Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 294
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[Page 294]
Prussian militarism, and that it was the mission of our Empire and her Allies, to defend the Christian right to live at peace against the un-Christian thought that might is right and must prevail. Therefore have we come in our tens of thousands to help with those from other young free nations beyond the seas, the men from the homes of our forefathers, Great Britain and Ireland, to defend the right and smash the might of her common foe. We must not bear him illwill, but we must command success by our good thoughts and our worthy acts.
My personal mission is, as you have kindly said, to heal the wounded and succour the afflicted. Let me hope an object as worthy as any, and one which with the assistance of my colleagues I hope to see worthily carried out. Two men of the very greatest rank as workers in the world of science and practice, have made our work more efficacious than was possible, before God sent them to do His work here on earth. The one Pasteur, truly a shepherd or Pastor from Arbois in the Jura; the second Lister, a Scotchman from Glasgo[w]. Their studious lives in chemistry and medicine radiated from France and Scotland to the uttermost ends of the earth, and will during this great war be so efficacious as to save hundreds of thousands of sick and injured men, Allied in peace were they from our two nations, allies are they in war to-day, as the great teachers! Their thoughts and hearts did beat in unison as was shown to the world at large that memorable day at the Sorbonne, when, with great eclat was celebrated the seventieth birthday of Pasteur. You are right, in this year 1915 A.D., when you say that the thoughts and hearts of the medical professions of the British and French race have common desire to bring relief to those who are suffering in a great cause. Whether it be on the vasty fields of France, the world's best garden, on the broad, broad ocean, the Asian or European lands of Turkey, the barren regions bordering the Suez Canal, the harder climes of Germany or Poland, where the men of my profession may be placed, 'tis my belief that duty will be well done in the maintaining of the best traditions.
To you, Sir, and Brothers, and to you students, I convey greetings from Australia and Australians, wishing to each and everyone of you lives, long, prosperous, and ever happy:
Re-echo do I, your sentiments:–
Vive la France! Vive l'Australie! Vive la cause du droit méconnu et de la vraie civilisation.