GUARDIANS or THE GATE HISTORICAL LECTURES ON THE SERBS BY R. G. D. LAFFAN, C.F. FELLOW OF QUEENS’ COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE WITH A FOREWORD BY VICE-ADMIRAL E. T. TROUBRIDGE CB GN Ge OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1918FOREWORD Tue Serbians are a people but little known in Great Britain. This extremely interesting book by the Rev. R. G. D. Laffan, C.F. will, I am confident, help our nation to understand them better, and, in understanding, to appreciate the sterling qualities that underlie their national character. T have lived among the Serbians during the past three years, in days, and under circumstances, which encourage the revelation of every human attribute : in the days imme- diately following their first success, when they triumphantly flung out of Serbia the ‘ Punitive expedition ’ of their power- ful neighbour and relentless enemy : in long and weary days of tenacious defence: in the days of overwhelming and treacherous attack upon them, with hope of succour growing less and less ; in days of terrible marches in a fighting retreat through their beloved country under moral and physical conditions surely never paralleled in the history of any nation: in the days of regeneration of all that was left of them: and finally in days of eager and reckless fighting to regain that which they had lost. ‘The qualities which they have displayed throughout these fateful years should especially appeal to the inhabitants of our Empire. A love of freedom and country as deeply implanted as our own. A loyalty to friends that does not falter under the greatest temptation, and a chivalry so innate that hundreds2 Foreword of our countrywomen could walk hundreds of miles through a great army in a harassed retreat, through a fleeing peasantry in a disorganized and strange land, and yet fear no evil. “From such experiences a judgement can be formed; I permit myself, with the Scrbians, to believe in a Serbia great and flourishing in the future, pursuing her national development and ideals in peace and quictness, bound to Great Britain in the closest ties of friendship, and once more—as for centuries past—holding the gate of freedom of life, of freedom of thought, against the sinister forces of moral enslavement. Serbia has indeed well and bravely answered the great question He asked: ‘What shall it profit 2 man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul ?’ Replee ts y Microsoft®