The Great Remembrance

COLONEL OSBORNE was introduced by the President, and spoke as follows: Gentlemen of the Empire Club, the subject of my address is, "The Great Remembrance",a short title for an account of the accomplishments of the British Empire in commemoration of the glorious deeds of our people and of those who passed out of sight of men by the way of duty and self-sacrifice. These accomplishments have been on a scale never before dreamed of. They merit the keenest attention on the part of this generation, as undoubtedly they will command the interest and admiration of many generations to come. It is now fourteen and a half years since the beacon fires were lighted on the hills, and the tocsin sounded, to summon the nations of the earth to arms. It is about ten and a half years since "Cease fire" sounded along the long slopes which marked the battle line, where had been enacted unexampled scenes of valour and self-dedication. After such an interval, it is possible to look with clearer and steadier eyes upon the splendour of the sacrifice, which at close range stunned the mind and overwhelmed the spirit. But, in order to appreciate great events, it is necessary to see them in scale. The Zeppelin against the vast expanse of the sky is a mere speck, but it assumes colossal proportions when seen on the ground in relation to other objects. So it is with the Great War. In order to appreciate its magnitude it is necessary to think it over for a moment in relation to other conflicts of in any way a similar nature.

Twenty-four hundred years ago the fate of human progress hung in the balance. Should the infant energies of Europe have a chance, or should the whole of the then known world pass under an Asiatic despotism, with its system of satraps and pachas and the fatal inertia, political and social, which followed in its train? That question was answered at Marathon-by two city-states, whose forces did not exceed 11,000 disciplined men and an equal number of light-armed troops. When Alexander the Great, one hundred and fifty years later, crossed the Dardanelles and did not stop his triumphant career till he had conquered Syria and Egypt, taken Babylon and passed the Tigris, he had at his disposal about 40,000 men. In our own history, in the great year 1066, when -to use Lord Macaulay's phrase-"as every schoolboy knows", there were three contestants for the British crown, and the victory lay with William the Conqueror, he was said to have gathered together for his enterprise the most remarkable and formidable armament that the western nations had witnessed. It consisted of 50,000 knights and 10,000 soldiers of inferior degree. At the time of Waterloo, the total number of men under Wellington's command in Belgium was 106,000, and the number under his command in the battle was 68,000. In the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese had 270,000 men, first-line troops, and 200,000 older troops in reserve. 270,000 is a formidable figure, but compare it for a moment with the Great War. I have never found any proper compilation of the troops actually engaged at any given time, but Nelson's Encyclopedia, in 1919, had a carefully prepared table giving in detail the number of troops mobilized for the Great War and during the Great War by all the belligerents; and what do you, gentlemen, think the figure was? 59,176,864! The number of fatal casualties, or, to put it bluntly, men killed, in the Great War, was 7,781,000. When it comes to casualties in the broader sense of the word, that is, men reported killed, wounded or missing, the total runs in excess of 33 million. Now I shall not stop to point a moral; but it should be apparent to those who talk lightly of war in the future, that, with the knowledge obtained in the Great War and the advances of science since, it is possible to envisage the wholesale, organized destruction not only of soldiers, but of men, women and children, and indeed of whole populations. It will not be like the last plague in the Book of Exodus, when a great cry went up in Egypt and it was decreed that the firstborn of every family should die. It will be the complete obliteration of whole families and whole communities. In such circumstances one can easily conceive such a breakdown of human government that civilized society as we know it would come to an end.

A traveller in France who should be in the old city of Rouen, would naturally go into the cathedral, and there he would enter the Joan of Arc Chapel. Having done so, he would observe, close to the statue of the Maid, a beautiful tablet coloured and gilded and bearing the arms of Great Britain, surrounded by the arms of all the self-governing dominions of the British Empire, and the words

"To the Glory of God and to the memory of one million dead of the British Empire who fell in the Great War of 1914-1918."

