GUARDIANS OF THE GATES.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1917, Page 3

GUARDIANS OF THE GATES.

! ALLIES' DEBT TO SERVIA. . London, August 8. Speaking at the luncheon given by the Servian Society, Mr. Lloyd George said the Allies owed more to M. Pashiteh, Prime Minister of Servia, and M. Venizelos, Prime Minister of Greece, than he could possible reveal at present. Servia, which had been covered by tile dirt of Turkish barbarism, was about to be cleaned, and would yet appear fresh and wonderful. Tho first condition of. peace Was complete restoration without reservation. However long the war may last, [British honor was involved in seeing that Servia was freed.

Servia and Belgium were the guardians of the gates, and bravely they had defended them. Servian troops, although, overwhelmed, were never disheartened, and wero still guarding the gate. We extended again the hand of friendship to Servia. and we would go through the war together to the end. Lord Robert Cecil, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs,' declared he was convinced there was no inconsistency between the aims of Italy and those of Servia. M. Pashiteh. whom Lord Robert Cecil described as tho "Grand Old Man of Servia," after expressing his deepest thanks for what Britain had done for small nations, said that Germany now .spoko of ail honorable peace. Such a peace could only be secured if tho people under the Austro-German rule were set free. "If France gets hack. Alsace-Lorraine, if the Italians accomplish unity with their still unredeemed brethren, if the unity of the Serbs, Croats, and .Slovines is achieved, if the Qzechs and Slovaks arc united and independent., if the Polish and Rathenian questions are solved, then," 11. Pashiteh declared, "and only then, will an honorable peace be secured." (Cheers).