MAN WHO SAVED PARIS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12538, 8 May 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

MAN WHO SAVED PARIS.

\ The man who saved Paris is flying in a'vGM'iii.in prison camp. The oiip hope last clays u that h> may he exchanged so tint, when death does coin;-, ho ca'i meet it on the soil of Iris homeland. «ven though that soil is only a H.- is ' General Leinan, Governor of Liege, August 14 last when Foil Loiufn, in which ho ha.d taken iotV»o was .tlomolishod by the Gorman "ifla'ck AlarV'*-" Although \tho Gorman military atiUiorities admit "it was his hero* defence o" tile Liege .fortifications that disarranged their plans and permitted the massing of troop's south of the Maine to save Pari*, -they have *hown.him none of the courtesies ordinarily extended a valiant wounded foe. To-dav a hiL'h sta|f officer of the Belgian M-inv .one of A'"K Albert s personal ides, showed m}? a letter from tie general which " was througn tbo Gorman lines. T]i\ere was no trace of surrender in it. Thb general simply recited his condition an\d expressed the hope that ho mav be exchanged under the proposals which are \ nov >' hems <'"'- cnlaled by the Vatican. \ "I am wounded unto '; death,•' ho wrote. "The damage clonic? to my loot. when we lost the last of £>«r delonces at Liege cannot be repairoVl- 1 "'ive had two operations The. last removed most of tlio i\oot. '\ el a. blood-poisoned condition tfontimve-s. I 4im also suffering from dialWos and other complications which makv? it impossible for me to leave my beV"Of coiir.se I am not despairing- The fact that I am certain to die do\<?s not depress me. I am a soldier of Bellpuiu. I am satisfied that T have done; my diity. Yet I hear that there is a ehj'' rl •"< , that the plan suggested by his Lloliness for the exchange of the wortl'fh.'ss among the prisoners—those so maii ! ' lle 'l that they will never agajn be wo\t'th ■anythiiifj; for 'cannon fodder' —will '. be carried to fruition. If so, I hope tlaat' you will not forget poor old Lent}* 1 '! when the exchange begins. i '•I cannot sleep at night when T thiis'-s of the possibility of dying on the enemy's territory without a single, frim;'! to soothe my last hours or to rlosf ■my eyes for the last time. I would lik-3.' to have friendly faces about me wheiij "I pass on, even though J were o.om-\ pelled to die in the field hospital or ; in one of our own trenches.

"But do not forget poor old Leman.''

The- appeal of the veteran general, cue rvf the idols of the remnants of the Belgian fighting force, h-ns been quietly circulated throughout the army. The' effect is apparent in the determination with which the Belgian forces, now hack on the very front of the fir. ing linr, carry out their assaults against the Germans.

"Remember Lernan and Liege," i-s a slogan that lias been used with., telling effect in the fighting in the north during the last few days. I was told by a- number of the officers, at gcu'ern! staff headquarters that every inch of the ground recovered by the Belgians since they returned to face the brunt of the enemy's assaults, in the north, was a. tribute to the reverence in which Lenian is held bv their men.

It is realised that ho will probably die where lie is; that the suggestions of exchange will never fully be carrier out and his comrades in arms intend to revenge him .as much n.s possible.