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THE GREAT CRUSADE
ET. HON. DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
THE
GREAT CRUSADE
Extracts from Speeches Delivered During the War
BY THE RT. HON.
DAVID LLOYD GEORGE, M.P.
ARRANGED BT
F. L. STEVENSON, C.B.E., BJ^. (Lond.)
NEW ^%SW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
Copyright, 1918,
By George H. Doran Campany
Printed in the United States of America
PREFACE
These speeches are not republished on my own
initiative, but in response to many requests. If,
however, my speeches in book form can help to
bring home to their readers the gravity of the
crisis in which the democracies of the world are
placed, I am glad that they should be republished
even though I have not had time to re-read or
revise them in any way. I have never believed
that the war would be a short war, or that in some
mysterious way, by negotiation or compromise,
we could free Europe from the malignant military
autocracy which is endeavouring to trample it
into submission and moral death. I have always
believed that the machine which has established
its despotic control over the minds and bodies of
its own victims, and then organised and driven
them to slaughter in order to extend that control
over the rest of the world, would only be de-
stroyed if the free peoples proved themselves
strong and steadfast enough to defeat its attempt
in arms. The events of the last few weeks must
have made it plain to every thinking man that
there is no longer room for compromise between
the ideals for which we and our enemies stand.
Democracy and autocracy have come to death
vi BREFACE
grips. One or the other will fasten its hold on
mankind. It is a clear realisation of this issue
which will be our strength in the trials still to
come.
I have no doubt that freedom will triumph. But
whether it will triumph soon or late, after a final
supreme effort in the next few months or a long
jdrawn agony, depends on the vigour and self-sac-
rifice with which the children of liberty, and espe-
cially those behind the lines, dedicate themselves
to the struggle. There is no time for ease or
delay or debate. The call is imperative. The
choice is clear. It is for each citizen to do his
part.
D. Lloyd Geoegb.
CONTENTS
Minister of Munitions. delivered at page
Munitions: Progress of House of Commons,
British Production .... Dec. 20th, 1915. 11
A Word to the Munition Ponder's End,
Workers Feb. Srd, 1916. 19
Winning this War .... Conway,
May 6th, 1916. 21
Secretary of State for War.
Why should we not Sing? Aberystwyth,
Aug. 17th, 1916. 41
Verdun Verdun, *Sepf., 1916. 47
The Great Men of Wales .... Cardiff, Oct. 21th,
1916. 49
Prime Minister.
The New Government .... House of Commons,
Dec. 19th, 1916. 63
A Safe Investment .... Guildhall, Jan. 11th,
1917. 88
Sacrifice at Home .... House of Commons,
Feb, 23rd, 1917. 98
Sowing the Winter Wheat Carnarvon, Feb. Srd,
1917. 100
Entry of America into the Savoy Hotel,
War A-pnl 12th, 1917. 119
The War and the Empire Guildhall, A-pril 27th,
1917. 131
Restatement of the Causes Glasgow, June 29th,
and Aims of the War .... 1917. 140
Tii
viii CONTENTS
"Victory will Come" ...
Belgium
Serbia
The Pan-German Dream
The Russian Revolution
DELIVERED AT PAGE
Dundee, June dOth,
1917.
Queen's Hall,
July 21st, 1917.
Savoy Hotel,
Aug. 8th, 1917.
Queen's Hall,
Aug, m, 1917.
Birkenhead,
Sept. 7th, 1917.
The Destruction of a False Albert Hall,
Oct. 22nd, 1917.
Ideal
A Nation's Thanks
The Co-ordination of Mili-
tary Effort
No Halfway House
The War Aims of the
AlUes
Gray's Inn,
Dec. Uth, 1917.
Central Hall,
Westminster,
Jan. 5th, 1918.
164
166
174
178
187
193
House of Commons,
Oct. 29th, 1917. 199
Paris, Nov. 13th,
1917.
216
233
251
APPENDIX
Extracts from "Through
Terror to Triumph"
I. PREFACE
II. queen's hall speech
III. CITY temple speech
IV. BANGOR
V. BANGOR
269
Sept.
19th,
1914.
273
Nov.
10th,
1914.
290
Feb.
28th,
1915.
300
Aug.
5th,
1915.
304
EXTRACTS FROM SPEECHES
WHILE MINISTER OF MUNITIONS
THE GREAT CRUSADE
MUNITIONS: PROGRESS OF BRITISH
PRODUCTION.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OP
COMMONS, DECEMBER 20tH, 1915.
Importance of Mechanical Superiority in War.
There has never been a war in which machinery
played anything like the part which it is playing
in this war. The place acquired by machinery in
the arts of peace in the nineteenth century has
been won by machinery in the grim art of war in
the twentieth century. In no war ever fought in
this world has the preponderance of machinery
been so completely established. The German suc-
cesses, such as they are, are entirely, or almost
entirely, due to the mechanical preponderance
which they achieved at the beginning of the war.
Their advances in the East, West, and South are
due to this mechanical superiority; and our fail-
ure to drive them back in the West and to check
their advance in the East is also attributable to
the tardiness with which the Allies developed
their mechanical resources. The problem of vic-
tory is one of seeing that this superiority of the
11
12 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Central Powers shall be temporary, and shall be
brought to an end at the earliest possible moment.
There is one production in which the Allies had a
complete mechanical superiority, and there they
are supreme — that is in the Navy. Our command
of the sea is attributable not merely to the excel-
lence of our sailors, but to the overwhelming su-
periority of our machinery.
There is another aspect of this question which
has become more and more evident as this war
has developed and progressed. The machine
spares the man. The machine is essential to de-
fend positions of peril, and it saves life, because
the more machinery you have for defence, the
more thinly you can hold the line ; therefore, the
fewer men are placed in positions of jeopardy to
life and limb. We have discovered that some of
the German advanced lines were held by excep-
tionally few men. It is a pretty well-known fact
that one very strong position, held by the Ger-
mans for days and even for weeks, was defended
against a very considerable French army by
ninety men, armed with about forty to fifty ma-
chine-guns, the French losing heavily in making
the attack. Machinery in that case spared the
men who were defending. It is one portion of the
function which has been entrusted to the Ministry
of Munitions to increase the supply of machines
in order to save the lives of our gallant men. On
the other hand, it means fewer losses in attacking
positions of peril, because it demolishes machine-
IVIUNITIONS 13
gnn emplacements, tears up barbed wire, destroys
trenches. What we stint in materials we squan-
der in life; that is the one great lesson of muni-
tions.
Necessity for an Overwhelming Mass of Material.
I should like to dwell a little upon two consider-
ations, because they are of overwhelming impor-
tance. I have heard rumours that we are over-
doing it, over- ordering, over-building, over-pro-
ducing. Nothing could be more malevolent or
more mischievous. You can talk about over-or-
dering when we have as much as the Germans
have, and even then I should like to argue how
far we have to go. So mischievous is that kind
of talk that I cannot help thinking that it must
have originated from men of pro-German sym-
pathies, who know how important it is that our
troops should, at the critical moment, be short of
that overwhelming mass of material which alone
can break down the resistance of a highly en-
trenched foe. In spite of our great efforts, we
have not yet approached the German and French
production. We have got to reach that first and
not last. France is of opinion that even her colos-
sal efforts are inadequate. I have consulted gen-
erals and officers of experience in the British and
French armies. The conferences which I have
had with the Minister of Munitions in France
have given me full opportunity of obtaining the
views of the most highly placed and distinguished
officers in the French Army. Before I quote their
14 THE GREAT CRUSADE
opinions let me point out that all these generals
up to the present have invariably underestimated
the quantity of materials necessary to secure vic-
tory. I am not surprised. It is so prodigious. A
great French general — one of the greatest — who
has studied tactics with the highest authorities
says that that is the great surprise of the war.
Every battle that has been fought has demon-
strated one thing: that even now it is an under-
estimate and not an overestimate. Take the last
great battle — that of Loos. You had a prodigious
accumulation of ammunition. There is not a gen-
eral who was in the battle who in giving his report
does not tell you that with three times the quan-
tity of ammunition, especially in the heavier na-
tures, they would have achieved twenty times the
result.
False Economy.
It is too early to talk about over-production.
The most fatuous way of economising is to pro-
duce an inadequate supply. A good margin is but
a sensible insurance. Less than enough is a fool-
ish piece of extravagance. £200,000,000 will pro-
duce an enormous quantity of ammunition. It is
forty days ' cost of the war. If you have it at the
crucial moment your war might be won in the
forty days. If you have not, it might run to 400
days. What sort of economy is that? But it does
not merely mean that. It means this — and this is
a fact which I mean to repeat in every speech that
I make on the question : What you spare in money
MUNITIONS 16
you spill in blood. I have a very remarkable
photograph of the battlefield of Loos, taken imme-
diately after the battle. There is barbed wire
which had not been destroyed. There is one ma-
chine-gun emplacement intact — only one! The
others had been destroyed. There, in front of the
barbed wire, lie hundreds of gallant men. There
was one machine gun — one!
These are the accidents you can obviate. How?
Every soldier tells me there is but one way of
doing it. You must have enough ammunition to
crash in every trench wherein the enemy lurks, to
destroy every concrete emplacement, to shatter
every machine-g-un, to rend and tear every yard of
barbed wire, so that if the enemy want to resist
they will have to do it in the open, face to face
with better men. than theme jlves. That is the
secret — plenty of ammunition. I hope that this
idea that we are turning out too much will not
enter into the mind of workman, capitalist, tax-
payer, or anybody until we have enough to crash
our way through to victory. You must spend
wisely; you must spend to the best purpose; you
must not pay extravagant prices; but, for
Heaven's sake, if there are risks to be taken, let
them be risks for the pocket of the taxpayer, and
not for the lives of the soldiers!
Too Latef
There is only one appeal to employer and era-
ployed; it is the appeal to patriotism! The em-
16 THE GREAT CRUSADE
ployer must take steps. He is loth to do it. It is
a sort of inertia which comes to tired and over-
strained men — as they all are. They must really
face the local trade unions, and put forward the
demand, because until they do so the State cannot
come in. We have had an Act of Parliament, but
the law must be put into operation by somebody.
