Chapter 70
In the course of the last month I have addressed meetings in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and now in the completion of the task which I set myself and which the kindness of our great munic.i.p.alities has allowed me to perform I have come to Cardiff. [Cheers.] England, Scotland, and Ireland have each of them a definite and a well-established capital city, but I have always understood that there was some doubt where the capital of the Princ.i.p.ality of Wales was to be found on the map.
[Laughter.] Wales is a single and indivisible ent.i.ty with a life of its own, drawing its vitality from an ancient past, and both, I believe, in the volume and in the reality of its activity, never more virile than it is today. [Cheers.] But I do not know that there is any general agreement among Welshmen as to where their capital is to be found, [laughter, and a voice, "Here,"] and without attempting as an outsider to differentiate or to reconcile competing claims I stand here tonight on what I believe to be a safe coign of vantage under the hospitality and the authority of the Lord Mayor of Cardiff.
Though I am not altogether a stranger to Wales, you may nevertheless ask why I have requested your permission to address this great audience here tonight. I am not altogether an idle man, and during the last few months I can honestly say that there has hardly been a day, indeed there have been very few hours, which have not been preoccupied with grave cares and responsibility. But throughout them all I have been, and I am, sustained by a profound and unshakable belief in the righteousness of our cause [cheers] and by overwhelming evidence that in the pursuit and the maintenance of that cause the Government have behind them, without distinction of race, of party, or of cla.s.s, the whole moral and material support of the British Empire. [Cheers.] Let me take the opportunity to acknowledge and to welcome the calm, reasoned, and dignified statement of our cause which the Christian Churches of the United Kingdom, through some of their most distinguished leaders and ministers, have this week presented to the world. [Cheers.]
The United Voice of the Empire.
I will not repeat, and I certainly cannot improve upon it, and indeed I am not here tonight to argue out propositions which British citizens in every part of the world today regard as beyond the reach of controversy.
I do not suppose that in the history of mankind there has ever been in such a vast and diverse community agreement so unanimous in purpose and so concentrated, a corporate conscience so clear and so convinced, co-operation so spontaneous, so ardent, and so resolute. [Cheers.] Just consider what it means, here in this United Kingdom--England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales--to hear one plain, harmonious, great united voice over the seas from our great dominions. [Cheers.] Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, our crown colonies, swell the chorus.
In India [cheers]--where whatever we won by the sword we hold and we retain by the more splendid t.i.tle of just and disinterested rule by the authority, not of a despot, but of a trustee [cheers]--the response to our common appeal has moved all our feelings to their profoundest depths, and has been such as to s.h.i.+ver and to shatter the vain and ignorant imaginings of our enemies. [Cheers,] That is a remarkable and indeed a unique spectacle.
What is it that stirred the imagination, aroused the conscience, enlisted the manhood, welded into one compact and irresistible force the energies and the greatest imperial structure that the world has ever known? [Cheers.] That is a question which, for a moment at any rate, it is well worth asking and answering. Let me say, then, first negatively, that we are not impelled, any of us, by some of the motives which have occasioned the b.l.o.o.d.y struggles of the past. In this case, so far as we are concerned, ambition and aggression play no part. What do we want?
What do we aim at? What have we to gain?
We are a great, worldwide, peace-loving partners.h.i.+p. By the wisdom and the courage of our forefathers, by great deeds of heroism and adventure by land and sea, by the insight and corporate sagacity, the tried and tested experience of many generations, we have built up a dominion which is b.u.t.tressed by the two pillars of liberty and law. [Cheers.] We are not vain enough or foolish enough to think that in the course of a long process there have not been blunders, or worse than blunders, and that today our dominion does not fall short of what in our ideals it might and it ought and, we believe, it is destined to be. But such as we have received it and such as we hope to have it, with it we are content.
[Cheers.]
Why We Are at War.
We do not covet any people's territory. We have no desire to impose our rule upon alien populations. The British Empire is enough for us.
[Laughter and cheers.] All that we wished for, all that we wish for now, is to be allowed peaceably to consolidate our own resources, to raise within the empire the level of common opportunity, to draw closer the bond of affection and confidence between its parts, and to make it everywhere the worthy home of the best traditions of British liberty.
[Cheers.] Does it not follow from that that nowhere in the world is there a people who have stronger motives to avoid war and to seek and ensue peace? Why, then, are the British people throughout the length and breadth of our empire everywhere turning their plowshares into swords?
Why are the best of our ablebodied men leaving the fields and the factory and the counting house for the recruiting office and the training camp?
If, as I have said, we have no desire to add to our imperial burdens, either in area or in responsibility, it is equally true that in entering this war we had no ill-will to gratify nor wrongs of our own to avenge.
["Hear, hear!"] In regard to Germany in particular [groans] our policy--repeatedly stated in Parliament, resolutely pursued year after year both in London and in Berlin--our policy has been to remove one by one the outstanding causes of possible friction and so to establish a firm basis for cordial relations in the days to come.
