THE YPRES TIMES
By Lieut.-Col. R. C. Feilding, D.S.ü.
Reprinted from Calling," by kind permission of Col. Feilding.)
IN November, 1918, when the front line troops were told that the Armistice
had been signed, their demeanour was one of quiet dignity, as became members
of an army which for more than four years had faced the most powerful
fighting machine the world has ever known. But, though they showed no out
ward exuberance such as was seen in London,* the feeling of relief was none
the less for that, and they returned to their billets buoyed up with happy expectation.
Whilst they stood in the trenches they had had plenty of time for meditation,
and in their minds a vision had grown up of an England which was a sort of
fairyland; an England, in fact, which never has existed, and never will exist so
long as men are human.
They were told that the Prime Minister had said:"We will make our
country into a land fit for heroes," and though .they did not regard themselves
as heroes, it pleased them to think that the Prime Minister had spoken like that.
It seemed to justify their hopes for better times.
Their disillusionment began when, on their return home, they discovered
that while they had been risking death and mutilation for is. id. a day, many of
their fellows at home had been growing rich out of the war. Raw girls, and men
who for some reason had escaped military service, had been receiving wages of
five, ten, fifteen pounds a weekeven more. And, to their surprise, they learnt
that these people were not contented, but were for ever clamouring for more.
Thirteen years have passed, and the world is still staggering from the blows
of 1914-18. The civilization of the centuries sways in the balance. Which of
the nations would have had the heart to go into the war had it foreseen the
consequences.
There is a crisis facing us to-day as serious as that of 1914, and far more
profound. Many people believe that we are experiencing one of the great con
vulsions that occur at intervals in history, on the eve of violent change, though
it is not clear as yet whither we are wending. England again leads the way, and
the eyes of the whole world, as ever, are fixed upon her. If dreams count for
anything the visions that the soldiers dreamt in the trenches will surely not
have been in vain
In the midst of it all we are being deluged with pacifist propaganda. Make
no mistake. War is a ghastly thing, and the after-effects are worse than war
itself, but war has this redeeming featurethat, while it lasts, it often brings
out the best in human nature.
Treitschke, the German historian, whose teaching was to a large extent
responsible for the Great War, though he never fought himself, condemned peace
talk. "What a perversion of morality," he said, "to wish to eliminate heroism
from humanity!" Napoleon, who did fight, once said, "Some day, victories
will be won without cannon and without bayonets." Such a victory," he went
A memento of Armistice night is still to be seen in Trafalgar Square, where the plinth of the Nelson
Monument has been damaged by a bonfire which was lighted on the steps.