Unless the employer begins by putting on the
lathes unskilled men and women we cannot en-
force that Act of Parliament. The first step,
therefore, is that the employer must challenge a
decision upon the matter. He is not doing so be-
cause of the trouble which a few other firms have
had. But victory depends upon it! Hundreds of
thousands of precious lives depend upon it ! It is a
question of whether you are going to bring this
war victoriously to an end in a year or whether
it is going to linger on in bloodstained paths for
years. Labour has the answer. The contract was
entered into with labour. We are carrying it out.
It can be done. I wonder whether it will not be
too late ! Ah ! fatal words of this war ! Too late
in moving here ! Too late in arriving there ! Too
late in coming to this decision ! Too late in start-
ing with enterprises ! Too late in preparing ! In
this war the footsteps of the Allied forces have
been dogged by the mocking spectre of "Too
Late"; and unless we quicken our movements
damnation will fall on the sacred cause for which
so much gallant blood has flowed. I beg employers
and workmen not to have **Too Late" inscribed
upon the portals of their workshops!
MUNITIONS 17
We can still Win. ,
Everything in the next few months of this war
depends upon it. What has happened? We have
had the co-operation of our Allies. Great results
have been arrived at. At the last conference of
the Allies decisions were arrived at which will af-
fect the whole conduct of the war. The carrying
of them out depends upon the workmen of this
country. The superficial facts of the war are for
the moment against us. All the fundamental facts
are in our favour. That means we have every
reason for looking the facts steadily in the face.
There is nothing but encouragement in them if we
look beneath the surface. The chances of victory
are still with us. We have thrown away many
chances, but for the most part the best still
remains. In this war the elements that make for
success in a short war were with our enemies. All
the advantages that make for victory in a long war
were ours, and are still! Better preparation be-
fore the war, interior lines, unity of command —
those belonged to the enemy. He had a better con-
ception at first of what war really meant. More
than that, he has undoubtedly shown greater
readiness than we to learn the lessons of the war
and to adapt himself to them. Heavy guns, ma-
chine-guns, trench warfare — that was his study.
Our study was the sea. We have accomplished
our task there to the last letter of the promise.
The advantages of a protracted war are ours.
We have an overwhelming superiority in the
18 THE GREAT CRUSADE
raw material of war. It is still with us in spite of
the fact that the Central Powers have by their
successes increased their reserve of men and ma-
terial. We have the command of the sea that
gives us ready access to neutral countries. Above
all — and this tells in a long war — we have the bet-
ter cause. It is better for the heart. Nations do
not endure to the end for a bad cause.
All these advantages are ours. But this is the
moment of intense preparation. It is the moment
of putting the whole of our energies at home into
preparing for the blow to be struck abroad. Our
Fleet and the gallantry of the troops of the Allies
have given us time to muster our reserves. Let
us utilise that time without the loss of a moment.
Let us cast aside the fond illusion that you can
win victory by elaborate pretence that you are
doing so. Let us fling to one side rivalries and
jealousies, trade, professional, and political. Let
us be one people — one in aim, one in action, one in
resolution to win the most sacred cause ever en-
trusted to a great nation.
A WORD TO THE ]\IUNITION WORKERS.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT PONDER 'S END
SHELL FACTORY, FEBRUARY 3rD, 1916, ON OPENING THE
Y. M. C. A. DINING ROOMS FOR THE WORKERS.
This war is going to make a difference in the
life of this country and of the world, a difference
for better or for worse which you cannot calculate.
This is one of those moments in the history of the
world when it takes a plunge downwards or a flight
upwards. Which it takes depends not upon our
soldiers alone, it depends upon our workmen also.
I can see now the difference which it is making in
Britain. In the old days the hustler was regarded
as an alien enemy who had come to this country to
steal the bread of the easygoing Briton; but we
have discovered that the hustler is a British-bom
subject, living among us. John Bull was getting
soft, flabby, fat and indolent. He was just slouch-
ing along. Then the war came, and now his tissues
are as firm as ever; he is alert, vigorous, and
strong; he is hitting hard, and is going to work
his way through to victory. John Bull is young
again ; the war has rejuvenated him. I see before
me 2,000 men who mean business. There are a
million more outside, and more than a million in
France and elsewhere oversea waiting for muni-
19
20 THE GREAT CRUSADE
tions. I know you will not disappoint them. They
are gallant and brave fellows. Theirs the discom-
fort, theirs the danger, theirs, too often, the sacri-
fice. Put forth the whole of your strength, as you
are doing to-day, and their sacrifice will not be in
vain.
WINNING THIS WAR.
SPEECH DELIVERED AT CONWAY, TO A MEETING OP
CONSTITUENTS, MAY 6tH, 1916.
I AM very delighted to find surrounding me to-
day old political friends who have been fighting
many doughty battles by my side for nearly a gen-
eration. I am also delighted to find here men who
have been fighting political battles against me
The task we have in hand is not the task of one
party or of two parties, but a task for the nation
as a whole, and we wish to preserve absolute na-
tional unity until we secure national strength. It
is not always easy. I am not enough of a hunts-
man to know what happens if two packs happen
to get mixed up together. But, after all, we are
rational human beings, and we know that the one
condition of victory is unity.
The Supply of Munitions.
About a year ago to-day I addressed a meeting
at Bangor, My object then was to endeavour to
impress the nation with a sense not merely of the
magnitude of the issues at stake, but of the mag-
nitude of the enterprise and of the gravity of the
task. I then urged that we should mobilise all the
21
22 THE GREAT CRUSADE
national resources, whether of men or materials,
in order to carry us through triumphantly.
I should have liked to tell you what has hap-
pened since in the way of organising and en-
gineering the resources of this country to pro-
vide our gallant troops at the front with abund-
ance of munitions to enable them to face the foe.
I hope to be able to do so shortly in the House of
Conunons. In another month I shall have accom-
plished a year's work at the Ministry of Muni-
tions, and it will be my duty to render an account
of my stewardship. For the present all I can tell
you is this, that we have increased enormously
not merely the output, but — what is more impor-
tant in a long war — the capacity to turn out muni-
tions of war.
The Supply of Men: "A Great Crusade."
At that time we had more men than equipment.
I therefore dwelt rather on munitions. At that
date men were coming in in such numbers that we
had no equipment for them, and our difficulties
were not in raising armies, but in fitting them for
their work. Later in the year there was a falling
off. The flood-tide seemed to have abated; but
meanwhile the achievement of the nation in raising
by voluntary methods those huge armies was
something of which we might very well be proud.
It was almost unparalleled in the history of war,
and nothing which has happened since in the way
of compulsory measures can ever detract from
WINNING THIS WAR 23
the pride we possess in the fact that we are the
first nation in the history of the world that has
raised over three millions of men for any great
military enterprise purely by voluntary means.
Young men from every quarter of this country
flocked to the standard of international right as
to a great crusade. It was a glorious achievement,
and well may Britain be proud of it.
The Advent of Compulsion.
But, as I pointed out, the numbers fell off some-
what towards the end of last summer, and it be-
came abundantly clear about August and Septem-
ber that if we were to carry through this war and
get an adequate supply of men for the purpose we
should have to resort to other methods. There
is no indignity in compulsion. Compulsion simply
means that a nation is organising itself in an or-
derly, consistent, resolute fashion for war. Taxes
are compulsory, although I should say there is no
one here who has discovered that because he has
paid them willingly compulsion and voluntaryism
are not inconsistent in a democratic nation. Com-
pulsion simply means the will of the majority of
the people — the voluntary decision of the major-
ity. Unless you had had a majority, an over-
whelming majority, compulsion would have been
impossible. So compulsion is simply organised
voluntary effort. You must organise effort when
a nation is in peril. You cannot run a war as you
run a Sunday-school treat, where one man volun-
24. THE GREAT CRUSADE
tarily brings the buns, another man supplies the
tea and another brings the kettle, one looks after
the boiling and another takes round the teacups,
some contribute in cash, and a good many lounge
about and just make the best of what is going.
You cannot run a war like that.
The Sons of France and Conscription.
Have you noticed what our Allies are doing?
Do you think the sons of France have gone under
the shadow of the lash to defend her? If you had
been there, you would have known different. The
moment the country was in peril, not as a matter
of duty, not as a legal obligation, but as a matter
of right, as a matter of will, each son of France
rallied to her flag, and it was the pride of every
daughter of France of her free will to give those
she loved for France. What struck me there was
that there was no complaint, that they did not
boast about it; it was something they took for
granted that when France was in peril everybody,
as a matter of privilege, should go and fight for
her. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, the great
motto of France — I will tell you what it means.
When the country is in danger, then liberty means
the right of every man to defend her; equality
means equality of sacrifice of every man and
woman of France ; fraternity means the brother-
hood of endurance, eifort, victory for France.
That is what it means.
I met one of the most important men in France
WINNING THIS WAR 25
who had just had a letter from his boy of nine-
teen in the trenches, and this is what the lad said :
*'I thank God that I was bom in the year 1897,
because it has given me the opportunity of laying
down my life for France in 1916." That is the
spirit of the whole nation, which does not regard
conscription as something that compels them to
do their duty, but purely as an organisation of the
will of everybody to strike a blow for their native
land.
Our Contributions.
I do not say we can make the same contribution
in men in proportion to the population as France
has done. It was generally supposed that I sug-
gested that the other night in the House of Com-
mons. I did not. We cannot do so. Why? We
are supplying France with steel, with coal, with
the material for explosives. We are supplying
other Allies with munitions of war, we are supply-
ing them generally with transport on the seas, we
have in addition to a great army the greatest
navy in the world — and well do our Allies, and
still better do our foes, know that. The number of
men engaged in equipping the Navy with muni-
tions of war is almost as great as the numbers
who are engaged in France on producing muni-
tions for their army. We must take all that into
account.
26 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Compulsion and Liberalism.
I thought the necessity for compulsion had
arisen in September. I still think so. I have come
here to talk quite frankly to you. It is no use
talking together over grave issues like this unless
we are quite frank with each other. Every effort
was made to save the voluntary system by the
groups of Lord Derby's scheme, and for myself I
cannot express the admiration which I have for
the colossal effort put forward by Lord Derby.