We have said from the first--I have said it over and over again, and so has Sir Edward Grey--we have said from the first that our friends.h.i.+ps with certain powers, with France, [cheers,] with Russia, and with j.a.pan, were not to be construed as implying cold feelings and still less hostile purposes against any other power. But at the same time we have always made it clear, to quote words used by Sir Edward Grey as far back as November, 1911--I quote his exact words--"One does not make new friends.h.i.+ps worth having by deserting old ones." New friends.h.i.+ps by all means let us have, but not at the expense of the ones we have. That has been, and I trust will always be, the att.i.tude of those whom the Kaiser in his now notorious proclamation describes as the treacherous English.
[Laughter and "Oh, oh!"]
Germany's Demand in 1912.
We
["Hear, hear!"]
But that was not enough for German statesmans.h.i.+p. They wanted us to go further. They asked us to pledge ourselves absolutely to neutrality in the event of Germany being engaged in war, and this, mind you, at a time when Germany was enormously increasing both her aggressive and defensive resources, and especially upon the sea. They asked us, to put it quite plainly, for a free hand, so far as we were concerned, when they selected the opportunity to overbear, to dominate the European world.
To such a demand but one answer was possible, and that was the answer we gave. [Cheers.] None the less we have continued during the whole of the last two years, and never more energetically and more successfully than during the Balkan crisis of last year, to work not only for the peace of Europe but for the creation of a better international atmosphere and a more cordial co-operation between all the powers. [Cheers.] From both points of view, that of our domestic interests as a kingdom and an empire, and that of our settled att.i.tude and policy in the counsels of Europe, a war such as this, which injures the one and frustrates the other, was and could only be regarded as among the worst of catastrophes--among the worst of catastrophes, but not the worst.
[Cheers.]
"The Blackest Annals of Barbarism."
Four weeks ago, speaking at the Guildhall, in the City of London, when the war was still in its early days, I asked my fellow-countrymen with what countenance, with what conscience, had we basely chose to stand aloof, we could have watched from day to day the terrible unrolling of events--public faith shamelessly broken, the freedom of a small people trodden in the dust, the wanton invasion of Belgium and then of France by hordes who leave behind them at every stage of their progress a dismal trail of savagery, of devastation, and of desecration worthy of the blackest annals in the history of barbarism. [Cheers.] That was four weeks ago. The war has now lasted for sixty days, and every one of those days has added to the picture its share of sombre and repulsive traits.
We now see clearly written down in letters of carnage and spoliation the real aims and methods of this long-prepared and well-organized scheme Against the liberties of Europe. [Cheers.]
I say nothing of other countries. I pa.s.s no judgment upon them. But if we here in Great Britain had abstained and remained neutral, forsworn our word, deserted our friends, faltered and compromised with the plain dictates of our duty--nay, if we had not shown ourselves ready to strike with all our forces at the common enemy of civilization and freedom, there would have been nothing left for our country but to veil her face in shame and to be ready in her turn--for her time would have come--to share the doom which she would have richly deserved, and after centuries of glorious life to go down to her grave, unwept, unhonored, and unsung.
[Loud cheers.]
Let us gladly acknowledge what becomes clearer and clearer every day, that the world is just as ready as it ever was, and no part of it readier than the British Empire, to understand and to respond to moral issues. [Cheers.] The new school of German thought has been teaching for a generation past that in the affairs of nations there is no code of ethics. According to their doctrine force and nothing but force is the test and the measure of right. As the events which are going on before our eyes have made it plain, they have succeeded only too well in indoctrinating with their creed--I will not say the people of Germany; like Burke, I will not attempt to draw up an indictment against a nation--I will not say the people of Germany, but those who control and execute German policy. [Cheers.]
But it is one of those products of German genius which, whether or not it was intended exclusively for home consumption, [laughter,] has not, I am happy to say, found a market abroad, and certainly not within the boundaries of the British Empire. [Cheers.] We still believe here, old-fas.h.i.+oned people as we are, in the sanct.i.ty of treaties, [cheers,]
that the weak have rights and that the strong have duties, that small nationalities have every bit as good a t.i.tle as large ones to life and independence, and that freedom for its own sake is as well worth fighting for today as it ever was in the past. [Cheers.] And we look forward at the end of this war to a Europe in which these great and simple and venerable truths will be recognized and safeguarded forever against the recrudescence of the era of blood and iron. [Cheers.] Stated in a few words that is the reason for our united front, the reason that has brought our gallant Indian warriors to Ma.r.s.eilles, that is extracting from our most distant dominions the best of their manhood, and which in the course of two months has transformed the United Kingdom into a vast recruiting ground. [Cheers.]
Greatest Emergency in Our History.
Now I have come here tonight not to talk but to do business. [Laughter and cheers.] Before I sit down I want to say to you a few practical words. We are confronted, as you all know and recognize, by the greatest emergency in our history. Every part of the United Kingdom and every man and every woman in every part of it is called upon to make his or her contribution and to do his or her share, [cheers,] and our primary business is to fill the ranks. There is, I find, in some quarters an apprehension that the recruiting for the new army and the functions to be a.s.signed to that army when it is formed and trained may interfere with or may in some way belittle or disparage the territorial force.
