The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-07-15
FRENCH INDEPENDENCE DAY

SnOulQ return t1e courtesy Ill luii Wy
our celebration of French indepen
dence day. Coming as it does on
Sunday we cannot celebrate it noisily
but our feelings need be none the
less ardent on that account.
The taking of the Bastile is consid
cred the beginning of the revolution
that through years of alternating
success and failure at last planted
France firmly on the basis of human
rights. An orgy of bloodshed was
the first result. 1t shocked the world
but this was chiefly due to the fact
that the world did not understand the
circumstances that surrounded the
champions of liberty in France. 1t
must be admitted that the men who
have been looked on as monsters
were ready to give their lives for
their opinions. Many of the leaders
in the movement died from the mis-
guided zeal of the masses but they
died bravery still loving liberty till
the axe ended it all.
A military despotism was needed to
restore order and it gave France a
period of the greatest glory any ma
ton every enjoyed This in turn was
crushed by the world in arms and the
old order was restored We need not
follow the ups and downs of the
struggle. Ultimately the crowned
heads of Europe realized the fact that
they were arrayed against an indie.
structible idea as we'll as a nation of
heroes and France became a repub-
tic without fear of relapse.
We Americans believe the French
imbibed their love for freedom from
our own country, but this is only a
half truth. Freedom came to Ameri-
ca from France. OF course every one
knows that France sent an army
and a fleet to help us in our strug-
gle and 1t is generally believed that
without this help we would not have
won. But this is not what we refer
to. Before Bunker Hill and before
Concord, before the stamps were
sent back from Wilmington or the tea
was thrown overheard in Boston
harbor, French philosophers were
speaking for liberty and teaching the
, equality Of men. Jefferson was a
student Of Voltaire and Rousseau and
acquired many of his ideas from
them. What they taught was first
tried here because new government
was being formed here. 1t was much
easier to try new experiment with
new government than force 1t on an
, old one and so Americans, learning
from French writer's, were the first ia
| put their theories into practice
OF course the success of our ex
pertinent inspired the French to do
, before the close of the eighteenth
! century what hey would not other.
! wise have done until fifty or one hun.
= dred years later. With a generosity
: that no other people can rival the
French acknowledge their indebted
ness to this country for lighting the
torch of freedom and holding 1t SO
all the world could see ignoring the
fact that France supplied the taper
from which it was lighted. The two
nations for nearly century and a
half have been partners in the Gus
tody and propagation of the doctrine
that all governments depend for their
just rights on the consent of the
governed.
Low indeed is the American who is
not grateful to France Destitute is
he of generous impulses if he does
not love France with a love second
only to that which grows in his heart
for his native land. Gallons is he If
he can look on the sufferings of the
French without heartfelt sympathy
Cowardly is he if he is not willing
, to risk his life for the land that
, taught his own land freedom and
, sacrificed the lives of its sons tc
make that freedom a fact and moi