But Lord Derby's scheme was not the voluntary
system. If you say to a man, "You come down
from there. I will give you five minutes, and if
you don't I shall ask a policeman to fetch you
down," would that be voluntary, or would it be
compulsory? As a matter of fact, there is no doubt
at all, judged noxv by experience, — and we are all
very wise after the event, — that the Derby cam-
paign had a great many of the disadvantages of
compulsion and voluntaryism without the advan-
tages of either. However, I do not want to go back
upon that. That is what is known in the City as
''jobbing backwards." What stands now is this,
that the House of Commons, by an overwhelming
majority, has declared that the time has arrived
for putting a compulsory scheme into operation,
and the majority has increased.
I am told that the fact that I supported it proves
that I am no longer a Liberal. Well, there must
be a good many Liberals in the same plight, be-
cause the other night barely one-tenth of the Lib-
WINNING THIS WAR 27
eral Party voted against it. All the rest voted for
it. Well, then, there is no Liberal Party alive !
The Liberals had only twenty-eight members in
the House. They used to have 280. What has
happened to all the rest? They must be turned
Tory! After all, as I tried to point out in the
House of Commons, — and nobody has challenged
the historical truth of what I said — great de-
mocracies in peril have always had to resort to
compulsion to save themselves. Empires have been
saved by compulsion, so have Republics. Three
Republics, at any rate, have been saved by com-
pulsion. It is purely, as I said, a means of organ-
ising the strength and virility of a nation to save
itself from oppression, and that is why, as a Lib-
eral fighting the battle of liberty in Europe, I
have no shame in declaring for compulsory enlist-
ment as I would for compulsory taxes or for com-
pulsory education, or, if you will allow me, for
compulsory insurance. Some of my friends are
now very angry with me. I happen to be what is
known in Parliamentary language and through
life as a ''contentious subject." However, I have
attempted to go through with it, but many are very
angry with me because I supported conscription
in September, In September it was heresy, in
January it is the true faith. Why? Why, if it is
a matter of principle ? What has made the heresy
of September orthodox in Januarj^? Nothing that
I can see, except that in January it had the re-
deeming feature of tardiness and inadequacy.
But there it is. It has been carried by the efforts
28 THE GREAT CRUSADE
of the two great parties, and, unless I am mis-
taken, there was only a minority in the Labonr
Party who voted against it.
'^ Poison Gas/*
But, talking of attacks, I have been subjected to
a cloudy discharge of poison gas. I am glad it
has been done. These things had been going on
clandestinely and surreptitiously for months and
I could not deal with them. My difficulty was that
no self-respecting man or newspaper could be
found to give publicity to these attacks, and there-
fore I could not answer them. I am not surprised.
We, after all, are a country that has produced mil-
lions of fighters, but we very rarely in history pro-
duced an assassin. They found one at last. If
I may be allowed to alter my metaphor — and I like
to speak in parables — there is one very disagree-
able form of neighbour which you have in a town
or suburb. He is the man who gathers together
all the vile weeds in his garden, and, when the
wind is favourable, sets fire to them when he is
quite sure the fumes will go towards his innocent
neighbour. Well, all you have to do — there is an
advantage in it, you know it can only happen once
■ — you just either keep away or hold your nostrils,
and you know it will be burnt out. That I am
going to do.
I saw that I was expected to give a full reply
to what they are pleased to call these criticisms. I
shall do nothing of the kind. This is a great war.
WINNING THIS WAR 29
Millions of gallant lives have fallen; the fate of
Europe, the fate, perhaps, of the British Empire
— perhaps the fate of human liberty for genera-
tions — is trembling in the balance, and if any man
believes, on the testimony of the person who pub-
lishes or invents private conversation in order to
malign a friend — if any man believes that I am
capable amid such terrible surroundings of mak-
ing use of them for a base and treacherous in-
trigue to advance my private ends, let him believe
it. I seek neither his friendship nor his support.
I reserve my sympathy for those who get either,
and my disdain for those who merit it.
Charges of Disloyalty: What Constitutes Loyalty .
But there are honest Liberals who have no taste
for that kind of nauseous slander who are worried
about two things. For them I have an answer.
What are the two things ? I have told you I have
come here to speak frankly. You are my con-
stituents. You have stood by me for thirty years,
and you are entitled to know what I am about.
There are people who say, ''What is he up to
now?" I am going to tell you what I am up to —
I am up to winning this war.
But let me tell you what are the two things that
trouble honest and sincere Liberals. One is that
I seem to have some differences of opinion with
my chief. I have worked with him for ten years ;
I have served under him for eight. If we had not
worked harmoniously — and we have — let me tell
30 THE GREAT CRUSADE
you here at once it would have been nay fault and
not his. I never worked with any one who could
be more considerate. But we have had our dif-
ferences. Good heaven ! What use would I have
been if I had not differed? I should have been no
use at all. He has shown me great kindnesses
during the years I have worked with him. I
should have ill requited them if I had not told my
opinions freely, frankly, independently, whether
they agreed with his or not.
Freedom of speech is essential everywhere, but
there is one place where it is vital, and that is in
the Council Chamber. The councillor who pro-
fesses to agree with everything that falls from his
leader has betrayed him. Napoleon, who was a
great leader of men, discouraged free discussion
everywhere except in the council of war. There
he encouraged it. He promoted it, he did not
ask the people there to say ditto to what he pro-
fessed, and if there had been any foolish news-
papers in that day who, the moment they discov-
ered that councillors inside Napoleon's Council
Chamber had dared to disapprove of his plans,
published the fact and denounced them as cavil-
lers, traitors, and intriguers, they would have done
infinite harm to France, for they would have
ruined Napoleon. There are twenty-three of us
and if we all came together with exactly the same
mind, exactly the same plan, exactly the same pro-
posals and schemes, what a marvel it would have
been, and how worthless would it have been !
After all, in the Council Chamber you want free
WINNING THIS WAR 81
expression of opinion. You want a variety of
opinions expressed, and the height of msdom
is in knowing, not what counsel to give, but which
counsel to take. Many men, many minds, and if
there are not many minds you may depend upon
it there are not very many men. They are not
men, but automatons, and what I want to know is
this, whether the nation in a great war wants coun-
sellors or mere penny-in-the-slot machines. If the
latter, then all I can say is I desire to be no part of
the equipment.
^'Wage War with all your might.''
Let me give you a second matter which seems
to be worrying some of my very best Liberal
friends. They are rather shocked in their hearts
because I am throwing such fervour into the
prosecution of the war. Well, I hate war. I very
often feel a sense of shock pass through my sys-
tem when I realise what the terrible machines
which I am helping to manufacture are intended
for. But you either make war or you don't. It
is the business of statesmen to strain every nerve
to keep a nation out of war, but once they are in
it, it is also their business to wage it with all
their might. It is the old story. Beware of en-
trance to a quarrel, but being in it, see that thine
enemy beware of thee. That is the reason why
men can wage effective war only when they have
either a good conscience or no conscience at all.
The latter has been the German case. I also hate
32 THE GREAT CRUSADE
war, and that is the reason why I want this to be
the last, and it won't be unless this war is effec-
tively waged by us. A badly conducted war means
a bad peace, and a bad peace means no peace at
all. That is why I have urged that this war should
be conducted with determination.
The Need for Resolution.
You must not only be resolute, but you must ap-
pear to be resolute. I have heard a good deal of
criticism of the Government — some of it very un-
fair, some of it very ill-informed, a good deal of it
rather shrewish — ^but I will tell you at once the
criticism I have had most difficulty in answering.
I will put it in this form — that we are a huge, un-
wieldy van, very good material in all its parts,
but rather lacking in propelling power, and for
that reason, whenever we come to an obstacle or
declivity, we rather roll and ricket and threaten
to come to a standstill. One set of men, we are
told, pushes one way, another set of men pushes
another way, and a further set of men undoubt-
edly tries to throw us over altogether, and the di-
rection in which we go depends on the largest
number of men who are pushing or upon the pur-
chase which they have got at the moment.
I do not think it is fair criticism altogether, and
it does not sufficiently take into account enormous
difficulties which you have in a great war like this.
"We have accomplished enormous results in the
raising of armies and in their equipment, when
WINNING THIS WAR 33
you consider that we began with about the tiniest
anny in Europe, smaller than the Serbian Army,
and that we now have one of the greatest and best
equipped armies in the world. Still I agree that
in conducting a war a Government should not only
be resolute but appear resolute. War is a terrible
business, but men will face all its horrors if they
have confidence in their leaders. But if there is
hesitation, if there is timidity, if there is the ap-
pearance of irresolution, the bravest hearts will
fail. The spirit of the nation is the propellant of
its armies. Therefore it is important, whatever
happens, that you should have confidence that the
Government is doing its best in the firmest and
most resolute manner to conduct the war. That
is why I have had no sympathy with those who
seem to think that because war is hateful you
ought to fight it with a savour of regret in your
actions. Doubting hand never yet struck a firm
blow.
** Freedom at Stake."
In any action which I have taken since the war
I am not conscious of having departed from any
principle which I ever enunciated to you on this
platform. I came into politics to fight for the
under dog, and it has been all the same to me
whether he was an underpaid agricultural la-
bourer, a sick workman, an infirm and broken old
man or woman who had given their lives to the
country, a poor slum dweller, or a small nation
harried by voracious Empires. In fighting this
34 THE GREAT CRUSADE
war I have simply, in my judgment, been carrying
out the principles which I have advocated on this
platform now for thirty years of my life. I have
had no illusions as to what this war means or
meant. I have always felt that the life of this
Empire was at stake, and I know how much de-
pends on that life. With all its faults, the British
Empire, here and across the seas, stands for freer,
better, ampler, nobler conditions of life for man.
I believed that in this war freedom was at stake,
so I have thrown myself with all my heart and
soul and strength into working for victory.
Facing the Facts.
Nor have I ever had any doubts about the re-
sult, if we fought with intelligence and with reso-
lution. The fundamental facts are in our favour.
"We have command of the seas. We have it now
more completely than we ever had. The resources
of raw material for arms, men, and equipment are
ours. But it takes time to bring them all into full
operation. The business, of the enemy is to de-
stroy or to wear out one of the Allies or break up
the alliance before that time comes. Our business
is to minimise those risks, shortening the time
within which we can bring out our own maximum
streng-th to bear on the enemy.
But I want to say one thing, time is not an ally.