Believe me, no delusion could be more mischievous or more complete.
No praise could be too high for the patriotic and sustained efforts of the county a.s.sociations or for the quality and efficiency of the territorial troops. It is a comparatively easy thing to make great efforts and sacrifices under the stress and strain, which we are now experiencing, of a supreme crisis. The territorials, without any such stimulus in the piping times of peace, when war and the sufferings and the struggles and glories of war were contingent and remote, these men gave their time, sacrificed their leisure--not only in their annual training, but in thousands of cases both officers and men devoted their spare hours to preparing themselves in the study and the practice of the art of war. They have now been embodied for two months, and I am expressing the considered opinion of one of the most eminent Generals when I say that the divisions now in camp in various parts of the country, and improving every day in efficiency, have completely justified their t.i.tle to play any part that may be a.s.signed to them, either in home defense, in the manning of our garrisons, or in the battle lines at the front. [Loud cheers.]
It is, then, no want of appreciation of the patriotism and of the efficiency of the territorial forces that leads me to ask you tonight for recruits for the regular army. We wish, so far as military exigencies permit, that the new battalions and squadrons and batteries should retain their local a.s.sociations and their corporate and distinctive national character. [Cheers.] Why, the freedom and the autonomy of the smaller nationalities is one of the great issues of this gigantic contest.
A Welsh Army Corps.
I went a week ago to Dublin to make an appeal to Ireland. I asked Irishmen then, as I do now, on behalf of the Government and of the War Office, to enlist in and to make up the complement of an Irish army corps. I repeat that appeal tonight to the men of Wales. [Cheers.] We want that. We want you to fill up the ranks of the Welsh army corps.
[Cheers.] We believe that the preservation of local and national ties, of the genius of a people which has a history of its own, is not only not hostile to or inconsistent with, but, on the contrary, fosters and strengthens and stimulates the spirit of a common purpose, of, a corporate brotherhood, of an underlying and binding imperial unity throughout every section and among all ranks of the forces of the Crown.
[Cheers.]
Men of Wales, of whom I see so many thousands in this splendid gathering, let me say one last word to you. Remember your past.
[Cheers.] Think of the villages and the mountains which in old days were the shelter of the recruiting ground of your fathers in the struggles which adorn and glorify your annals. Never has a stronger or a more compelling appeal been made to you of all that you as a nation honor and hold true. Be worthy of those who went before you, and leave to your children the richest of all inheritances--the memory of fathers who in a great cause put self-sacrifice before ease and honor above life itself.
[Loud cheers.]
Lord Plymouth moved a resolution pledging support to the Prime Minister's appeal to the nation and to measures necessary for the prosecution of the war to a victorious conclusion, whereby alone the lasting peace of Europe could be a.s.sured.
Thomas Richards, M.P., seconded the resolution, which was carried with enthusiasm. The meeting concluded with the singing of "Men of Harlech"
and the national anthem.
LORD CURZON'S EXPERIENCE.
Union of All Parties Noted in Letter to The London Times.
_To the Editor of The Times_:
Sir: Perhaps, after an experience of ten days in which I have had the opportunity of speaking nightly about the war to great audiences of my fellow-countrymen in places so wide apart but so populous and important as Hull, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, Reading, and other towns, I may be permitted to send you a few observations on the subject of the campaign for which I pleaded in your columns a fortnight ago, and which has been prosecuted energetically by a mult.i.tude of speakers ever since.
In the first place, the meetings have shown the absolute fusion of all parties and the disappearance of all minor issues in the face of a national crisis. In each case the chair has been taken by the Lord Mayor or Lord Provost or civic head of the town. On the platform have been seated members of all parties and denominations; and Lords Lieutenant, M.P.'s of all sides, including labor members, and representative clergy, have addressed the meetings. The interest taken by the people has been shown by the fact that the largest halls, though sometimes holding audiences of 3,000 to 4,000 men and more, have been unable to accommodate the crowds, and in every case overflow meetings have had to be held.
I have not found anywhere the slightest misapprehension as to the causes of the war. The fears that were entertained that we should be thought to be fighting on account of Servia or some remote international quarrel, in which we were only indirectly engaged, are groundless. The people realize clearly that we are fighting, not merely for our own honor and good faith, but for ourselves and our own national existence.
Further, I think that the policies and ideals which are represented by our opponents are becoming much more widely understood. The circulation of books such as von Bernhardi's and the clear exposition on many platforms and in the press of the objects preached with such amazing frankness by German writers for at least thirty years and treated with such characteristic indifference by ourselves are bearing fruit, and our people realize that German victory is inconsistent not merely with the continued existence of such an empire as ours, but with the conception of self-respect, humanity and freedom upon which modern civilization and democratic government in particular take their stand.
No doubt the German proceedings in Belgium have done much to accelerate this conviction; and the mercilessness and savagery of the methods by which the war has been fought by them (and for which no vestige of an apology has been forthcoming) have taught men that here is not only an enemy to be beaten but an evil spirit to be driven out.