The presence of such a tablet in that particular chapel is not only a testimony to the healing hand of time, but also to the generosity of the French, when one remembers that five hundred years ago St. Joan herself was burned to death by the British in that same town. Similar tablets have been erected in other cathedrals in Belgium and France, and they will serve as perpetual and significant reminders, to all who read, of the part taken by our Empire in the greatest war in history. The British contribution in men was 6,000,000 from the British Isles, 1,500,000 from India, 600,000 from Canada, about the same from Australia, and proportionate quotas from other parts of the Empire. The number of fatal casualties, men killed-compiled again in 1919-among the British forces, was 1,019,882. The number of recorded and registered graves is about 600,000; so you will see that there remain over 400,000 who are in the tragic company of the "Missing", that is to say, those known to be dead, but having no known graves. The 600,000 graves are in 14,188 cemeteries in all parts of the world.

If it is not an irreverent speculation-it is not intended to be so-to conceive of heaven in terms of the ancient writings, what a wonderful thing it would be to have a parade of that million men there! What a grand thing to see a million men, the pride of our race, marching down the golden streets while all the trumpets of heaven sounded for them! One might even imagine that there would be assembled at the saluting-point all the great commanders of history-Moses and Joshua, Hannibal, Caesar and Napoleon. If so they would see a spectacle the like of which perhaps even heaven never saw before.

However, we are concerned today with the commemoration of these splendid men on earth rather than with such fanciful ideas. This task was entrusted to a body known as The Imperial War Graves Commission, which was formed in 1917 following the deliberations of the Imperial War Conference. The Resolution approving its charter was moved by the Prime Minister of Canada. Thus came into being what one statesman has called the first truly imperial body which has yet been created. It may be described as an autonomous, imperial, administrative organization. The money is provided by the countries of the British Empire in proportion to their respective graves. Great Britain contributing 80 per cent., and the other 20 percent being divided among the Dominions, Colonies and Dependencies. Canada's share is about eight per cent. In the most effective sense of the term the Commission is autonomous; it administers its own finances without the dominant control of the Treasury in England or the Finance Minister of any government. It is the creature not of one government, but of all the governments; we are all represented on it. It does not report through any one government, say the government of Great Britain, to the others interested; but it reports simultaneously, and in the same terms, to all the governments concerned. In other words, the Imperial War Graves Commission operates on the principle of free co-operation, which, it would seem, is now the accepted principle by which the future unity of the British Empire is to be secured. I think it was implicit in the declarations of the last Imperial Conference that there should be such co-operation; and there is no more urgent problem before our Imperial statesmen than to discover ways and means to make co-operation effective, so that the whole weight of the British Empire-in itself a league of nations-may be brought to bear upon any given problem. This of course is not easy; but the extent to which it is achieved will be the measure of the power and influence of the British Empire in the future. Certainly there is something to be learned from the harmonious operation and conspicuous success of the Imperial War Graves Commission. It suggests the idea that some other matters of common concern might be dealt with in a similar way, and it is certainly the way that members of the same imperial family ought to work together.

Under the Commission's control there have been created in Belgium and France alone one thousand new British war cemeteries, containing from 300 to 10,000 graves each, and about 1,500 plots in parish or communal cemeteries. This is only the beginning. These cemeteries are to be found all the way from Antwerp to Jerusalem and from the Baltic to the Bosphorus. They stretch across Switzerland and Italy, across the Greek Islands, down the Gallipoli Peninsula, through Syria and Palestine, then southward to Egypt and East Africa. At Iraq, the ancient Chaldea, between the lower waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris there are seven. In all these parts of the world it is as if a giant had strode about, from the English Channel to the Sea of Galilee-leaving great white footmarks as he passed. The line extends across the north of India to China, to Australia and New Zealand, across Canada, where there are 7,000 war graves in 1,500 places, and so back to the British Isles, where there are 77,000 graves in 7,500 churchyards and cemeteries. In addition, these war graves and war plots are to be found in fifty other countries not mentioned, and not in the track I have indicated.

