Chapter 71
The response to the appeal for recruits has, on the whole, been wonderful and inspiriting. Employers of labor, whether on a large or a small scale, have, as a rule, behaved with generosity both as regards releasing their employees and in making provision for them and their families. A good example has been set by families and persons in leading positions. Domestic servants have come forward in great numbers. The working cla.s.s population have awakened more slowly--as was inevitable until the nature of the war and the urgency of the call were brought clearly home to them--but are now responding with alacrity. The brave deeds of their countrymen in France have proved the surest stimulus, and disaster, as, for instance, that reported to the Gordon Highlanders, at once raised the tide of recruits. This is a very typical and encouraging feature, showing that all that is wanted to convert interest into enthusiasm and to blow the embers into flame is that the case should be brought home by the sense of patriotic achievement or national loss.
Unquestionably the two incidents that have appealed most to the public sentiment have been the heroic resistance and tragic sufferings of Belgium--to be compensated by all that our national generosity can provide and atoned for by whatever reparation the Allies think it ultimately right to exact--and the splendid contribution from India. These events excite the loudest cheers and touch the deepest chords of emotion.
In some cases, where recruiting has been slow, men have been affected by a too exclusive but quite pardonable regard for the interests of themselves and their families. The provision made from various sources for the bread winner who has joined the colors or is at the front might easily be made more generous. But the outlook for those who are wounded or disabled, or for the families of those who lose their lives, and perhaps most of all for those who on their return may find it difficult to secure re-employment, is thought by many to be insufficiently a.s.sured. Private employers and business firms have, on the whole, met the situation with liberality; and a similar att.i.tude on the part of the Government would meet with its immediate reward. It is perhaps a selfish utterance if a man is heard to say, "How am I going to come out of it?" or still more, "What good is it going to do to me?"; but if he put the same question on behalf of those who depend upon him for subsistence he is ent.i.tled to a definite and a not ungenerous reply.
Two dangers may have to be faced as the war proceeds. One is that the nation, exhilarated by smaller successes, may think that the war will soon be over, and that no excessive effort is therefore required. Traces of this feeling are sometimes visible in the published letters (how admirable, as a rule, they are!) of soldiers at the front, telling their families to expect them back in a month or two's time. The other danger is that, hara.s.sed by the continuance of the struggle, or attracted by delusive offers of peace or affected by economic or industrial conditions which have fortunately not so far developed, a section of the nation may cry out for peace before the victory has been consummated and before the peril we are fighting to avert is forever destroyed.
It may be that renewed platform activity may be required as time goes on to sustain the spirit and fortify the constancy of the nation. In the meanwhile, speakers, from my experience, cannot do better than dilate upon the immense magnitude of the stakes involved, and probable long duration of the struggle, and the supreme importance that our country should, by the strength and effectiveness of its material contribution to the common cause, exercise a powerful influence both upon the issue of the struggle and in the resettlement of territories and forces which will follow upon its conclusion. I am, Sir, yours obediently,
CURZON OF KEDLESTON.
1 Carlton House Terrace, Sept. 14.
[Ill.u.s.tration: W.L. SPENCER CHURCHILL, British First Lord of the Admiralty.
(_Photo from Underwood & Underwood._)]
NOW THE WAR HAS COME.
Speech by Winston Spencer Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, at the London Opera House, Sept. 11.
These are serious times, and though we meet here in an abode of diversion and of pleasure in times of peace, and although we wish and mean to rouse and encourage each other in every way, yet we are not here for purposes of merriment or jollification. I am quite sure I a.s.sociate my two friends who are here tonight and who are to speak after me, and my n.o.ble friend, your Chairman, with me when I say that we regard the cheers with which you have received us as being offered to us only because they are meant for our soldiers in the field and our sailors upon the sea, [cheers,] and it is in that sense that we accept them and thank you for them.
We meet here together in serious times, but I come to you tonight in good heart, [cheers,] and with good confidence for the future and for the task upon which we are engaged. It is too soon to speculate upon the results of the great battle which is waging in France. Everything that we have heard, during four long days of anxiety seems to point to a marked and substantial turning of the tide.
