加拿大历史CurrieLibelCase一战.docx

Secondary Source #6Byline: Scott Howarth, November 9, 2008Lest we forget.; People disagree about how war is conducted. Was the man saluting in the foreground a hero or a seeker of personal glory?”Arthur Currie at Mons, November 1918When word of an impending ceasefire was received early Nov. 11, 1918, Lieut.Gen. Sir ArthurCurrie was sitting in his bath at Canadian Corps headquarters in Valenciennes, France.About 15 kilometres east, Canadian troops were engaged in moppingup operations after capturingthe Belgian city of Mons, where more than four years earlier the British army had been forced toretreat in its first battle of World War I.The symbolism was lost on no one. The mayor of Mons trumpeted it in his armistice proclamation,Currie referred to the historic battlefield in a congratulatory telegram to one of his generals, andthe British enjoyed a measure of revenge when their Lancers joined Curries victory parade.Currie and his entourage made their entrance four hours after the 11 a.m. armistice. The pictureshows the general (closest to the camera) saluting as the liberating force marched toward theGrande Place, the citys main square. Not seen are the bodies of Germans still lying in the gutterand upon the sidewalks from intense fighting the previous day.While one highranking member of the procession later spoke of a magnificent climax to a day ofrejoicing, exhausted soldiers were more subdued, their warweariness tempering their celebration. Only one Canadian was killed on Nov. 11 Pte. George Price was shot by a sniper at 10:57 a.m. but at least 38 others had died in fighting the day before.Some of the troops lining the town square veterans and victims of Ypres, Vimy, Passchendaeleand other battles resented the casualties suffered with the ceasefire so close at hand. For soldiersaccustomed to the sight and stench of death, this resentment would fester after their other wounds had healed.While Canada erupted in jubilation at the news from Mons, the last shots of the Great War echoedfor years. Critics and enemies of Currie at home conscripted the memory of soldiers killed beforethe fall of the city as proof the general had needlessly sacrificed their lives for personal glory anda bit of bravado.Sir Sam Hughes, the minister of militia before being forced to resign from Prime Minister RobertBordens cabinet in 1916, led the charge against Currie. Using the protection of parliamentaryprivilege, he railed about the fall of Mons in a March 1919 speech before the House of Commons.There is no glory to be gained, and you cannot find one Canadian soldier returning from Francewho will not curse the name of the officer who ordered the attack on Mons.Hughes continued his tirade against Currie, reading into the record a letter he had sent Borden theprevious October.I have on other occasions drawn your attention to the massacres at Lens, Passchendaele, etc.,where the only apparent object was to glorify the general in command ., he said. The letter wenton to call for the removal of incompetents.Hughes, known for his bombastic and illtempered outbursts, even suggested Currie, throughbutchery, had orchestrated the high casualties of 1917 and 1918 to ensure new enlistees would beused for reinforcements rather than the creation of a fifth Canadian division.The Toronto Daily Star, in a March 6, 1919, editorial, wrote . Sir Sam makes accusations beforeParliament and the people of Canada more serious than anything known in the history of thecountry.The source of Hughes outrage, and the fuel for his scurrilous attacks, was well known. Whileminister of the militia, he had pushed to have his son, Garnet, promoted to divisional commander.Currie refused. And when the men destined for the Fifth Division under Garnets command, it wasassumed were used to plug holes in Canadian ranks in 1918, Currie was once again seen as havingthwarted Garnets career.At a ceremony in June 1927, a huge bronze plaque dedicated to the Canadian capture of Mons wasunveiled in the Belgian city. Here was fired the last shot of the Great War, it read, an unlikelyclaim but one that Canada readily embraced. News of the ceremony was picked up by newspapersback home, including the Port Hope Evening Guide, which used the occasion to resurrect Hughesbattle against Currie. It is doubtful whether in any case there was a more deliberate and useless waste of human lifethan in the socalled capture of Mons ., the frontpage editorial said.Currie, by then principal of McGill University in Montreal, was livid. After enduring Hughesundeserved accusations in the Commons, and a whisper campaign that never completely faded,the former general had had enough. He sued journalist William Preston and publisher FrederickWilson for libel, seeking $50,000 in damages.Attempts to settle the issue out of court failed. In his book, The Last Day, the Last Hour, Robert J.Sharpe said Wilson, even though he faced financial ruin if he lost, became convinced thatsomeone should stand up for the little guy. The privates were entitled to tell their story .The trial, which began April 16, 1928, was Sir Arthur Curries last battle of World War I.The papers lawyer, Frank Regan, marshalled former enlisted men to attack the generalscontention there were no combat deaths on Nov. 11, and tried repeatedly to show that Currieordered Mons taken even after he had word of the coming armistice.A parade of highranking officers took the stand in Curries favour to show that they were told topress the offensive with caution and avoid unnecessary casualties.Currie was one of the last called to testify. He insisted that orders issued on Nov. 9 by FrancesMarshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Supreme Commander, instructed him to pursue retreatingGerman forces. To do otherwise, Currie said, would have been treason.The jury took less than four hours to return w