May I attempt to describe these cemeteries to you? As far as the countries of our allies are concerned, the land has been given in perpetuity. In other places it has been acquired. The cemeteries are artistically and permanently enclosed in stone, or stone and brick, walls. The headstones are of uniform pattern; indeed uniformity is the key-note of the whole scheme of commemoration. The field officer and the private soldier lie side by side, their graves marked in exactly the same way. The headstones are meant to typify the union of all "in motive, in action and in death". By their very uniformity, they speak in one voice of one death, one sacrifice, for a cause that was common to all. A feature of all the cemeteries is the Cross of Sacrifice. This memorial, a beautiful cross, to the face of which is fixed a great bronze sword, stands sentinel over the graves of British soldiers. Those who have seen them will have unfading pictures of these crosses; on the ramparts of Ypres, in sheltered nooks beneath the high ground along the western front, in the plains of Italy, amid the sands of Palestine or Mesopotamia, in the clear air of East Africa or crowning the "brown-streaked cliffs of Gallipoli". Wherever found, they carry the same suggestion, namely, one sacrifice for a common cause. In the larger cemeteries there is another monument, the Stone of Remembrance, "a great fair stone of fine proportions", bearing the words, "THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE". And in the largest ones, such as Etaples, where there are 11,000 graves, eminent architects have designed other structures, which add dignity and grandeur to the cemeteries, in the form of wide terraces and vaulted buildings, which serve as record-houses or rest-houses where visitors go apart to meditate or pray. At Tyne Cot, Passchendaele, three German concrete blockhouses have been introduced into the scheme very effectively, and at the far side is a great screen wall, 500 feet long, on which are inscribed the names of 35,000 missing men. A feature which is common to all the cemeteries is the beautiful horticultural treatment. One walks on turf like that of old England, while the eye is charmed by a profusion of colour. Flowers are everywhere, in beds and borders and climbing over the headstones.

Curiously enough, one does not have a feeling of sadness on entering these cemeteries. The headstones are spread out in perfect order, as it were in platoons and regiments, and I have sometimes had a feeling that if the bugle sounded, all these soldiers would rise and march again. One is affected by the thought of the high courage and chivalry of the men who lie there amid so much beauty and in a silence broken only by the songs of birds. The feeling is not so much one of sadness as a curious exaltation, a sort of lifting up of the spirit. (Applause.) I would like to tell you now what is being done about maintaining these cemeteries. On May 4th, 1920, Mr. Winston Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons said

"The cemeteries which are going to be erected to the British dead on all the battlefields in all the theatres of war, will be entirely different from the ordinary cemeteries which mark the resting places of those who pass out in the common flow of human fate from year to year. They will be supported and sustained by the wealth of this great nation and Empire, as long as we remain a great nation and Empire; and there is no reason at all why, in periods as remote from our own as we ourselves are from the Tudors, the graveyards in France of this Great War, shall not remain an abiding and supreme memorial to the efforts and the glory of the British Army and the sacrifices made in that great cause."

In fulfillment of that pledge, the governments of the Empire have for some years been getting together by annual contributions a fund which is to reach the total of five million pounds. These contributions are vested in Trustees and the income from that fund will be used to maintain the cemeteries and memorials in order and beauty forever. (Applause.)

Now, Mr. Chairman, we sometimes speak of ancient remains; those of Assyria and Babylon and Greece and Rome, and undoubtedly from them we learn much of the character of the people who lived in those days. When many centuries have passed, these war cemeteries-these silent cities-will be found; and they will speak for us, to tell future generations the story of the men who lived in our day. And what an epic it will be! As far as Canada is concerned, when the story is all pieced together, it will speak of 600,000 of the flower of our manhood who at the call of king and country rallied to the colours and cast their all upon the hazard. The story of Canadian participation, the beginning and end, is very nicely told to the inscriptions on two tablets which have been erected specially by the Canadian government, one at the town of St. Nazaire, and one at Mons. St. Nazaire is on the Bay of Biscay where the first Canadian division landed in February, 1915. 1 had the privilege of interviewing the Mayor and Councillors of the city with regard to erecting this, and I tried to convey the idea that no matter who followed after, Canada was first. It is a most interesting historical fact that the landing of the Canadian troops was the first appearance in Europe of an army embodied on the continent of America. (Applause.) This tablet has a simple inscription:

"Here landed the first Canadian Division eighteen thousand strong on the 12th February, 1916: three hundred and twenty thousand followed: throughout four years the Canadians fought the Germans: after engaging in twenty-six battles they marched in victory to the Rhine."

