Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders dead.
The fight that ye so bravely led
We've taken up. And we will keep
True faith with you who lie asleep
With each a cross to mark his bed,
And poppies blowing overhead,
Where once his own life blood ran red.
So let your rest be sweet and deep
In Flanders fields.
Fear not that ye have died for naught.
The torch ye threw to us we caught.
Ten million hands will hold it high,
And Freedom's light shall never die!
We've learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders fields.
Secretary Lansing on War Themes
Why the United States Is at War
Robert Lansing, Secretary of State of the United States, delivered an address in New York on May 23, 1918, in honor of the third anniversary of Italy's entrance into the war. He said in part:
Oh, you of the blood of a people who have given so much to civilization, no greater task has ever fallen upon you, no greater duty has ever been the lot of the Italian race, than that which is yours today. You are called forth to defend the land which is enshrined in the hearts of the world as the cradle of justice and liberty. Fail you cannot, fail you must not, fail you will not in such a cause and such a crisis.
This is no time to measure the price which must be paid in blood and treasure. No price is too large, no sacrifice too great for the protection of your sacred heritage from the invaders.
Today, America, youngest of the great powers of the earth, is proud to cross the seas and to stand side by side with the most ancient power of Europe in upholding the standard of democracy, and to unite in proclaiming to the nations tortured by war that peace must be won and will be won by the might of liberty-loving men, a glorious peace which will endure throughout the ages because it is written in the book of destiny that freedom will rise triumphant from the ashes of this desolated world.
To gallant Italy, to our loyal associate and friend, we of America extend greetings on this day of reconsecration to a noble cause, on this day when the Italian people renew their solemn pledge to resist to the uttermost the accursed ambitions of the military rulers of Germany and Austria.
Italy's decision was the decision of a people who preferred the horrors of war to dishonor, who preferred to die rather than to be enslaved by Prussian masters or by Prussia's vassals. It breathed anew the valor of Rome.
United with you of the Latin race are we who could desire no prouder title than "the Romans of the West." A citizen of this young Republic could crave no higher public virtue nor covet a more devoted patriotism than that which inspired a dweller on the Seven Hills in the brave days of the old Roman Republic.
My friends of America and of Italy, we will win this war. It may be on the wasted fields of Flanders and Picardy; it may be in the valley of the Piave and the snow-crowned peaks of the Alps; or it may be on German lands beyond the Rhine. Somewhere and somehow and some time we will win. It cannot be otherwise, for we fight for justice, for liberty, and for humanity.
AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Secretary Lansing delivered another address in New York on June 5 at the commencement exercises of Columbia University. In accepting an honorary degree from that institution he said: