One hundred and fifty years ayo today, after it had raised its threatening head over Paris for two decades more than four con-turies, the Bastifle was attacked by a Paris, mob.' The day of glory had arrived, and the grey, sinister threat which had cast its shadows over the lives of Parisians just as truly as it had over the streets and "houses of the French capital was razed to the ground that all might see the great sin of freedom fof which men had dreamt for centuries past, ut which had seemed so much obscured by the presence of the Bastille and all that it stood for. A nation was reborn overnight, the tyranny of old had been swept away, and while France had yet to wade through streams of blood until she did in fact sind herself, Quatorze Juillet was the sign of a new resurgence, the dawn of a new day, the promise of a fuller life for the citizens of Franze, It was the violent commencement of a violent revolution, inevitable because of the smouldering hatred of a past system which fon this day a century and a half ago burst into flame which raced across the country bringing to Frenchmen 1 new hope and prom~ ise of wider horizons. It was more; it was the sign of the spiritual regeneration of a people and an emphatic enunciation of the Fights of man to liberty, fraternity and equality. This it is necessary should be remembered, for it was just those rights for which France was then' fighting which had been acquired in the British Isles by that slow, comparatively bloodless struggle which had gone on down the centuries, What Oni Jand "had secured by a long, grim, hard struggle, France was to secure in a shorter space of time with a corresponding acuteness of suffering. How many seeing the assault fon the Bastille thought then that this was the forerunner of a new order of things in France? Who could possibly have believed that it was anything more than any other riot in Paris? Tt might have been nothing more, for if the garrison in the Bastille had been able to hold out and defeat the mob, the subsequent pages of French history might have read very differently.
The task of building up the Frenci demo-racy was by no means an easy one, It was carried out at a very bitter cost but the objec tive was reached, and today, wherever there are Frenchmen, there is that pride of achieve ment the yearly reminder of which binds them closer and closer to the ideals for which their forefathers fought, They are ideals for which British struggled, and it is because of that fact that British interest in this festival day is somewhat more intimate than is the ease with certain other national days, Phot Interest is all the greater because of prevail ing conditions and the manifest threat to-the democracies which has raised its ugly head and which may have to be sternly resisted. Consequently the inclusion of British ner planes in the French demonstration over Paris, is to be taken not only as a significant Kesture for those who are capable of bonds of friendship forged when the Cordiale was arrived at, and welded in the terrific heat and suffering on many a battle~ field, where French and British Inia down their lives in defence of their countries and the principles which are their very heart's blood. This Anglo-French bond is no small thing. Let it be admitted that mutual in-{erests have brought the two nations together let it be said,—if any dare say sv,—that the most sordid considerations have united them. and even then it cannot be gain said that in the supreme oblation of wav a finer quality has been created in which common interests sink into the background behind that very real friendship which has been purified by suffering and sanctified by sacrifice. There fs nowhere in the world another such alliance conceived and carried out with such nobility of purpose—the defence of democracy and all that it'means to mankind, It contemplates no aggression; it will not be put in operation for the aggrandisoment of either of the parties to it, but stands as a steady bulwark against "the envy of less happier lands." The fears which were expressed this time last year have not passed away indeed they may be said to have intensified, but if there has been any improvement. in the international outlook it is to be found in the steady common preparation against future possibilities which enables them (0 be garded with rather more confidence than was the case a brief twelve months What of the future? Who knows what might have happened by the comes round again? It world will be plunged Into that holocai from which the statesmen of the world are striving with might and main to hold humanily back. But if indeed. that catastrophe comes it will be met with the same common determination, the sume dogged. resolution which carried these two nations through the varied fortunes of the Great War, Neither of them want to fight, but, if they are forced 0 do so, it will be with the fierce resolve that. come what may, the principles of democracy dear to the peoples of both nations shall be completely vindicated amd perpetuated, It would not be fitting to allow such a day 10 pass without especial reference to the operation which the French have been ex-fending to Britons in the Far East, Drawn into the Tientsin dispute through no fault of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.