The other tablet concerns an event three and a half years later and was erected in the City Hall of Mons. It bears these words

"Mons was recaptured by the Canadian Corps on 11th November, 1918: after fifty months of German occupation freedom was restored to the city: here was fired the last shot of the Great War."

I told you a few moments ago that there were over 400,000 men who came in the category of the missing. It was and is the purpose and intention of the governments concerned that every one of these men shall be commemorated by name; and in order to carry out that idea the erection of great structures was necessary. On the high ground, forming a sea-mark for all passing in and out of the Dardanelles, there is a monument 100 feet high which carries the names of 18,000 men of the British Isles. On the Anzac Ridge of Gallipoli the missing of the Australians are commemorated. In Macedonia there is a similar monument to the Salonika force. At the southern end of the Suez Canal, at Port Tewfik, there is an interesting memorial to the Indian troops, a square obelisk, with flanking walls for the inscription. The sculpture takes the form of crouching tigers, one guarding the monument from the canal, and the other from the sea. There are a number of other such memorials, including four in Great Britain-three to men of the Royal Navy and one to the Mercantile Marine. It is of course in France and Belgium that this sort of commemoration is on the largest scale. The Ypres Salient is possibly the most blood-stained piece of ground in the world. At the Menin Gate, Ypres, at the town end of the causeway leading across the moat to the Menin Road, a magnificent arch has been erected. As one approaches it from the outside one sees, below the carved figure of a lion in repose, these words

"To the armies of the British Empire who stood here from 1914 to 1918 and to those of their dead who have no known grave."

The main hall of this most imposing memorial has a span of 70 feet; it is 50 feet high and 130 feet long, and in that hall and in the adjacent stairways and galleries are inscribed in stone the names of 56,000 men of the British Empire who were missing and lost their lives in those parts but have no known grave. Among these are 7,500 Canadians. Our total Canadian missing were in excess of 19,000. The remaining 11,500 are to be commemorated on our own monument at Vimy Ridge, about which I will speak in a moment. Another great memorial, counterpart of the Menin Arch, is being erected in the Somme, and it will carry 75,000 names, all or nearly all from British Isles.

All the work that I have so far mentioned, with the exception of the two bronze tablets, has been the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission. I am now going to tell you about some work that has been undertaken by Canada alone, through another honorary commission, purely Canadian, the expense of which is borne entirely by our own country. At the end of the war, consideration was given to certain sites which might with propriety be allotted to the different countries engaged. It was understood that sites might be allotted to countries at points at which their troops had taken a very important or decisive part. You are aware of the fact that circumstances permitted the Canadian Corps to be kept always up to strength; it was moved up and down the line, and as a result, eight sites were allotted to Canada. In order, from north to south, they are: Passchendaele, St. Julien, Hill 62, Sanctuary Wood, Vimy Ridge, Dury Cross Roads (the point where the Canadians broke what was known as the QueantDrocourt switch of the Hindenburg line), Bourlon Wood (the crossing of the Canal du Nord, one of the most outstanding tactical efforts of our forces), Courcelette in the Somme, and, finally, Le Quesnel in front of Amiens (marking the farthest point of the eight mile advance of the Canadians on August 8th, 1918). The Canadian Government acquired little parcels of land and these have been transformed into miniature parks. The treatment includes flagged pathways, a central courtyard, an elaborate system of planting, and they are really objects of great interest and beauty. With the exception of Vimy and St. Julien, where special monuments have been erected, the central features on these sites are blocks of Canadian granite with surrounding steps. Each block weighs fifteen tons; they were shipped across the ocean and there they are, bearing inscriptions in English and in French. At St. Julien, where the Canadian troops first captured the imagination of the public and where, as evidenced by Field Marshal French's despatch, they may be said to have saved the day, on the occasion of the first emission of poison gas, a special monument has been erected. It was designed by Mr. F. C. Clemesha of Regina, and I remember when the competition took place there was some difference of opinion as to its merits or suitability. I am going to take the liberty of reading a short paragraph from the special correspondent of the Evening Standard of London, England, describing the impression made on at least one competent observer. He says, "A mile or so further on stands a monument which affected me beyond the power of stone. From a grey and giant sheath grow the head and shoulders of a Canadian soldier. The head, crowned with the familiar helmet, is bent, the hands are folded upon a reversed rifle; the soldier watches over those who sleep beneath. On the front of the plinth is the single word 'Canada'. On the sides, in raised yet hardly decipherable lettering, is the bare statement:-

'This column marks the Battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British Left withstood the first German gas attacks the 22nd-24th April, 1915. Two thousand fell and here lie buried.'

