New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-10
TO AVENCE WAR Of 70,
FRENCH VETERANS VOW
Forty Survivors of Franco
Prussian Campaign Toast
Native Land and Victory.
CHAUVINESM IS CHEERE0
Spirited Speeches and Strains
of La Marseillaise" Arouse
Old Soldiers and Friends
to Patriotic Outburst.

To the notes of the bugle and the swing
of the "Marseillaise," twoscore French
men, veterans of 1870 and, many of them,
of the French colonial campaigns met
at the Taverne Louis yesterday noon and
pledged themselves anew to the land for
which, forty-odd years ago, their friends
and comrades died
They toasted mobilization, and even
their wives and children cheered the
the chance once more to show the gilt
ter of French bayonets in the valley OF
the Rhine. And while the 127th section
of French veterans met here President
Poincare was greeting in Paris the rep
resentatives of the 10000 veterans who
remained in France. and who, at the sug-
gestion of war last January, offered their
services to the Minister of War.
The meeting at Louis yesterday was
not merely tribute to the unayailng
heroism which even the Germans praised
twoscore years ago, but rather the eX-
preston of a resolve, borne across the
sea. that they would do each what he
could TO hasten the day OF vengeance.
Az NJ. Lallemand, president Of the sec
ton said, mo Frenchman who was not
in some measure a chauvinist could to-
day call himself a patriot and MS
frankly avowed sentiment was drowned
L., % l., &c al nj 1s1O and
of the younger men who had smelt pow
der in Tonkin, Madagascar and the Sou
dan. One OF them took out bugle which
he had last sounded in Morocco and blew
the clear notes of the charge, saying as
he took it from his lips that he stu
hoped TO sound 1t on the Rhine.
Professor Auguste George, who followed
NJ. Lallemand said that the meeting
was held in the name of the one cult for
which. ever since their history began,
Frenchmen had laid down their lives.
We are met here in the cult of the
flag" he said, "and il Is that cult which
unites all Frenchmen in the face OF the
enemy. War is a crime when waged Tor
conquest or ambition, but when men hight
for the liberty ana integrity OF their
country il becomes duty, sacred anu
terrible. and its very horror becomes
glorious That is the faith by when We
live. and for which our fathers and our
comrades died. and that faith guarantees
the future of France IL bids us look on
death at the frontiers, not as risk but
as a privilege and honor From the tombs
of those who have fallen in Alsace ana
Lorraine, i'm Madagascar, Tonkin' MO-
rocco and the Soudan, France draws her
inspiration and her hope. In dying TOT
her they have made her life more rich
and glorious Their memory. when we
who survive now honor, is her priceless
heritage forever.
I'VE are told sometimes that her great
qualities have persisted, that her glory is
OF the past To that there is but one
answer. No nation can fall so Ions as
ber sons know how to die. That lesson
has been taught you and taught in the
grim school of war. We have learned IL
at the tombs of our comrades and frlends'
and that lesson, craven deep in the heart
of every Frenchman, is the source N
the present greatness OF France
Arthur Blum an old "spaht of ls'V'
broke into the applause with the OuitaS
siers of Reschoffen," song dear 10 'he
heart of every veteran, ana sang the
yalor Of General Michers last charge %"
the Prussian squares, and, following nm
came the quick. sharp notes of "Samore
Of Meuse." marching song of the French
infantry and known TO every man. ana
oven every woman. In the room.
Then came the stirring notes OF Id
I orraiue," at once memory and hope
and the veterans left. glad to have ex-
,,.osead II hut for an hour, the passions
horn of their old conflict.