German Plans Miscarried.
We have seen the forces of the French and British Armies strong enough not only to contain and check the devastating avalanche which had swept across the French frontier, but now at last, not for an hour or for a day, but for four long days in succession, it has been rolled steadily back. [Cheers.] With battles taking place over a front of 100 or 150 miles one must be very careful not to build high hopes on results which are achieved even in a great area of the field of war. We are not children looking for light and vain encouragement, but men engaged upon a task which has got to be put through. Still, when every allowance has been made for the uncertainty with which these great operations are always enshrouded, I think it only fair and right to say that the situation tonight is better, far better, than a cold calculation of the forces available on both sides before the war should have led us to expect at this early stage. [Cheers.]
It is quite clear that what is happening now is not what the Germans planned, [laughter,] and they have yet to show that they can adapt themselves to the force of circ.u.mstances created by the military power of their enemies with the same efficiency that they have undoubtedly shown in regard to plans long prepared, methodically worked out, and executed with the precision of deliberation.
The battle, I say, gives us every reason to meet together tonight in good heart. But let me tell you frankly that if this battle had been as disastrous as, thank G.o.d, it appears to be triumphant, I should come before you with unabated confidence and with the certainty that we have only to continue in our efforts to bring this war to the conclusion which we wish and intend. [Cheers.]
We did not enter upon this war with the hope of easy victory; we did not enter upon it in any desire to extend our territory, or to advance and increase our position in the world; or in any romantic desire to shed our blood and spend our money in Continental quarrels. We entered upon this war reluctantly after we had made every effort compatible with honor to avoid being drawn in, and we entered upon it with a
Making Sure of Victory.
But though we entered this war with no illusions as to the incidents which will mark its progress, as to the ebb and flow of fortune in this and that part of the gigantic field over which it is waged, we entered it, and entered it rightly, with the sure and strong hope and expectation of bringing it to a victorious conclusion. [Cheers.] I am quite certain that if we, the people of the British Empire, choose, whatever may happen in the interval, we can in the end make this war finish in accordance with our interests and the interests of civilization. [Cheers.] Let us build on a sure foundation. Let us not be the sport of fortune, looking for victories here and happy chances there; let us take measures, which are well within our power, which are practical measures, measures which we can begin upon at once and carry through from day to day with surety and effect. Let us enter upon measures which in the long run, whatever the accidents and incidents of the intervening period may be, will secure us that victory upon which our life and existence as a nation not less than the fortune of our allies and of Europe absolutely depends. [Cheers.]
The Deeds of the Navy.
I think we are building on a sure foundation. [Cheers.] Let us look first at the navy. [Cheers.] The war has now been in progress between five and six weeks. In that time we have swept German commerce from the seas. [Cheers.] We have either blocked in neutral harbors or blockaded in their own harbors [laughter] or hunted down the commerce destroyers of which we used to hear so much and from which we antic.i.p.ated such serious loss and damage. All our s.h.i.+ps, with inconsiderable exceptions, are arriving safely and punctually at their destinations, carrying on the commerce upon which the wealth and industry and the power of making war for this country depends. We are transporting easily, not without an element of danger, but hitherto safely and successfully, great numbers of soldiers across the seas from all quarters of the world to be directed upon the decisive theatre of the land struggle. [A voice, "Russians," and laughter.] And we have searched the so-called German Ocean without discovering the German flag. [Cheers.] Our enemies, in their carefully worked out calculations, which they have been toiling over during a great many years, when the people of this country, as a whole, credited them with quite different motives, ["Hear, hear!"] have always counted upon a process of attrition and the waste of s.h.i.+pping by mines and torpedoes and other methods of warfare of the weaker power, by which the numbers and strength of our fleet would be reduced to such a point that they would be able to steel their hearts and come out and fight. [Cheers.] We have been at war for five or six weeks, and so far--though I would certainly not underrate the risks and hazards attending upon warlike operations and the vanity of all overconfidence--but so far the attrition has been on their side and not on ours, [cheers,] while the losses which they have suffered greatly exceed any that we have at present sustained.