This has almost the power of the Greek: Stranger, depart and tell the Lacedemonians that we lie here obeying their laws.' One bows the head in humble acceptance; the bravest ornament were out of place. There is a mysterious power in this brooding figure, drawing you from the things that are to the things that were. It does more than command the landscape, it orders the spirit. The Guynemer monument is a pretty thing and a fine gesture; this is the soul of those who fell. It is conceivable that a grey day might add to the spiritual

significance of this memorial; in the blazing August sun its shock is overwhelming."

About the same time in 1923 a special correspondent was sent by The Daily Graphic of London, England, and he describes the monument in much the same way, speaking of it as brooding "in mingled love and domination over the countryside". He adds "it is by far the finest memorial of the late war that I have seen, and the one that will tell future generations most about the Great War".

On the occasion of the unveiling of the monument Marshal Foch, that great gentleman and incomparable commander, paid a most handsome tribute to the Canadian troops. These are Marshal Foch's words

"It is indeed easy for me, at the foot of this Monument, to recall that fateful day when the Germans, in an effort to secure victory, had recourse to discharges of gas, violating yet another treaty, another solemn agreement.

"How can one forget such events? Can you understand the deep anguish of the leaders who, surprised by new methods of attack against which they had no means of defence, had none the less to face them and send into the furnace men whom they knew in advance to be disarmed?

"It is the glory of those men from Canada to have held fast, and, miracle of energy, counter-attacked St. Julien, making this village and the little neighbouring wood into a redoubt behind which Marshal French and I were able to seek and put into effect means which were to prevent the surprise from becoming a serious defeat.

"The Canadians paid heavily for their sacrifice and the corner of earth on which this Monument of gratitude and piety rises has been bathed in their blood. They wrote here their first page of that Book of Glory which is the history of their participation in the war.

"For it is not only here that their steady courage overcame the most desperate efforts of the enemy. We find the Canadians again at the Ridge of Vimy which they captured and widely overrun in a superb assault.

"When the outlook is dark, at the end of March, Canadians are among the first who arrive in the breach before Amiens.

"And when, in August, the hour of the great offensive has come, Canadian troops break through the German lines on the road from Amiens to Roye and the first day advance more than 15 kilometres.

"That is only the preface of that ardent period during which the Canadians advance from Arras to Cambrai which they capture, breaking in their passage the famous Queant-Drocourt line, reputed to be impregnable; then, tireless, always aggressive, they leave Douai seize Valenciennes and at length take possession of Mons on the day of the Armistice, crowning by the capture of that city a battle of one hundred days in the course of which the Canadians spent themselves without counting the cost and performed the most illustrious exploits.

"In these hundred days they have liberated more than 700 square kilometres of French soil, 228 towns and villages, engaged and definitely broken 47 German divisions who leave in their hands more than 31,000 prisoners, 700 guns, 400 mortars and thousands of machine guns.

"It is with deep emotion that I recall these memories in front of this Monument, simple and strong like the Canadian spirit.

"I recall the days when, moved by the same feelings of justice and burning love of liberty, we fought together against the common enemy. This close collaboration gave us victory on the field of battle.

"Let me believe that the sacrifices mutually accepted by our soldiers have created between our countries imperishable bonds which intrigue will not be able to weaken."

