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.

HISTORISCHE KRANTEN

The Ypres Times (1921-1936) | 1932 | | pagina 22