It is a doubtful neutral at the present moment and
has not yet settled on our side. But time can be
won ovei by effort, by preparation, by determina-
I
WINNING THIS WAR 85
tion, by organisation. We must reckon fearlessly
the forces of the enemy. We must impartially, in-
telligently, reckon our own. There is no greater
stupidity in a war than to underestimate the forces
with which j^ou have to contend. Calculate them
to the last man, add them up to the last man, add
them up to the last shilling. See what you have to
face, and then face it. Then I have no doubt of
victory.
W^e must have unity among the Allies, design,
and co-ordination. Unity we undoubtedly possess.
No alliance that ever existed has worked in more
perfect unison and harmony than the present one.
Design and co-ordination leave yet a good deal
to be desired. Strategy must come before geog-
raphy. The Central Powers are pooling their
forces, all their intelligence, all their brains, all
their efforts. We have the means. They too often
have the methods. Let us apply their methods to
our means and we win.
''Trust the People.''
And then we shall come to the reckoning for the
long, dreary, cruel tale of wrong ; the outrages on
Belgium, the atrocities in Poland, the barbarisms
of Wittenberg, the inhumanities of the Lusitania.
The long account must be settled to the last farth-
ing. That is why I attach so much importance
to this nation, which has so often led the battle
of right and freedom in Europe, mobilising the
whole of its strength for this great purpose.
36 THE GREAT CRUSADE
I have no fear of the people. Britain will fight
it out. We are a sluggish people, but no one ever
made the mistake that we were faint-hearted with-
out suffering for it. I believe in the old motto,
"Trust the People." Tell them what is happen-
ing. There is nothing to conceal. Have all the
facts before them. They are a courageous people,
but they never put forward their best effort in
this land until they face the alternative of dis-
aster. Tell them what they are confronted with
and they will rise to every occasion. Look at the
way they are doing it. The people are capable of
rising to greater heights than even their truest
leaders ever believed. Look at the way, the cheer-
ful way — it is the amazement of every man who
has been at the front — they are enduring hard-
ships, wounds, facing danger and death on the
battlefield. Look at the calm, quiet courage with
which the men and women at home are enduring
grief. You can trust the people.
I read a story the other day about a mining
camp at the foot of a black mountain in the great
West. The diggers had been toiling long and hard
with but scant encouragement for their labours,
and one night a terrible storm swept over the
mountain. An earthquake shattered its hard sur-
face and hurled its rocks about ; and in the morn-
ing in the rents and fissures they found a rich de-
posit of gold. This is a great storm that is sweep-
ing over the favoured lands of Europe ; but in this
night of terror you will find that the hard crust of
WINNING THIS WAR 37
selfishness and greed has been shattered, and in
the rent hearts of the people you will find treas-
ures, golden treasures, of courage, steadfastness,
endurance, devotion, and of the faith that endur-
eth for ever.
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR
WHY SHOULD WE NOT SING?
SPEECH DELIVERED AT ABERYSTWYTH, AT THE WELSH
NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD, AUGUST 17TH, 1916.
I HAVE come liere at some inconvenience to at-
tend, and if necessary to defend, this Eisteddfod.
I have been a strong advocate of its being held. I
was anxious there should be no interruption on
account of the war in the continuity of the Welsh
National Eisteddfod. It is too valuable an insti-
tution, it has rendered too great services to our
country to risk its life by placing it into a state of
suspended animation for an indefinite period. The
British Association has held its meetings every
year since the war began ; it will hold another next
month, and I am glad of it ; but much as I esteem
the services rendered to research by that gather-
ing, I claim that the services rendered to popular
culture by the National Eisteddfod have been
even greater.
There are a few people who know nothing about
the Eisteddfod who treat it as if it were merely an
annual jollification which eccentric people indulge
in. There was a letter appearing in The Times
this week written by a person who seems to hold
that opinion. He signs himself **A Welshman."
He evidently thinks that the publication of his
41
42 THE GREAT CRUSADE
name would add nothing to the weight of his ap-
peal, so he has — wisely, no doubt — withheld it.
Now The Times is not exactly the organ of the
Welsh peasantry. That does not matter to this
gentleman, because he makes it clear that he has
no objection to common people attending the Eis-
teddfod; but he expresses the earnest hope that
important people like the Welsh M.P.'s will not
encourage such an improper assembly by giving
it their presence. His notion of the Eisteddfod is
a peculiar one, and as there might be a few people
outside Wales who hold the same views, I think I
must refer to this estimate of its purport and sig-
nificance. He places it in the same category as a
football match or a horse-race and a good deal
beneath a cinema or music-hall performance.
These are kept going afternoon and evening with-
out the slightest protest in the columns of The
Times from this egregious Welshman.
The competing bards are to him so many race-
horses started round the course by Mr. L. D.
Jones, the chairing day being, I suppose, the
Bardic Oaks. Sir Vincent Evans would be the
grand bookmaker, who arranges the stakes, and of
course we all have something on one or other of
the starters. The meetings of the Cymmrodorion,
the Gorsedd of the Bards, the Arts Section, the
Folklore Society, the Union of the Welsh Socie-
ties, and the Bibliographical Society are the side-
shows which amuse the Eisteddfodic larrikins
whilst the race is not on. That is where the
thimble-rigging and the cocoanut shies and games
WHY SHOULD WE NOT SING? 43
of that sort are carried on! No wonder this in-
telligent gentleman is ashamed to avow his name.
I challenge him to give it. It will be useful as a
warning to readers of English papers of the class
who anonymously insult Welsh institutions.
Let any man look through this programme and
see for himself what the Eisteddfod means — prizes
for odes, sonnets, translations from Latin and
Greek literature, essays on subjects philosophical,
historical, sociological. An adequate treatment
of some of these subjects necessarily involves a
good deal of original research. Art is encour-
aged; even agriculture is not forgotten. Forsooth,
all this effort should be dropped on account of the
war ! To encourage idle persons to compose poet-
ry during war is unpatriotic. Promoting culture
amongst the people, a futile endeavour at all
times, during the war is something every Welsh
member of Parliament ought to snub. To give a
prize for a study of the social and industrial con-
ditions of a Welsh village is dangerous at any
time, and during a war it is doubly so. To excite
the interest of the people in literature during the
war is a criminal waste of public money. Above
all, to sing during a war, and especially to sing
national songs during a war, is positively inde-
cent, and the powers of the Defence of the Realm
Act ought at once to be invoked to suppress it.
Hush! No music, please; there is a war on!
Why should we not sing during war? Why,
especially, should we not sing at this stage of the
war? The blinds of Britain are not dowTi yet,
44 THE GREAT CRUSADE
nor are they likely to be. The honour of Britain
is not dead, her might is not broken, her destiny
is not fulfilled, her ideals are not shattered by her
enemies. She is more than alive ; she is more po-
tent, she is greater than she ever was. Her domin-
ions are wider, her influence is deeper, her pur-
pose is more exalted than ever. Why should her
children not sing? I know war means suffering,
war means sorrow. Darkness has fallen on many
a devoted household, but it has been ordained that
the best singer amongst the birds of Britain should
give its song in the night, and according to legend
that sweet song is one of triumph over pain.
There are no nightingales this side of the Severn.
Providence rarely wastes its gifts. We do not
need this exquisite songster in Wales ; we can pro-
vide better. There is a bird in our villages which
can beat the best of them. He is called Y Cymro.
He sings in joy, he sings also in sorrow ; he sings
in prosperity, he sings also in adversity. He sings
at play, he sings at work; he sings in the sun-
shine, he sings in the storm; he sings in the day-
time, he sings also in the night ; he sings in peace ;
why should he not sing in war? Hundreds of wars
have swept over these hills, but the harp of Wales
has never yet been silenced by one of them, and I
should be proud if I contributed something to keep
it in tune during the war by the holding of this
Eisteddfod to-day.
Our soldiers sing the songs of Wales in the
trenches, and they hold the little Eisteddfod be-
hind them. Here is a telegram which has been
WHY SHOULD WE NOT SING? 45
received by the secretary of the Eisteddfod from
them. The telegram says: ** Greetings and best
wishes for success to the Eisteddfod and Cym-
anfa Ganu from Welshmen in the field. Next
Eisteddfod we shall be with you." Please God,
they will. That telegram is from the 38th Welsh
Division. They do not ask us to stop singing.
There is not one of them who would not be sorry
if we gave up our National Eisteddfod during the
war. They want to feel that while they are up-
holding the honour of Wales on the battlefields
of Europe, Asia, and Africa, we are doing our
best to keep alive all the institutions, educational,
literary, musical, religious, which have made
Wales what it is to them. They want the fires on
every national altar kept burning, so that they
shall be alight when they return with the laurels
of victory from the stricken fields of this mighty
war. That is why I am in favour of holding this
festival of Welsh literature and of song even in
the middle of Armageddon.
But I have another and even more urgent reason
for wishing to keep this Eisteddfod alive during
the war. When this terrible conflict is over a wave
of materialism will sweep over the land. Nothing
will count but machinery and output. I am all for
output, and I have done my best to improve ma-
chinery and increase output. But that is not all.
There is nothing more fatal to a people than that
it should narrow its vision to the material needs of
the hour. National ideals without imagination
are but as the thistles of the wilderness, fit neither
46 THE GREAT CRUSADE
for food nor fuel. A nation that depends upon
them must perish. "We shall need at the end of
the war better workshops, but we shall also need
more than ever every institution that will exalt
the vision of the people above and beyond the
workshop and the counting-house. We shall need
every national tradition that will remind them
that men cannot live by bread alone.
I make no apology for advocating the holding
of the Eisteddfod in the middle of this great con-
flict, even although it were merely a carnival of
song, as it has been stigmatised. The storm is
raging as fiercely as ever, but now there is a shim-
mer of sunshine over the waves, there is a rain-
bow on the tumult of surging waters. The strug-
gle is more terrible than it has ever been, but
the legions of the oppressor are being driven back
and the banner of right is pressing forward. Why
should we not sing? It is true there are thousands
of gallant men falling in the fight — let us sing of
their heroism. There are myriads more standing
in the battle-lines facing the foe, and myriads
more behind ready to support them when their
turn comes. Let us sing of the land that gave
birth to so many heroes.
I am glad that I came down from the cares and
labour of the War Office of the British Empire to
listen and to join with you in singing the old songs
which our brave countrymen on the battlefield are
singing as a defiance to the enemies of human
right.