I must now refer to our great monument on Vimy Ridge, which, as you know, is the design of your distinguished fellow townsman, Mr. Walter S. Allward, and is being erected under his supervision. The land was given by the French to Canada. The site is at the highest point of the Ridge, opposite what is known as the King's Observation Post. From this point a wide view is had to the eastward, far across the Douai plain, and, to the southward, across the Scarpe. The monument is 200 feet square and rises to the height of about 125 feet. But the landscape is large and, were the monument smaller, it would be insignificant there. It is being built of stone which we are bringing from Jugo-Slavia, stone which was used by the Roman Emperor Diocletian for the building of his palace at that point in the third century. Mr. Allward says the monument represents a wall of defence. In front of it at either end are two finely sculptured groups which he calls the defenders. On the front wall is a heroic figure of a woman representing Canada in an attitude of mourning. Behind this wall, steps lead to the upper platform forty feet from the ground; and from there rise two pylons. Between these, at the base, is a group of statuary representing the spirit of sacrifice, a man throwing the torch to his comrade. On the inner faces of the pylons, springing out of the architecture, are chanting figures representing certain spiritual ideas. Questions have been asked as to the exact meaning of these two pylons. Mgr. Allward's idea was that they signified two Forces, Canadian and French in this sense, that although the Canadians captured the Ridge and this monument is being erected to the memory of the exploits of our own troops, we could not forget the superb gallantry and enormous losses of the French, by which the whole region is bathed in French blood. This monument is being erected in France, and so Mr. Allward had the idea that it should suggest something of the gallantry and the great sacrifices of our ally, although it is being erected as a memorial to Canadian troops. (Applause.) In expression of that idea, one of the pylons bears on its side the maple leaves of Canada and the Crown, while the other bears the Fleur-de-Lis of France and the Laurel. On the walls of the monument are being carved at this moment the names of 11,500 missing Canadians,-those who are missing elsewhere than in Belgium. Those missing in Belgium are commemorated as I have said on the Menin Arch.

Gentlemen, when I tell this story, or think of it, I always rejoice in my British heritage. (Hear, hear.) I feel that the value and significance of the word British to Canada and Canadians never was greater than it is to other nations have contributed to the progress of the day. (Applause.) With due appreciation of all that world, we can still claim that in political institutions, in the administration of justice, in civic virtue, in high standards of honourable dealing, in loyalty, courage, and competence, the British people have set a high, if not the highest, example before the world. (Applause.) If we truly do believe that we have here in Canada a saner and sounder civilization than obtains in some other countries, we must surely realize that it is due to the fact, or largely to the fact, that we did not cut ourselves off completely from Great Britain, that we maintained our contact, and that, by reason of such contact, there have been flowing through our national life, political and social, intellectual and cultural, and through our family life, streams which have their springs in the old and tried civilization of the Motherland. (Hear, hear.) Surely it should be one of our tasks to try and preserve those streams in freshness and vigour. If we do not, we shall lose a certain individuality of which I think we are proud; and we shall expose ourselves to that standardization of life, which is so much deplored by the most intelligent people throughout the whole of this continent.

As for these memorials, they are the visible signs of one of the greatest phenomena in history La solidarity of sentiment during the Great War, a common loyalty; possessed by the Mother Country, by the great Dominions, by the Colonies and Dependencies of this realm; men of many complexions and creeds, drawn from regions and climes so vast that they cover one-third of the earth, owing allegiance to one King moved and governed by one impulse of loyalty and devotion. When was anything like it in the world before? (Applause.)

There are some words which John Bunyan in his Pilgrim's Progress puts into the mouth of a character as he went down to the river of death. "My sword", he said, "I give to him who shall succeed me in my pilgrimage." It seems to me such a sword has been bequeathed to us, and we have raised it up on these crosses of sacrifice which we have placed over the resting places of our comrades in many parts of the world. Thus raised, it is for us a symbol, reminding us of those whose pilgrimage we follow; calling upon us to preserve this British heritage to which they gave the last full measure of devotion, to honour the King, to live our lives with chivalry and courage, to serve our country, Canada, in peace as in war. If we do that, we shall have no occasion to be either sorry or ashamed, and this great work of our hands, which I have tried to describe, will not be a vain and fruitless gesture, but a true expression of the feelings in our hearts. (Applause.)

The thanks of the Club were tendered to the speaker by Lieut.-Colonel B. O. Hooper.