tho wonderful stand of the lielgians at Liege. These Belgians will ever be tiw great heroes of this war for freedom. They are so few, and Germany bo strong. Their forts were small and the German hosts Were so great. Yet the love of liberty and freedom, which is the strongest and purest of all human passions, inspired them to .do a deed which will live as human memory endures. The resolutions of the Imperial Parliament have placed on record Britain's recognition of Belgium's devotion. Wherever freedom is worshipped and liberty loved, the, humblest Belgian from henceforth may walk as a king among men. From this iiercc grappling of freedom and tyranny upon tho, eastward frontier of France, the eyes o f the civilised world turn anxiously to the coming of the Russian from his steppes. It is strange that freedom slioul depend so much on the subjects of the Tsar, "but Providence moves in mysterious ways and Wisdom is justified of all her children. Whatever the past of the Tsarocracy, wihatever its history and crimes, it is undeniable that Russia is lighting to-day on the side of freedom. So essential has it been for the St. Petersburg Government to demonstrate this, that the gift ol political liberty to the lonu; oppressed Poles has been laid on the altar of Europeau public opinion. When victory crowns j the righteous cause of the Allies, when the German flood ebbs back to the French frontier and leaves again the outraged lands of the Belgians, when the Kaiser is drivpn to light for his own piratical crown within lys own country, the Poland that has been redeemed by the strange, complications of thS great war will,, stand again among the nations. As for Germany, when th;> j war is over she can never again be the I menace she has been to the political liberty of civilisation. There are many who think that the war may collapse in a rising of German dissentients against tho fatal policy of the Kaiser, but it is too early in the day to surmise how deeply the German nation is committed to the criminal purposes of its military Government. AH we know is that Germany has become an enemy of freedom in the world, that she has trodden underfoot every law that parts the. barbarian from the civilised, that she has abandoned all international truth and has shown herself unworthy of international trust and respect. There has not been, in modern times, such ailother instance of absolute contempt for all that honorable nations hold dear. When we compare the stirring appeal of .Mr Wilson to the great American people, in the matter of Panama tolls—that they should so act that nations would trust their word and recognise their honor—with the tearing up by the Kaiser of his treaty with Belgium and his criminal attempt to take France unawares over neutral territory, with his sowing of the high seas with mines in spite of hi.s participation in Immune ' ••(invention, and with his monstrous treatment of unoffending Belgian villagers, we can see that Germany has been reduced to the lowest "level of barbarism. It is against this barbaric tyranny, whose success would endanger . every free nation ill the world, that tlie liriti-.h troops in France are now making their great fight for fre-dcni.