Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1919-05-30
CONTEMPTIBLE LITTLE GENER =
AIS

After the armistice was signed the
American occupied Coblenz"
Thus Field Marshal Haig in his Off
cial report. 1t is the only recognition
he accords the soldier that saved him
from disaster when his back was to the
WALL in Flanders and he was crying for
help. 1t is his only mention of the men
who, after the debacle in the spring of
1918, were the first. with the aid of the
Australians, to break the Hinderburg
line.
We had it in mind to voice with
some bitterness the growing resent
ment and scorn of Americans for the
conspiracy of silence that seems to
have throttled all generous words in
the throats of men who boast of their
fair play as if it were something akin
to religion. But the words that surge
within us to be uttered die on our lips.
Our vision goes back to that con
temptible little army" that Jared forth
out of England to hold the Hunish
hordes from Belgium and France, back
even to those gallant days when AS
quith declared that England's honor
would not permit her to stand aside
and make a bargain of lf-interest
with the barbarians of Prussia. Those
were inspiring days and the blood still
thrills when one thinks of the British
army, "the first hundred thousand"
that crossed the channel to battle
for the foemen who had measured
swords with them in every century
from before the middle ages down
almost to our own times. 1t was an
alliance to make the heart throb and
the eyes grow dim. What names fired
oI
One seemed to see the Black Prince
and the long line of warrior kings
flaming through the clouds to lead
that dazzling host. And on the other
shore one seemed to glimpse the an
cient chivalry of France and at their
head Bayard and Joan of Arc in blaz-
ing armor.
And then came Mons and Charleroi
and the terrible retreat of the Gallo
Celtic and Saxon hosts. Their swords
were broken, but their spirits, never
Fighting for the best there was in civ
ilization, for the ideals that still enoble
the hearts of the men of Merry Eng
land, for liberty and for honor, for the
things that make honest and good men
grip hands wherever they meet
whether by the sheltered rivers of Eng
land, on the burning African sands or
amid the fatal SHOWS of the Antarctic
We had it in our hearts, we say, to
utter words that scar and kill, But let
that pass.
Tomorrow perhaps they win need
our aid again Tomorrow, perhaps the
stars and stripes will start eastward
from the bridgehead at Coblenz to lead
the way for our men fighting beside
the men of England and of France.
And if that high call shall come our
soldiers will think not of the petty
generals of England, but the heroes of
Mons and Charleroi, of the thin red
line that held the coast of Flanders
when the tidal wave of Huns dashed
forward in vain, of the landing at the
of the campaign in Mes
opotamia, of the cool intrepidity which
ruled the oceans while the ships of
were sinking on every hand.
struck to their hearts by the sneaking
of Ypres, Messines, Vimy
Ridge and Cambria, of the sea fighters
who volunteered for almost certain
death when the order came to block
the harbors of Bruges and Ostend.
The kaiser spoke of the contempt
ible little army" of the Britons, but he
was thinking, perhaps, of England's
contemplate little generals. Had
Great Britain, in her gravest crisis,
0een blessed with great generals her
lrrny would not have stood with its
pack to the wall in the spring of 1918
ind there would have been no neces-
,ity for an American army to do even
50 slight a thing as occupy Coblenz
ifter the armistice was signed.
-Goodwin's Weekly.