VERDUN.
SPOKEN IN THE VxVULT OP THE CITADEL OF VERDUN,
SEPTEMBER, 1916.
First of all I wish to tell you how glad I am that
you asked me to sit at table with your ofiBcers in
the heart of Verdun's citadel. I am glad to see
around me those who have come back from battle,
those who will be fighting to-morrow, and those
who, with you, General, are sentries on these im-
pregnable walls. The name of Verdun alone will
be enough to arouse imperishable memories
throughout the centuries to come. There is not
one of the great feats of arms which make the
history of France which better shows the high
qualities of the Army and the people of France;
and that bravery and devotion to country, to
which the world has ever paid homage, have been
strengthened by a sang-froid and tenacity which
yield nothing to British phlegm.
The memory of the victorious resistance of Ver-
dun will be immortal because Verdun saved not
only France, but the whole of the great cause
which is common to ourselves and humanity. The
evil-working force of the enemy has broken itself
against the heights around this old citadel as an
angry sea breaks upon a granite rock. These
heights have conquered the storm which threat-
ened the world.
47
48 THE GREAT CRUSADE
I am deeply moved when I tread this sacred
soil, and I do not speak for myself alone. I bring
to you a tribute of the admiration of my country,
of the great Empire which I represent here. They
bow with me before your sacrifice and before your
glory. Once again, for the defence of the great
causes with which its very future is bound up,
mankind turns to France. ''A la France! Aux
hommes tombes sous Verdun!'*
THE GREAT MEN OF WALES.
SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE CARDIFF TOWN HALL ON THE
OCCASION OF THE UNVEILING OF STATUES OF GREAT MEN
OP WALES, PRESENTED BY LORD RHONDDA ON HIS BEING
ADMITTED TO THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY, OCTOBER 27TH,
1916.
This is a theme that peculiarly demands careful
thought and preparation — the theme of the great
men of Wales, of whom we have representatives
in statuary here to-day. It is a great theme. I
can give but impressions of my own mind — fugi-
tive impressions. A nation may be rich in min-
erals, may be rich in its soil, may be rich in nat-
ural beauties, it may be rich in its commerce ; but
unless it is also rich in great men there is an es-
sential ingredient to national wealth which is miss-
ing. The great men of any nation are like moun-
tains. They attract and assemble the vitalising
elements in the heavens and distribute and direct
them in the valleys and the plains so as to irrigate
the land with their fertilising qualities. The
world without them would be either a desert or a
morass. Just think what England would have
been without its great men and women of thought
and of action — no Shakespeare, no Elizabeth, no
Milton, no Cromwell, no Locke, no Chatham, no
Wolsey, no Wesley — I could not go through the
49
50 THE GREAT CRUSADE
list of the peaks in this sublime Himalayan range
of great men and great minds. England without
them would have been a fen of stagnant waters,
and Wales without the great men of whom we
have here but representatives would have been a
:wretched swamp. We do well, then, not merely to
honour the memory of great men, but to remind
the men and women of to-day of their existence
and of their work by recording their story and
their achievements. I should like to say one word,
not about what each of them was in his day, but
of what they typify in themselves as a whole.
Welsh Civilisation an ancient one.
The first thing that strikes me in going through
the list is this : how old is the civilisation of Wales.
There are men, I believe — at least, I have heard
of them — who seem to think the civilisation of
Wales began, let us say, with the Taff Vale Rail-
way — that it developed into its present glory with
the Barry Railway and the Bute Docks ; that even
now you are getting into the shadows when you
become a bona fide traveller, and that if you go
far north the tribes would still be linked in the
grip of savagery. It is one of the oldest civilisa-
tions in Europe.
Saint David.
Look at that great figure (pointing to Dewi
Sant). He was none the less a saint because he
THE GREAT MEN OF WALES 51
was a controversialist. I do not bcliove in '*sant
glasdwr." * He had a real virility in his saintli-
ness. He was a good fighter, and none the less a
saint for that reason. What does he typify, this
saint of the sixth century? It is a long while ago,
the sixth century. It is the time of Arthur and
the Knights of the Round Table, 1,300 years ago,
when the Saxons were destroyers of a civilisation
they neither comprehended nor appreciated. In
those days W^elshmen had a King who inculcated
a new code of honour, that restrained, ennobled,
exalted, engentled the brute forces of Europe for
centuries. That is the civilisation of Wales. At
the same time it had a saint who preached with
acceptance amongst the people of the hills and the
valleys of this land ideals which no human civilisa-
tion can ever perfectly achieve, but the struggle
for the attainment of which will ever purify and
elevate the race that undertakes it. That is what
St. David means and reminds us of.
Giraldus.
Now come to the twelfth century. There is
Giraldus — a complex, tumultuous character
^vhich completely fascinates anyone who meets him
in the pages of history — half Norman, half Welsh,
and the Welsh corpuscles in his blood waging in-
cessant warfare on the Norman corpuscles. When
the Welsh armies fighting the invaders triumphed
he sat down in his cloisters and wrote a book and
* A milk-and-watery saint.
52 THE GREAT CRUSADE
dreamed about things. Then the Norman rose
and triumphed for a moment, and he started wan-
dering off from home after fighting for dominion
at home. You have the Norman and the Welsh-
man fighting in the same book which he wrote.
First of all, in his ''Itinerary," you find chapters
of the most glowing eulogy upon Wales, Welsh
literature, Welsh poetry, Welsh music, the Welsh
character. That was written by Gerald the
Welshman, the grandson of Nest. In the very
following chapter there are words of the most
scornful and scathing criticism, destructive of
everything Welsh, its character, its literature, its
everything. That was written by Gerald the Nor-
man, the son of Du Barri. He carried it so far
that in that very book he wrote chapters instruct-
ing the Norman how he was to subdue Wales, and
that again was written by the Norman. He then
in the very next chapter wrote a most elaborate
system of strategy to teach the Welshman how to
rebel against the Norman. That was written by
Gerald the Welshman. It was the same man. He
was equally sincere in both. There was no deceit.
There was no hypocrisy. It is written in the same
book, almost at the same time, and under the same
signature — the same man. He had only more
than usual of the inconsistency of all great men
of action, because the greatest men of action are
also the greatest dreamers, and there is, therefore,
that wild raging conflict in each. You get it typi-
fied in that fascinating half -Norman, half -Welsh-
man who came from Pembrokeshire. That is Ger-
THE GREAT MEN OF WALES 53
aid, and a very attractive person he is. Why do
I dwell on him? I will tell you. H6 gives a com-
plete, detailed account of Wales in the twelfth
century. He wrote the very best journalistic ma-
terial said to have been written at that time. He
was a journalist and an impressionist, and he
gives an account of an itinerary through Wales.
A good many of you, if not most of you, have read
it. If you have not read it, read it. It is a good
thing to understand the country one is living in.
He also gives an account of Ireland — but I advise
you not to read that !
Early Wales.
What account does he give of Wales? He gives
a description of a cultivated, refined people, de-
voted to poetry and literature and music and re-
ligion, devoted to the needs of the mind and of
the soul, with a language which at that time was
a fine medium for the most subtle expression of
human thought, a people who believed in culture
— not with a "k" — a real culture. That is the
description given by Gerald of Wales at that pe-
riod. And if some of you have read — I have no
doubt most of you have — Green's '' History of
England," one of the most charming books of his-
tory you can ever dip in, you will find therein an
account of that period and the influence of Welsh
literature upon England, how the new poetry of
the twelfth centurj'' burst forth in Wales not from
one bard or another, but from a nation at large.
54 THE GREAT CRUSADE
It was a literary people, not a man here or there,
but a whole nation — a literary nation. That was
the Wales of the twelfth century. "The new en-
thusiasm of the race," said Mr. Green, "found an
admirable means of utterance in its tongue, as
real a development of the old Celtic language
heard by Caesar as the Romance tongues are de-
velopments of Caesar's Latin, but which at a far
earlier date than any other language of modern
Europe had attained to definite structure and to
settled literary form." That is what Gerald the
Welshman represents.
German Scholars and Welsh Poetry.
I once had a talk with a German professor. He
was very intelligent, one of the most intellectual
men in Germany, and he said to me: "We have
been studying the literature of England, and we
came across something we did not understand,
something we could not account for. I think," he
said, "it was in the twelfth century." He added:
"The Teuton has never been a master of lyrics,
but we found the Saxon of England in those days
a master of the lyrical form of poetry, and we
said, 'Where has this come from?' " They said
"There must have been some extraneous influ-
ence," and, with the German systematic mind, they
followed it until at last they traced it to Wales.
With Teutonic thoroughness they mastered the
language, and they discovered a treasure of song
that dazzled them — something they had never
THE GREAT MEN OF WALES 55
heard of, something they had never thought of as
being in existence. That was the Wales of the
twelfth century, overflowing into England and in-
fluencing English literature. The poetry of Wales
was hke the Severn, rising in the Welsh hills, de-
riving its source, deriving its inspiration, its im-
pulse, from the mountains of Wales, overflowing
into the plains of England, then winding back un-
til now it forms a hitherto unbridged boundary
between England and Wales at the very point
where its waters are merging into the great ocean
that laves the shores of many continents.
Dafydd ap Gwilym.
Here also is Dafydd ap Gwilym. He was of the
fourteenth century. George Borrow, no mean
judge of literary form and style, said of Dafydd
ap Gwilym that he always considered him as the
greatest poetical genius that had appeared in Eu-
rope since the revival of literature. While George
Borrow had reasons perhaps other than literary
for feeling kindly towards Dafydd ap Gwilym, all
the same he was a great judge ; and Matthew Ar-
nold, who was a much sterner critic, places Dafydd
ap Gwilym amongst the great poets of Europe.
He is not always easy to read, even for a Welsh-
man. He is as difficult to read as Chaucer is. But
when you take the trouble there are few things in
life that give greater joy than to read some of the
poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym. They are, undoubt-
edly, among the things of beauty that are a joy for
56 THE GREAT CRUSADE
ever. They are as beautiful as the most beautiful
valley in Wales.
Hyivel Dda.
Here you have also the legislator — Hywel Dda.
