Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-04-22

Wellington at Torres vedras. Over
whelmingly outnumbered, with all
Spain in the hands OF his enemies, with
four armies confronting his single and
isolated forces, he fought them off and
finally drove them, battle by battle,
over the Pyrenees. From Torres
Vedras these British soldiers fought
their way, triumphant, to Toulouse,
meeting and beating the most famous
generals of their time. the marshals
of Napoleon. But their splendid push
to Madrid and northward did not really
begin until they had braced their backs
against the famous "wall' of Torres
Nedras.
With our backs to the wall" said
| Drake. Hawkins and MY Lord
| Howard" when the Spanish armada
| came riding into sight and interrupted
| or. rather. failed to interrupt--a ia
| nous game of bowls. Hindenburg
| never commanded and never can COM
mand. such odds against the English.
Counting by tonnage. these intrepid
sailors stood on the cliffs of England
and saw the command of the sea al
ready lost. The hammer stroke OF
vastly superior strength poised above
them, ready to shatter what was then
almost the only citadel of liberty in
the world.
But these unconquerable British.
who never know when they are beaten.
had their backs to the wall fatal
attitude for their foes to find them
in They put to sea. in the spirit of
Sir Richard Granville and his little
Revenge" who had just fought the
fight of the one and the fifty-threc."
and faced these great sea galleons
heaving on the weather bow" History
| records the sequel BY all human
reckoning the British should have been
beaten. But-but-well their backs
were to the wall, where Briton is un-
beatable
That is British character We know
it in this country; for it was John Paul
Jones, sailor whom we borrowed from
Scotland who, when things looked
black enough with him, sent the
message over to his antagonist: Il
have just begun TO fight We know it
on this continent; for it was the
Canadians Of British origin who held
the line for days after the villainous
gas attacks at Ypres-held it with
few lean companies whom the Ger
mans could have easily overwhelmed
by sheer weight Of numbers il they
had dreamed that these astonishing
Brtons from overseas would stick so
stubbornly without heavy reserves in
support. The Canadians did the same
thing at Harris river. in South Africa.
firing until the last man
lay wounded. That was the spirit of
the Haig message:
Every position must be held to the
last man."
Waterloo was battle fought by the
British army with its back to the wall
That Waterloo campaign IS worth
thinking of for . moment in these
anxious hours as we wait for the news
from the colossal Waterloo whose
titanic wrestiings may wen shake the
earth OF that earlier battlefield The
Germans and the British had much
the same problems set them at Quatre
Bras and Ligny But they solved it
differently. The Germans retreated
from Ligny while the British held
stubbornly at Quatre Bras. The Brit
the Germans had failed to hold at
lHEshy. ~ "2OCffo ttfc uSi0
again: and. n they had not held the
Germans would only have come up to
fan into a trap.
The Haig message has not only stiff
fened the wearied ranks OF this hard
beset army. but il has sounded Ike a
trumpet call across the allied world
to hearten the watching millions who
know SO we'll what they each person
ally have at stake in this terrific
struggle. The British armies stand AS
the buckler Of democratic liberty. We
all know only too surely In what
tragic position the defenders Of democ-
racy would be II the Anglo French
armies found themselves unable to dam
back this renewed Teuton tide.
To say--as our writer's so often re-