I have made careful inquiries as to the condition of our sailors in the fleet under the strain put upon them, and this continued watching and constant attention to their duty under war conditions, and I am glad to say that it is reported to me that the health of the fleet has been much better since the declaration of war than it was in time of peace, [loud cheers and laughter,] both as to the percentage of sickness and the character of the sickness, [laughter,] and that there is no reason why we should not keep up the same process of naval control and have the same exercises of sea power, on which we have lived and are living, for what is almost an indefinite period.
The Nose of the Bulldog.
By one of those dispensations of Providence, which appeals so strongly to the German Emperor, [laughter,] the nose of the bulldog has been slanted backward so that he can breathe with comfort without letting go.
[Laughter and cheers.] We have been successful in maintaining naval control thus far in the struggle, and there are also sound reasons for believing that as it progresses the chances in our favor will not diminish but increase. In the next 12 months the number of great s.h.i.+ps that will be completed for this country is more than double the number which will be completed for Germany, [cheers,] and the number of cruisers three or four times as great. [Cheers.] Therefore I think I am on solid ground when I come here tonight and say that you may count upon the naval supremacy of this country being effectively maintained as against the German power for as long as you wish. [Cheers.]
The Army's Share.
Now we must look at the army....
[Transcriber's Note: Interlinear typesetter's error indicated by ellipses.]
... Government and during all periods of modern history the darling of the British Nation. On it have been lavished whatever public funds were necessary, and to its efficiency has been devoted the unceasing care and thought of successive Administrations. The result is that when the need came the navy was absolutely ready, [cheers,] and, as far as we can see from what has happened, thoroughly adequate to the task which was required from it. But we have not been in times of peace a military nation. The army has not had the facilities of obtaining the lavish supplies of men and money for its needs which have in times of peace and in the past, to our good fortune at the moment, been so freely given to the navy. And what you have to do now is to make a great army. [Cheers.]
You have to make an army under the cover and s.h.i.+eld of the navy strong enough to enable our country to play its full part in the decision of this terrible struggle. [Cheers.]
A Million Men Needed.
The sure way--the only sure way--to bring this war to an end is for the British Empire to put on the Continent and keep on the Continent an army of at least 1,000,000 men. [Cheers.] I take that figure because it is one well within the compa.s.s of the arrangements which are now on foot and because it is one which is well within the scope of the measures which Lord Kitchener--[Loud cheers drowned the rest of the sentence.]
I was reading in the newspapers the other day that the German Emperor made a speech to some of his regiments in which he urged them to concentrate their attention upon what he was pleased to call "French's contemptible little army." [Laughter.] Well, they are concentrating their attention upon it [laughter and cheers] and that army, which has been fighting with such extraordinary prowess, which has revived in a fortnight of adverse actions the ancient fame and glory of our arms upon the Continent, [cheers,] and which tonight, after a long, protracted, hara.s.sed, unbroken, and undaunted rearguard action--the hardest trial to which troops can be exposed--is advancing in spite of the loss of one-fifth of its numbers, and driving its enemies before it--that army must be reinforced and backed and supported and increased and enlarged in numbers, in power by every means and every method that every one of us can employ.
There is no reason why, if you set yourselves to it--I have not come here to make a speech of words, but to point out to you necessary and obvious things which you can do--there is no doubt that, if you set yourselves to it, the army which is now fighting so valiantly on your behalf and our allies can be raised from its present position to 250,000 of the finest professional soldiers in the world, and that in the new year something like 500,000 men, and from that again when the early Summer begins in 1915 to the full figure of twenty-five army corps fighting in line together. The vast population of these islands and all the empire is pressing forward to serve, its wealth is placed at your disposal, the navy opens the way for the pa.s.sage of men and everything necessary for the equipment of our forces. Why should we hesitate when here is the sure and certain path to ending this war in the way we mean it to end? [Cheers.]