It is worth while reading his laws even now — sa-
gacious, shrewd, showing a deep insight into the
motive powers of human nature, and withal es-
sentially humane. The laws of Hywel Dda, if you
put them side by side with the laws of this country
a century ago — aye, w^ith the laws of this country
even now — show a greater tenderness for human
weakness in many particulars, and they might
very well be emulated by those who wish to see a
country well governed and contented.
And you have here Henry VII., the first of a
strong dynasty of Sovereigns who founded this,
the greatest Empire in the world. He was the
grandson of an Anglesey gentleman farmer. You
have the greatest hymnologist, not in Wales, but
the greatest hymnologist in Britain — Williams of
Pantycelyn. I wish it were possible to translate
hymns, to translate lyrics — ah, when it is done
what a treat is in store for our English fellow-
countrymen! They do not realise it. It is the
perfection of form and all poetic sentiment.
The Orators —A Plea.
I am not going to refer to the others — to the
great translator of the Bible into Welsh, for in-
THE GREAT MEN OF WALES 57
stance; but I should like to say one word about
those who are not here. The greatest period in
Welsh history is represented by Williams Panty-
celyn, but he was only representative of one type
that made modem Wales. I wish it had been pos-
sible to have had a type, first of all, of those who
made the religious revival of Wales, and, secondly,
of those who made the intellectual revival of
Wales. I know how difficult it is. When you come
nearer moflem times there are always sectional
prejudices and predilections which have to be con-
sidered and reconciled. But if there is any dif-
ficulty I suggest that you leave it to be settled by a
spiritually-minded man who does not belong to
any sect — and there are a good many of them to be
found.
At the end of the eighteenth century and the
beginning of the nineteenth you had an outburst
of oratory of the first order, such as no nation had
ever crowded before into a half-century. Oratory
is moving speech, not moving to tears, but moving
to admiration. That may be'' rhetoric, it may be
even literature, but it is not oratory. Oratory is
the moving of man to action. Demosthenes moved
his fellow-citizens to action against a tyranny that
was impending. These great orators moved a
people from darkness to the path that led to the
light, from bondage to the rugged road that leads
to a true freedom. The greater the oratory the
greater the movement, the more prolonged it is,
the more sustained it is, and no orators who ever
lived moved a people so far along the road — moved
58 THE GREAT CRUSADE
them so liigh in their climb — as those great gifted
men who were orators, and who should stand as
statuary in the greatest hall that ever was built
to represent the genius of man. I wish there were
one representative — one. It would not be difficult ;
they would not quarrel. There (pointing) is a
poet whose songs in his life everyone profoundly
disapproved of. There are bishops who did not
belong to their particular Church, Catholic and
Anglican. They have passed beyond the veil,
where judgments are tolerant, where realities only
count, and where Dafydd ap Gwilym will be
greeted by Rowlands Llangeitho as a man who
talked of the realities, of the things of God.
You need not fear to put them here ; let us have
one of them here, just one of the greatest men that
ever thrilled a nation from death into life. That
is my plea. Then there is the intellectual revival
of Wales. Those colleges, those schools — they did
not spring from the earth. There were great men
who ploughed and harrowed the ground and sowed
the seed, took out the weeds, and tended and shep-
herded the growing institutions. Let us have one
of those.
I do not say the representation will be complete.
It is difficult to make complete any representation
of the great men of a nation. Great men provoke
controversy. Dafydd ap Gwilym was buried for
centuries in the dust of obloquy. It is but recently
that he has risen from the dead. There are men
I dare not mention, dead men, and, although dead,
men I cannot mention in an assembly which takes
THE GREAT MEN OF WALES 59
diverse views about them — martyrs, social think-
ers, like Robert Owen.. They are men who fought
and suffered for religious equality and freedom
of conscience. It is difficult to bring men of that
kind in, because thej^ fight even though they be
dead. Their battle is not over yet : they are still
fighting. They are fighting for something that
will only emerge into consent centuries hence.
When that happens they will have their place in
the National Valhalla, and a high place it will be.
But let them work their way there. The great ora-
tors of Wales, the great educational reformers of
Wales, have surely ceased to be controversialists.
Power of Little Nations.
One or two w^ords in conclusion. We are here
to honour the great men of a little nation, such
a small nation compared with the nations that are
on the arena now. And yet little nations were
never more alive, never more important than they
are to-day in this conflict of gigantic Empires. If
I were to pass a criticism upon the Allies I would
say that while fighting for little nations they have
never fully recognised and realised their value
and their potential strength. They have never
realised quite the value of Belgium, of Serbia, of
Montenegro, of Bulgaria, of Greece, of Roumania.
WTien the time comes to write the story of this
conflict it will be found that the cardinal blunder
of the Allies was that they did not understand the
power, the potential power, of the little nations.
Britain is now at the full strength of an Imperial
60 THE GREAT CRUSADE
tide, and whilst the tide will get still higher, it
will never submerge the joy of the little nation in
its past, in its present, and in the future which
it conceives for itself. The small nation is like
a little stream. It does not cease to have a separ-
ate existence even when its waters are merged in
the great river. It still runs along the same val-
ley, under the same name, draining the same
watershed, and if it ceases to flow and to gather
the waters of its own plain the great river would
shrink, the great river would lose half its impetus
and the purity of its waters.
That great river is now in flood. A storm of
righteous anger against a ghastly wrong has
swept over the land, and the river is full to over-
flowing. But I thank God for the fact that there
are cataracts from the mountains of Wales swell-
ing now the torrent of angry waters that will
sweep away for ever the oppression which has
menaced generations.
EXTRACTS FROM SPEECHES
AS PRIME MINISTER
im-
THE NEW GOVERNIMENT.
EXTRaVCTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF
COMMONS ON BECOMING PREMIER, DECEMBER 19tH, 1916.
I APPEAR before the House of Commons to-day,
with the most terrible responsibility that can fall
npon the shoulders of any living man, as the chief
adviser of the Crown, in the most gigantic war in
which the countrj^ has ever been engaged — a war
upon the event of which its destiny depends. It is
the greatest war ever waged. The burdens are
the heaviest that have been cast upon this or any
other country, and the issues which hang upon it
are the gravest that have been attached to any
conflict in which humanity has ever been involved.
Allies' Answer to the Peace Note.
The responsibilities of the new Government
have been suddenly accentuated by a declaration
made by the German Chancellor, and I propose
to deal with that at once. The statement made by
him in the German Reichstag has been followed
by a Note presented to us by the United States of
America without any note or comment. The an-
swer that will be given by the Government will be
given in full accord with all our brave Allies.
63
64 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Naturally, there has been an interchange of views,
not upon the Note, because it only recently ar-
rived, but upon the speech which propelled it, and
inasmuch as the Note itself is practically only a
reproduction, or certainly a paraphrase, of the
speech, the subject-matter of the Note itself has
been discussed informally between the Allies, and
I am very glad to be able to state that we have
each of us separately and independently arrived
at identical conclusions.
I am very glad that the first answer that was
given to the statement of the German Chancellor
was given by France and by Russia. They have
the unquestionable right to give the first answer
to such an invitation. The enemy is still on their
soil; their sacrifices have been greater. The an-
swer they have given has already appeared in all
the papers, and I simply stand here to-day, on
behalf of the Government, to give clear and defi-
nite support to the statement which they have
already made. Let us examine what the state-
ment is, and examine it calmly. Any man, or set
of men, who wantonly, or without sufficient cause,
prolonged a terrible conflict like this would have
on their soul a crime that oceans could not cleanse.
Upon the other hand it is equally true that any
man, or set of men, who out of a sense of weari-
ness or despair abandoned the struggle without
achieving the high purpose for which we had en-
tered into it, would be guilty of the costliest act
of poltroonery ever perpetrated by any states-
man. I should like to quote the very well known
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 65
words of Abraham Lincoln under similar condi-
tions :
''We accepted this war for an object, and a
worthy object, and the war will end when that
object is attained. Under God I hope it will never
end until that time."
Are we likely to achieve that object by accepting
the invitation of the German Chancellor f That is
the only question we have to put to ourselves.
There has been some talk about proposals of
peace. What are the proposals ? There are none.
To enter into a conference at the invitation of
Germany, proclaiming herself victorious, without
any knowledge of the proposals she intends to
make, is to put our heads into a noose with the
rope end in the hands of Germany.
''Taken in once."
This country is not altogether without experi-
ence in these matters. This is not the first time
we have fought a great military despotism that
was overshadowing Europe, and it will not be the
first time we shall have helped to overthrow mili-
tary despotism. We have an uncomfortable his-
torical memory of these things, and we can recall
that when one of the greatest of these despots
had a purpose to serve in the working of his
nefarious schemes, his favourite device was to
appear in the garb of the angel of peace. He
usually appeared under two conditions — first,
66 THE GREAT CRUSADE
when he wished for time to assimilate his con-
quests, or to reorganise his forces for fresh con-
quests; and, secondly, when his subjects showed
symptoms of fatigue and war weariness. Invari-
ably the appeal was made in the name of human-
ity; and he demanded an end to bloodshed at
which he professed himself to be horrified, but for
which he himself was mainly responsible. Our
ancestors were taken in once, and bitterly did they
and Europe rue it. The time was devoted to reor-
ganising his forces for a deadlier attack th=an ever
upon the liberties of Europe.
Bestitution, Beparation, Guarantees.
Examples of that kind cause us to regard this
Note with a considerable measure of reminiscent
disquiet. We feel that we ought to know, before
we can give favourable consideration to such an
invitation, that Germany is prepared to accede to
the only terms on which it is possible for peace to
be obtained and maintained in Europe. What
are those terms'? They have been repeatedly
stated by all the leading statesmen of the Allies.
My right hon. friend has stated them repeatedly
here and outside :
''Restitution, reparation, guarantees against
repetition. ' '
Let me repeat again — complete restitution, full
reparation, effectual guarantees. Did the German
Chancellor use a single phrase to indicate that he
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 67
was prepared to concede such terms? Was there
a hint of restitution? Was there aliy suggestion
of reparation? Was there any indication of any
security for the future that this outrage on civilis-
ation wouki not be again perpetrated at the first
profitable opportunity? The very substance and
style of the speech constitute a denial of peace on
the only terms on which peace is possible. He is
not even conscious now that Germany has com-
mitted any offence against the rights of free na-
tions. Listen to this from the Note :
''Not for an instant have they" (they being the
Central Powers) ''swerved from the conviction
that the respect of rights of other nations is not
in any degree incompatible with their own rights
and legitimate interests."
