The boys and girls of this generation have had the opportunity and
responsibility of living through great times. In days to come they
will look back with a feeling akin to awe on the hours when, in Sir
Owen Seaman's words, they "saw the Powers of Darkness put to flight"
and "saw the morning break." The future of our country will be
determined by the youth of to-day. Problems of the greatest complexity
and perplexity await solution, and can be solved only by honesty,
intelligence, sympathy, breadth of outlook, sacrificial service, and
the fear of God. The teachers and pupils now in our schools are in the
midst of a great crisis, and will need greatness of soul that they may
rightly face it. That they will respond nobly to the challenge of the
age, I have not the shadow of a doubt.
Never was there a more timely occasion for the teaching of an ardent
and enlightened patriotism. Those who understand the issues at stake in
the Great War, the genius of the world-wide British Commonwealth, the
national consciousness of our own fair Canada, the lessons taught us by
the mighty struggle, will be well-instructed citizens of this Dominion,
equipped by knowledge and by spirit to serve their country, their
Empire, and the world.
The selections of Verse and Prose in this book set forth the varying
and successive phases of the War, and seek to remind, to inform, and to
inspire. The teachers will use them as vehicles of moral and patriotic
instruction. The pupils will keep them forever in their hearts and
minds. Surely if we wish to introduce any good element into the life of
a nation, it can best be introduced through its schools and colleges.
It is well to recall the issues that have been decided; for in no
struggle have greater hung in the balance. The crime perpetrated
against the Belgians, aggravated by its accompanying treachery and
brutality and immediately followed by unparalleled sanguinary atrocity,
revealed as by a lurid flash the nature and the greatness of the menace
to which Christian civilization was exposed. Prussian militarism, in
this belated, almost incredible but all too terrible, outbreak of
Pagan barbarism, threatened to overthrow all the best elements in
international life.
(1) The very idea of a Commonwealth of Europe, the growing sense of
solidarity, the recognition of general interests, the existence of
international institutions such as the Hague Tribunal--were seen to be
doomed, if Germany should come forth a victor.
(2) The law of international good faith,--the absolutely indispensable
foundation for any international fabric,--would be abolished, if a
single criminal state could defy it with impunity, and could profitably
disregard treaties, oaths, Geneva Conventions, Hague Declarations, if
these interfered with its own selfish advantage.
(3) The fate of the smaller States of Europe, with their own special
contributions to civilization, would be sealed, if the arrogant
_Kultur_ of Germany were forced upon a subjugated world.
(4) The principle of nationality, vital to a stable and organic modern
state, would be crushed or remain as a source of constant unrest in
Austro-Hungary, in the Balkan Peninsula, and in other disturbed parts
of Europe.
(5) Democracy, with all it implies of self-government, freedom from
external compulsion, peaceful development, and civic progress,
was recognized as having come to deathgrips with its ancient
foe--militaristic autocracy.
(6) The future development of all the Free States of the world, the
Entente Powers and the neutrals, was threatened by the German blow
for world-power. The very existence of the British Empire as a free,
prosperous, and progressive commonwealth, was imperilled. The freedom
of our own Dominion was assailed.
(7) Behind all political and material interests, profound moral issues
were at stake. The struggle was against the "armed doctrine,"--that
diabolical perversion of all sound political thinking,--that the
essence of the State is might, that the State is above all moral
restraints, that war is its normal and noblest activity, and that war
may be waged with pitiless ferocity and scientific frightfulness.
All the forces that opposed freedom, self-government, and progress
gathered around the despotisms of Central Europe. In 1914 they made
their bid for world dominion. Never before had so much been at stake;
perhaps never again will such issues be put to the test. Thank God, the
judgment has been given; the righteous government of the world has been
vindicated; Right has triumphed over Might.
Gradually the real nature of the struggle was recognized by the free
peoples of the world. Their sons felt they were summoned to a new
crusade. They went forth as champions of democracy against autocracy,
of freedom against tyranny, of mercy against ruthlessness, of justice
against iniquity, of decency against shamefulness, of good faith
against perfidy, of Right against Might, of peace against war, of
humane and Christian civilization against savage and pagan barbarism.
All the world was presently forced to give a moral and political
judgment on the issues.
Our own glorious British Empire, with its traditions of justice,
honour, and liberty, soon became the soul and centre of the Allied
resistance. By her Fleet, by her Armies, by her aircraft, by her
financing, by her supplies, by her indomitable spirit--she endured
and smote the foe. We pay grateful tribute to the achievements of all
our Allies in the common cause; but we do not forget Britain's mighty
burden.
Among the British Armies, no troops have won higher distinction than
the Canadian Corps, under their great leader, Sir Arthur Currie. They
were ranked among the most formidable fighting units on the Western
Front, and as an offensive spear-head of shock troops they were
unsurpassed. They fought in almost every critical engagement of the
War. They "saved the day" at the second Battle of Ypres, in face of the
hideous emission of poison gas; they fought in the long-drawn agony of
the Somme; they won Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, and Passchendaele in 1917;
they were in the thickest of the battle in the last "hundred days", as
they fought triumphantly at Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Valenciennes, and
Mons. The last blow struck before the Armistice was signed, was struck
by the Canadians, who entered Mons early on the morning of the eleventh
of November. The course of the war for the British Armies on the
Western Front was _from Mons_, where the "Old Contemptibles" were flung
into the furnace of the fight in August, 1914, _to Mons_, won by our
men from overseas in November, 1918. It was "a long, long way", a way
stained by blood and sweat, but at last the grim journey ended. Canada
has made a worthy contribution to world-freedom and world-brotherhood.
Canada is dearer to us than ever, because it has been purchased anew
at a great cost of precious blood. Those who have fallen are worthy of
everlasting remembrance. They will be commemorated by public monuments,
by tablets of bronze, or brass or marble in public buildings, by
"storied windows richly dight". They deserve this. But, before God,
they deserve at our hands a better monument--even the monument of
a purer, nobler Canada, more intelligent, more united, more sober,
more kindly, more God-fearing. Dying for Canada, they have recreated
Canada. Let us be worthy of those whose deaths have kept us free.
Through the experiences of these recent years, we have learned the
possibilities of heroism latent in every man. We need not hesitate to
make high demands on our citizens for worthy ends. We have regained
a right sense of the relative value of things, and we know that the
first things are those which are ideal, spiritual, eternal. We know
that persons are of infinitely more value than things; that the
development and enrichment of personality mark the only true advance
in civilization; and that the basis of national progress is the
health, efficiency, and spiritual well-being of the people. We have
realized the power of organized effort. We shall not forget the bonds
of sympathy which common sorrows have created. We have gained a wider
outlook on the world and a truer conception of the meaning of Empire.
We understand more clearly the national problems that lie before us
in this new era. A better Canada will not come of itself. It must be
planned for and striven for. But it will come, if there is kindled in
the souls of our citizens the same flame of sacrifice and service which
burned so brightly in the hearts of Canada's citizen-soldiers of the
Great War.