duly Of the many articles which have been written on the subject of the French National Day, this is the saddest, In the past they have been written in the dark days of the lust war, in the hopeful atmosphere of 1918, in the carly days of a glorious peace, and latterly in years when the catastrophe, Which has now befallen Europe, was anti cipated. Today "a stricken nation will observe the festival, in sorrow, Encourage ment to make these remarks is to be found a telegram from Havas stating that. the French in London will commemorate their national holiday in a manner befitting the circumstances. A guard of honour formed from among French soldiers, sailors, and men, who are continuing their fight against the Axis Powers, will be posted today before the Cenotaph, General de Gaulle will at~ tend the Cenotaph service, and lay a wreath its foot, while a similar ceremony will ike place' before the statue of the late Marshal Foch hero of the last war. Probably in many French homes the ceremony which used fo take plice in Alsace and Lorraine, so aptly and touchingly described by a con tribtor to yesterday's correspondence columns, will take place. Perhaps even in un occupied France there will be quiet observance of the day in a determination that come what may the spirit of France shall not be allowed to flag. It is certain that abroad Frenchmen, whose loyally to all that for which their country stood, and, despite appearances," still stands, will mark the day, not with rejoicing, but with quiet confidence that the future! shall bring changes, and that the glory which is. still that of France shall continue! to shine unsullied in the centuries which are! come. There has been done in recent days:
great deal which whs grievously inevitable. None regret it more than the British who defence of what is still a common eause,—for democratic freedom must still be the! mutual aim of the British and French peoples;—had to execute grave decisions with pain in their hearts, and great grief that it had to be. That sorrow is all the heavier because no matter what mistakes might have been molle in the field of battle, no matter what errors of judgment might' have been committed, the fact remains that the world has witnessed the superb gallantry of the French soldier and sailor, whose fight against} overwhelming odds has covered them with epic glory.
There must be no mistake about it, no thinking Briton, indeed no one not prejudiced bby one or other of the various ideologies, can have anything but the greatest admiration: for the manner in which the French people have conducted themselves, the services and the civilians alike, "Between the British people and the French there can be no eriti~ cism; that can be left to history. Instead, at least as far as the British are concerned, and most certainly: so far as a large propo tion of the French people also, there remai those sume bonds of sympathy ind friendship which have lasted these Inst forty years of almost unending struggle—for the last peace} was merely it surcease from war,—and which it may be confidently expected will continue! to exist. That must be so in order' th: what is planned against them shall be defeated. And what is planned against them can be put in words applicable to this day. The Axis powers are endeavour spiritual Bastille whose ominous grey towers, like those which were torn down in Paris, shall overshadow the whole of Europe and eventually the whole world. It is a Bastille of fear, of harved, of all that is hide tous in the eyes of peoples who have struggled throughout the centuries for freedom. It is a Bastille of {errorism, of slavery and of every novation of those things for which generations of men have willingly given of their blood. I is a Bastille more horrible in its conception than that grey mass which domin= ated Paris, and as this latter was captured razed on July 14, 1789, so will this thing which the enemy is) endeavouring to construct be destroyed, and its terror banished from the lives of men. It is in that faith that the British, and those French who re-mun loyal to their ideals,—and amongst those must be included those in France itself who ave foreed 10 bow {0 circumstanees,—those who are still permitted liberty of action, continue their struggle, There will be no bronze column, crowned with the gilded gute of the venins of liberty mark the place where this thing, which the Germans and Ialians are trying 10 build, stood, but instead above its ruins—for ruins they shall be—the sun of freedom, of equality, and brotherhood shall again shine. It may be asked why in this dark hour these things are written. 'They are not mere empty words, 'They are dictated by that faith' which' move th mountains, that faith which' refuses to accept the idea of defeat, a faith whic I bring liberty to France and freedom to all those people who have been objected to all the hideousness which the: distorted minds of the Nazis have been able to invent for the people who have incurred their haved. It is in that faith that the Dritish Empire, und those peoples who are stil fighting by its side, will continue to) fight until vielory brings rescue to them all. Avis in the determination that Europe shall' be liberated from the chains in which the Dictators would enslave it, that France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark," Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and indeed all those other persecuted peoples shall be allowed to work out their own destinies, that the fight will be continued. It is a fight worth fighting, the fruits of victory so rich, the penalty of defeat so terrible! There is not one person who believes in Democracy who will not say with Danton "que mon nom soit fletri; que Jo France soit libre! It is to be regretted that some quarters locally have thought ft to indulge in criticism of the French in this hour of grave trial. AM that need be said about it is that it is as tactless as it is Matulent. The local French community can rest assured that the deepest sympathy, the Keennest friendship and admiration is felt by the majority of Britons for them in Shanghai. Indeed that is true all over the world, and while it may not be possible to tender, to them the the same felicitous sentiments' of previous years, they may rest assured that no effort shall be spared that in the years to ome the happiness of the past shall again be France's.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.