When did they discover that ? WTiere was the re-
spect for the rights of other nations in Belgium
and Serbia? Oh, that was self-defence! Menaced,
I suppose, by the overwhelming armies of Bel-
gium, the Germans had been intimidated into in-
vading that country, to the burning of Belgian
cities and villages, to the massacring of thousands
of inhabitants, old and young, to the carrying of
the survivors into bondage; yea, and they were
carrying them into slavery at the very moment
when this precious Note was being written about
the unswerving conviction as to the respect of the
rights of other nations ! I suppose these outrages
are the legitimate interest of Germany? We must
know. That is not the mood of peace. If excuses
68 THE GREAT CRUSADE
of this kind for palpable crimes can be put for-
ward two and a half years after the exposure by
grim facts of the guarantee, is there, I ask in all
solemnity, any guarantee that similar subterfuges
will not be used in the future to overthrow any
treaty of peace you may enter into with Prussian
militarism? This Note and that speech prove that
not yet have they learned the very alphabet of
respect for the rights of others. Without repara-
tion, peace is impossible. Are all these outrages
against humanity on land and on sea to be liqui-
dated by a few pious phrases about humanity? Is
there to be no reckoning for them? Are we to
grasp the hand that perpetrated these atrocities in
friendship without any reparation being tendered
or given ? I am told that we are to begin, Germany
helping us, to exact reparation for all future vio-
lence committed after the war. We have begun
already. It has already cost us so much, and we
must exact it now so as not to leave such a grim in-
heritance to our children. Much as w^e all long for
peace, deeply as we are horrified with war, this
Note and the speech which propelled it afford us
small encouragement and hope for an honourable
and lasting compact.
A Bad Neighbour.
What hojDe is there given by that speech that
the whole root and cause of this great bitterness,
the arrogant spirit of the Prussian military caste,
will not be as dominant as ever if we patch up a
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 69
peace now? Why, the very speech in which these
peace suggestions are made resounds with the
boasts of Prussian military triumphs of victory.
It is a long pa^an over the victory of Von Hinden-
burg and his legions. This very appeal for peace
is delivered ostentatiously from the triumphant
chariot of Prussian militarism.
We must keep a steadfast eye upon the purpose
for which we entered the war, otherwise the great
sacrifices we have been making will be all in vain.
The German Note states that it was for the defence
of their existence and the freedom of national
development that the Central Powers were con-
strained to take up arms. Such phrases cannot
even deceive those who pen them. They are in-
tended to delude the German nation into support-
ing the designs of the Prussian military caste.
"WTioever wishes to put an end to their existence
and the freedom of their national development?
We welcomed their development as long as it was
on the paths of peace. The greater their devel-
opment upon that road, the more will all humanity
be enriched by their efforts. That was not our
design, and it is not our purpose now. The Allies
entered this war to defend themselves against the
aggression of the Prussian military domination,
and having begun it, they must insist that it can
only end with the most complete and effective
guarantee against the possibility of that caste
ever again disturbing the peace of Europe. Prus-
sia, since she got into the hands of that caste, has
been a bad neighbour, arrogant, threatening, bully-
70 THE GREAT CRUSADE
ing, litigious, shifting boundaries at her will, tak-
ing one fair field after another from weaker neigh-
bours, and adding them to her own domain, with
her belt ostentatiously full of weapons of offence,
and ready at a moment's notice to use them. She
has always been an unpleasant, disturbing neigh-
bour, and no wonder that the Prussians got thor-
oughly on the nerves of Europe. There was no
peace near where they dwelt.
An Offence against the Law of Nations.
It is difficult for those who were fortunate
enough to live thousands of miles away to under-
stand what it has meant to those who lived near
their boundaries. Even here, with the protec-
tion of the broad seas between us, we know what a
disturbing factor the Prussians were with their
constant naval menace, but even we can hardly
realise what it has meant to France and to Russia.
Several times within the lifetime of this genera-
tion there were threats directed at them which
presented the alternative of war or humiliation.
There were many of us who hoped that internal
influence in Germany would have been strong
enough to check and ultimately to eliminate this
hectoring. All our hopes proved illusory, and
now that this great war has been forced by the
Prussian military leaders upon France, Russia,
Italy, and ourselves, it would be folly, it would be
cruel folly, not to see to it that this swashbuckling
through the streets of Europe to the disturbance
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 71
of all harmless and peaceful citizens, shall be dealt
with now as an offence against the law of nations.
The mere word that led Belgium to her own de-
stiTiction will not satisfy Europe any more. We
all believed it. W^e all trusted it. It gave way at
the first pressure of temptation, and Europe has
been plunged into this vortex of blood. We wdll,
therefore, wait until we hear what terms and guar-
antees the German Government offer other than
those, better than those, surer than those which
she so lightly broke ; and meanwhile we shall put
our trust in an unbroken Army rather than in
a broken faith.
No Speedy Victory.
For the moment, I do not think it would be
advisable for me to add anything upon this par-
ticular invitation. A formal reply will be deliv-
ered by the Allies in the course of the next few
days. I shall therefore proceed with the other
part of the task which I have in front of me. WThat
is the urgent task in front of the Government? To
complete and make even more effective the mo-
bilisation of all our national resources, so as to
enable the nation to bear the strain, however pro-
longed, and to march through to victory, however
leng-thy and however exhausting may be tlie jour-
ney. It is a gigantic task, and let me give this
word of warning : If there be any who have given
their confidence to the new Administration in ex-
pectation of a speedy victory, they will be doomed
72 THE GREAT CRUSADE
to disappointment. I am not going to paint a
gloomy picture of the military situation — if I did,
it would not be a true picture — but I must paint
a stern picture, because that accurately represents
the facts. I have always insisted on the nation
being taught to realise the actual facts of this
war. I have attached enormous importance to
that at the risk of being characterised as a pessi-
mist. I believe that a good many of our misun-
derstandings have arisen from exaggerated views
which have been taken about successes and from
a disposition to treat as trifling real set-backs. To
imagine that you can only get the support and the
help, and the best help, of a strong people by con-
cealing difficulties is to show a fundamental mis-
conception. The British people possess as sweet
a tooth as anybody, and they like pleasant things
put on the table, but that is not the stuff that they
have been brought up on. That is not what the
British Empire has been nourished on. Britain
has never shown at its best except when it was
confronted with a real danger and understood it.
The Worst Aspect.
Let us for a moment look at the worst. The
Roumanian blunder was an unfortunate one, but
at w^orst it prolongs the war; it does not alter the
fundamental facts of the war. I cannot help hop-
ing that it may even have a salutary effect in call-
ing the attention of the Allies to obvious defects
in their organisation, not merely the organisation
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 73
of each but the organisation of the whole, and if it
does that and braces them up to fresh effort it may
prove, bad as it is, a blessing. That is the worst.
That has been a real set-back. It is the darkest
cloud — and it is a cloud that appeared on a clear-
ing horizon. We are doing our best to make it im-
possible that that disaster should lead to w^orse.
That is why w^e have taken in the last few days
veiy strong action in Greece. We mean to take no
risks there. We have decided to take definite and
decisive action, and I think it has succeeded. We
have decided also to recognise the agents of that
great Greek statesman, M. Venizelos.
The New Army.
I wanted to clear out of the way what I regarded
as the worst features in the military situation,
but I should like to say one word about the lesson
of the fighting on the Western front — not about
the military strategy, but about the significance
of the whole of that great struggle, one of the
greatest struggles ever waged in the history of
the world. It is full of encouragement and of
hope. Just look at it ! An absolutely new Army !
The old had done its duty and spent itself in the
achievement of that great task. This is a new
Army. But a year ago it was ore in the earth of
Britain, yea, and of Ireland. It became iron. It
has passed through a fiery furnace, and the enemy
knows that it is now fine steel. An absolutely new
Army, new men, new officers taken from schools.
74 THE GREAT CRUSADE
from colleges, from comiting-houses, never trained
to war, never thought of war, many of them per-
haps never handlmg a weapon of war, generals
never given the oj)portunity of handling great
masses of men. Some of ns had seen the manoeu-
vres. A division which is now set to attack a small
village is more than our generals ever had the op-
portunity of handling before the war. Compared
with the great manoeuvres on the Continent, they
were toy manoeuvres. And yet this New Army,
new men, new officers, generals new to this kind
of work, they have faced the greatest army in the
world, the greatest army the world has ever seen,
the best equipped and the best trained, and they
have beaten them, beaten them, beaten them ! Bat-
tle after battle, day after day, week after week!
From the strongest entrenchments ever devised
by human skill they have driven them out by val-
our, by valour which is incredible when you read
the story of it.
There is something which gives you hope, which
fills you with pride in the nation to which they be-
long. It is a fact, and it is a fact full of signifi-
cance for us — and for the foe. It is part of his
reckoning as well. He has seen that Army grow
and proved under his very eyes. A great French
general said to me, ''Your Army is a new army.
It must learn, not merely generals, not merely of-
ficers, but the men must learn not merely what to
do, but how and when to do it." They are becom-
ing veterans, and therefore, basing our confidence
upon these facts, I am as convinced as I ever was
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 75
of ultimate victory if the nation proves as steady,
as valorous, as ready to sacrifice and as ready to
learn and to endure as that great Army of our
sons in France.
Controversy placed on one Side.
I should like now to say a word or two about the
Government itself, and, in doing so, I am anxious
to avoid all issues that excite irritation or con-
troversy or disunion. This is not a time for that.
But it must not be assumed, if I do so, that I ac-
cept as complete the accounts which have been
given of the way in which the Government was
formed. My attitude towards the policy of the
late Administration, of which I was a member and
for all whose deeds I am just as responsible as
any one of them, has been given in letters and
memoranda, and my reasons for leaving it have
also been given in a letter. If it were necessary,
I should on personal grounds have welcomed its
publication, but I am convinced that controversies
as to the past will not help us as to the future, and
therefore, as far as I am concerned, I place them
on one side and go on with what I regard as the
business of the Government under these trying
conditions. I should like to say something, first of
all, as to the unusual character and composition
of the Government as an executive body.
76 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Constitution of the New Government.
