THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 105, 26 September 1914, Page 5

THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

FAILING KfiDESmiTEbjf POUT. PoNIED.

MESSAGE PROM THE GOVERNOR.

By Telegraph.—Press' Association. TT . _ ; Wellington, September 25. 11*8 Excedency the Governor received | advice from tho Imperial Government wv-e morning that tine New Zealand exqicdi'tjoTuiTy force will not sail for some little time. The Governor is anxious, for obvious reasons, to take the people into lug confidence on tills matter at tlie earliest Dowib-le moanerot, but would earnestly request them not to make this a subject »f comment, as the delay is solely caused by the exigencies of the service, when such extensive operations are everywhere in progress. This applies as wed to tho Ouher expeditionary forces of tli c overseas dominions.

GOVERNOR FAREWELLS THE FORCE.

A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE, At the official farewell to the New Zealand troops at Wellington on Thursday, Ilis Excellency the Governor said: " Major-General Sir Alexander Godiey, officers, non-commissioned officers, aiid men of this contingent—This great assemblage which you see around vou today has come to wish you aU God-speed. Time was not so very long ago whtm the sight of troopships in a New Zealand harbour denoted the arrival of : troops from the Old Country. To-day the story is reversed. England has need of all her sons to-day, and this young Dominion is sending Home to the Mother Country her best. It has been a great pleasure, I will say a great honor, to me to inspect the men here to-dav. I don't think anybody will fear as to the future. You are indeed the very pick of the manhood of this Dominion, and I know that you will give a good account of yourselves whatever you are called upon to do.

"There is a tinge of sadness in my heart to-day. It is because I alone of all the reserve of officers in this Domin--1 ion am unable to allow my name to be ! called in the roll of my. own regiment; but I assure you all, whether you may be spectators or on parade, that I will do my best to serve your interests to the best of my power so long as I am in this Dominion. No Government, as Pitt Bias said, ever made war with a light heart, but if ever a Government had a righteous cause for which to go to war it is the country to whiclt we have the honor to belong to-day. I know—as has been oft Tepeated to you since the war began—that we will not sign peace, that -peace will not be declared, until we have made a righteous end of this war. We have been forced into it by an unrighteous foe, anxious to advance and to have power to put everything political in the world out of gear, and we are determined that as we have put our hands to the plough we will not look backwards.

"I want to tell you. one thing more. I know, that all of you here, whether spectators or on parade, will want to hear of those at sea or left behind. Now, for the sake of the safety of this force, we cannot have indiscriminate messages passing, but I hare arranged with the general officer that he will let me know how everything is going on whenever possible, and when you don't hear you will know that all is well. I have very few words to utter. I need not say to you all that when you go forward with your battle-cry, 'For Cod, King, and Em., pire,' our hearts also will go with you. We wish you success in this undertaking for the Empire, this colossal undertaking in which you are engaged, and we shall be here to welcome you, God willing, when you return again to New Zealand." (Applause and cheering.)

[RECEIVED LIKE A KING. GENERAL FRENCH IN PARIS. South African papere received at Fremantle last week by the steamer Suevlc contain extensive reports of the landing of the British expeditionary forces at Boulogne, says the Sydney Sun correspondent. A report of the landing in a French paper says:—'"The aged Governor of Boulogne received Sir John French. They spoke, standing at the salute, for some moments. It was the thrilling moment of a historic meeting—the first time for centuries that a British commander had set foot in France las combatant except as a foe. . The British troops marched through Boulogne) laughing, shouting and singing. The men would interrupt the singing and whistling and shout in unison, 'Arc we downhearted? No.' 'Do we win 1 Bather.' Field-Marshal French's reception in Paris is said by the French .papers to !have been comparable only with tTio scenes witnessed when the King and Queen of England visited Paris in April last."

ON THE AISNE. WHERE THE BATTLE RAGBS. The river Aitsnc, which. rises at the southern end of the Argonne Range, some forty milee ion a diireet line between Verdun and Paris, east and west, flows at first northward! (parallel wAUh tie lowest and weHtorn Stapes of the Argonne and then at the- i<6rl<h .of that range .turns duo west and wins almost parallel wiMi thle (Maitme to Oomipiegnc, where it joins the Oise. The line of the Aisne is naturally very strong. The Tiveir itseM is pairafcled by a canal a. few inileti to the south, atud along its northern banikß are tew 'but commanding USSa, often well-wooded. The whole country is highly euttvßlfcedi, and, whale all kinds of cereals aire grown, beetroot I is an important crop. The large forests of Ooiiey and St. Gobara lie l»e----tween the aiiver ami Laon and La Fere and add to the difficulties of tflic a»Siißamlte. There are many quarries of freestone, gyipsuim. and clay, and a large amounlt of manufacturing is carried on. It was in this country, retreating home after the sasgtiin-.i,ry battle of Leipzig, 1813, tHait Napoleon torriert om> life pursuers and dealt tOieml some dting»n.g Iblo-wa In three succcssiive days he defeated Saeken at MontinSraii, York at Champaailbert, and BWheir and his main, body at Idtogeß. Thi® ■was near the Miiime. The Emperor then attauiwo. BHi-clier's rallied forces and dlrove the Prussians back on Soissons. At Laon , Blnehor secarcd further reinforcements, ■brin<nng Ms army up to 100,000 as »gainst Napoleoni's 30,000. The French were defeated at Lawn on March 9, ; 1814. ■ Dauatlcßßly, Noipiolekm struck oijaiaii, 'but he iviis outniuirabelred, and \\y the end of the month he had only a wreck of an army in Paris. With his abdication come 'the downfall of the Must EtmpSi'e.