A Decisive Weight.
There is little doubt that an army so formed will in quality and character, in native energy, in the comprehension which each individual has of the cause for which he is fighting, exceed in merit any army in the world. We have only to have a chance of even numbers or anything approaching even numbers to demonstrate the superiority of free-thinking, active citizens over the docile sheep who serve the ferocious ambitions of drastic Kings. [Cheers.] Our enemies are now at the point which we have reached fully extended. On every front of the enormous field of conflict the pressure upon them is such that all their resources are deployed. With every addition to the growing weight of the Russian Army, [cheers,] with every addition to the forces at the disposal of Sir John French, [cheers,] the balance must sag down increasingly against them.
Fixing a Term to the War.
You have only to create steadily week by week and month by month the great military instrument of which I have been speaking to throw into the scales a weight which must be decisive. There will be no corresponding reserve of manhood upon which Germany can draw. There will be no corresponding force of soldiers and of equipment and of war material which can be brought into the line to face the forces which we in this island and in this empire can undoubtedly create. That will turn the scale. That will certainly decide the issue. Of course, if victory comes sooner so much the better. [Cheers.] But let us not count on fortune and good luck. [Cheers.] Let us a.s.sume at every point that things will go much less well than we hope and wish. Let us make arrangements which will override that. [Cheers.] We have it in our power to make such arrangements, and it is only common prudence, aye, and common humanity, to take steps which at any rate will fix some certain term to this devastating struggle throughout the whole of the European Continent.
Let me also say this. Let us concentrate all our warlike feeling upon fighting the enemy in the field and creating a great military weapon to carry out the purposes of the war. There is a certain cla.s.s of person who likes to work his warlike feelings off upon the unfortunate alien enemy within our gates.
Fight Like Gentlemen.
Of course all necessary measures must be taken for the security of the country and for the proper carrying out of military needs; but let us always have this feeling in our heart that after the war is over people shall not only admire our victory but they shall say they fought like gentlemen. [Cheers.] The Romans had a motto--
_Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos._
Let that be the spirit in which we conduct this war. Let all those who feel under the horrible provocations of the struggle their hearts suffused with anger and with wrath--let them turn it into a practical channel--going to the front or if circ.u.mstances prevent them, helping others to go, keeping them maintained in the highest state of efficiency, giving them the supplies and weapons which they require, and looking after those they have left behind.
The Eloquence of Brutal Facts.
I have not spoken to you much about the justice of our cause, because it has been most eloquently set out by the Prime Minister, [cheers,] and Sir Edward Grey, [cheers,] and by Mr. Bonar Law, [cheers,] and other leaders of the Opposition; and much more eloquently than by any speakers in this or any other country the justice of our cause has been set out by the brutal facts which have occurred and which have marched upon us from day to day. [Cheers.] Some thought there would be a German war, some did not; but no one supposed that a great military nation would exhibit all the vices of military organization without those redeeming virtues which, G.o.d knows, are needed to redeem warlike operations from the taint of shame. We have been confronted with an exhibition of ruthlessness and outrage enforced upon the weak, enforced upon women and children. We have been confronted with repeated breaches of the law of enlightened warfare, practices a.n.a.logous to those which in private life are regarded as cheating, and which deprive persons or country adopting them, or condoning them, of the credit and respect due to honorable soldiers.
We have been confronted with all this. Let us not imitate it. [Cheers.]
Let us not try to make small retaliations and reprisals here and there.
Let us concentrate upon the simple, obvious task of creating a military force so powerful that the war, even in default of any good fortune, can certainly be ended and brought to a satisfactory conclusion. However the war began, now that it is started it is a war of self-preservation for us. Our civilization, our way of doing things, our political and Parliamentary life, with its voting and its thinking, our party system, our party warfare, the free and easy tolerance of British life, our method of doing things and of keeping ourselves alive and self-respecting in the world--all these are brought into contrast, into collision, with the organized force of bureaucratic Prussian militarism.