The House has realised that there has been a
separation between the functions of the Prime
Minister and the Leader of the House. That was
because we came to the conclusion that it was more
than any one man, whatever his energy or physical
strength might be, could do to undertake both
functions in the middle of a great war. The task
of the Leader of the House is a very anxious and
absorbing task, even in war. I have not been able
to attend the House very much myself during the
last two or three years, but I have been here often
enough to realise that the task of the Leader of the
House of Commons is not a sinecure even in a war
— friends of mine took care that it should not be
so!
So much for that point. Now there are three
characteristics in the present Administration in
which it may be said it has departed, perhaps,
from precedent. First of all, there is the concen-
tration of the Executive in a very few hands ; the
second is the choosing of men of administrative
and business capacity rather than men of Parlia-
mentary experience, where we were unable to ob-
tain both, for the headship of a great Depart-
ment ; and the third is a franker and fuller recog-
nition of the partnership of Labour in the Gov-
ernment of this country. No Government that has
ever been formed to rule this country has had such
a number of men who all their lives have been as-
sociated with labour and with the labour organisa-
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 77
tions of this country. We realised that it was im-
possible to conduct war without getting the com-
plete and unqualified, support of Labour, and we
were anxious to obtain their assistance and their
counsel for the purpose of the conduct of the war.
*' Peace Structures."
The fact that this is a different kind of organ-
isation from any that preceded it is not necessar-
ily a criticism upon its predecessors. They were
peace stiiictures. They were organised for a dif-
ferent purpose and a different condition of things.
The kind of craft you have for river or canal traf-
fic is not exactly the kind of vessel you construct
for the high seas. I have no doubt that the old
Cabinets — I am not referring to the last Cabinet,
I am referring to the old system of Cabinets,
where the heads of every Department were repre-
sented inside the Cabinet — I have no doubt that
the old Cabinets were better adapted for naviga-
ting the Parliamentary river with its shoals and
shifting sands, and perhaps for a cruise in home
waters. But a Cabinet of twenty-three is rather
top-heavy for a gale. I do not say that this par-
ticular craft is best adapted for Parliamentary
navigation, but I am convinced it is the best for
the war, in which you want quick decision above
everything.
Look at the last two and a half years. I am not
referring to what has happened in this country.
When I say these things I would rather thp House
78 THE GREAT CRUSADE
of Commons looked at the war as a whole, and took
the concerns of the Allies as a whole. We are
all perfectly certain, and I shall have the assent
of my right hon. friend (Mr. Asquith) in this, that
the Allies have suffered disaster after disaster
through tardiness of decision and action, very
largely for reasons I shall give later on. I know
in this I am in complete agreement with my right
hon. friend. It is true that in a multitude of coun-
sellors there is wisdom. That was written for
Oriental countries in peace times. You cannot run
a war with a Sanhedrim. That is the meaning of
the Cabinet of five, with one of its members doing
sentry duty outside, manning the walls, and de-
fending the Council Chamber against attack while
we are trying to do our work inside.
The Food Problem.
The problem is a double one ; it is one of distri-
bution and of production. In respect of both, we
must call upon the people of this country to make
real sacrifices, but it is essential, when we do so,
that the sacrifices should be equal. The overcon-
sumption by the affluent must not be allowed to
create a shortage for the less well-to-do. I am
sure we can depend upon men and women of all
conditions to play the game. Any sort of conceal-
ment hurts the nation. It hurts it when it is fight-
ing for its life. Therefore, we must appeal to the
nation as a whole, men and women, to assist us to
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 79
so distribute our resources that there shall be no
man, woman, or child who will be s,uffering from
hunger because someone else has been getting too
much.
Wlien you come to production, every available
square yard must be made to produce food. The
labour available for tillage should not be turned
to more ornamental purposes until the food neces-
sities of the country have been adequately safe-
guarded. The best use must be made of land and
of labour to increase the food supplies of this
country — com, potatoes, and all kinds of food
products. All those who have the opportunity
must feel it is their duty to the State to assist
in producing and in contributing to the common
stock, upon which everybody can draw. If they
do this, we shall get food without any privation,
without any want, everybody having plenty of
the best and healthiest food. By that means and
that means alone will the nation be able to carry
through the war to that triumphal issue to which
we are all looking forvvard.
A National Lent.
It means sacrifice. But what sacrifice? Talk to
a man who has returned from the horrors of the
Somme, or who has been through the haunting
wretchedness of a winter campaign, and you will
know something of what those gallant men are en-
during for their countiy. They are enduring
much, they are hazarding all, whilst we are living
80 THE GREAT CRUSADE
in comfort and security at home. You cannot
have absolute equality of sacrifice. In a war that
is impossible, but you can have equal readiness
to sacrifice from all. There are hundreds of thou-
sands who have given their lives, there are mil-
lions who have given up comfortable homes and
exchanged them for a daily communion with death.
Multitudes have given up those whom they love
best. Let the nation as a whole place its comforts,
its luxuries, its indulgences, its elegances on a na-
tional altar consecrated by such sacrifices as these
men have made. Let us proclaim during the war
a national Lent. The nation will be better and
stronger for it, mentally and morally as well as
physically. It will strengthen its fibre, it will en-
noble its spirit. Without it we shall not get the
full benefit of this struggle. Our armies might
drive the enemy out of the battered villages of
France, across the devastated plains of Belgium;
they might hurl them across the Rhine in battered
disarray ; but unless the nation as a whole shoul-
ders part of the burden of victory it will not profit
by the triumph, for it is not what a nation gains,
it is what a nation gives that makes it great.
Ireland.
I wish it were possible to remove the misunder-
standing between Britain and Ireland which has
for centuries been such a source of misery to the
one and of embarrassment and weakness to the
other. Apart from the general interest which I
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 81
have taken in it, I should consider that a war
measure of the first importance. I should consider
it a great victoiy for the Allied Forces, some-
thing that would give strength to the armies of
the Allies. I am convinced now that it is a mis-
understanding, partly racial and partly religious.
It is to the interest of both to have this misunder-
standing removed, but there seems to have been
some evil chance that frustrated eveiy effort made
for the achievement of better relations. I wish
that that misunderstanding could be removed.
I tried once. I did not succeed. The fault was
not entirely on one side. I felt the whole time that
we were moving in an atmosphere of nervous sus-
picion and distrust, pervasive, universal, of every-
thing and eveiybody. I was drenched with sus-
picion of Irishmen by Englishmen and of Eng-
lishmen by Irishmen, and, worst and most fatal
of all, suspicion of Irishmen by Irishmen. It was
a quagmire of distrust which clogged the foot-
steps and made progress impossible. That is the
real enemy of Ireland. If that could be slain, I
believe that it would accomplish an act of recon-
ciliation that would make Ireland greater and
Britain greater and would make the United King-
dom and the Empire greater than they ever were
before. That is why I have always thought and
said that the real solution of the Irish problem is
largely one of a better atmosphere. I am speak-
ing not merely for myself but for my colleagues
when I say that we shall strive to produce that
better feeling. We shall strive by every means to
82 THE GREAT CRUSADE
produce that atmosphere, and we ask men of all
races and men of all creeds and faiths to help us,
not to solve a political question, but to help us to
do something that will be a real contribution to the
winning of the war.
The Dominions.
I must also say one word about the Dominions.
Ministers have repeatedly acknowledged the
splendid assistance which the Dominions have
given, of their own free will, to the old country in
its championship of the cause of humanity. The
great ideals of national fair play and justice ap-
peal to the Dominions just as insistently as to us.
They have recognised throughout that our fight
is not a selfish one, and that it is not merely a Eu-
ropean quarrel, but that there are great world
issues involved in which their children are as con-
cerned as our children. The new Administration
are as full of gratitude as the old for the superb
valour which our kinsmen have sho\vn in so many
stricken fields. But that is not why I introduce
the subject now. I introduce the subject now be-
cause I want to say that we feel the time has come
when the Dominions ought to be more formally
consulted as to the progress and course of the war,
as to the steps that ought to be taken to secure
victory, and as to the best methods of garnering in
the fruits of their efforts as well as of our own.
We propose, therefore, at an early date to sum-
mon an Imperial Conference, to place the whole
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 83
position before the Dominions, and to take counsel
with them as to what further action they and we
can take together in order to achieve an early and
complete triumph for the ideals for which they
and we have so superbly fought.
"A Common Front."
As to our relations with the Allies — and this is
the last topic I shall refer to — I ventured to say
earlier in the year that there were two things we
ought to seek as Allies : the first was unity of aim,
and the other, unity of action. The first we have
achieved. Never have Allies worked in better har-
mony or more perfect accord than the Allies in
this great struggle. There has been no friction
and there has been no misunderstanding. But
when I come to the question of unity of action I
still think that there is a good deal left to be de-
sired. I have only to refer to the incident of Rou-
mania, and each man can spell out for himself
what I mean. The enemy have two advantages —
two supreme advantages. One is that they act on
internal lines, and the other is that there is one
great dominant power that practically directs the
forces of all. We have neither of these advan-
tages. We must, therefore, achieve the same end
by other means. The advantages we possess are
advantages which time improves. No one can say
that we have made the best of that time. There
has been a tardiness of decision and action. I
forget who said about Necker that he was like a
84 THE GREAT CRUSADE
clock that was always too slow. There is a little
of that in the great Alliance clock — Belgium, Ser-
bia, Montenegro, Roumania!
Before we can take full advantage of the enor-
mous resources at the command of the Allies,
there must be some means of arriving at quicker
and readier decisions, and of carrying them out.
I believe that that can be done, and if we quicken
our action as well as our decisions it will equalise
the conditions more than we have succeeded in
doing in the past. There must be more consulta-
tion, more real consultation, between the men who
matter in the direction of affairs. There must be
less of the feeling that each comitry has its own
front to look after. It has been carried so far
that almost each Department might have a front
of its own. The policy of a common front must
be a reality. It is a reality on the other side. Aus-
trian guns are helping German infantry, and Ger-
man infantry are stiffening Austrian arms. The
Turks are helping Germans and Austrians, and
Bulgarians mix with all. There is an essential
feeling that there is but one front, and I believe
we have to get that more and more, instead of
having overwhelming guns on one side and bare
breasts, gallant breasts, on the other. It is essen-
tial for the Allies not merely to realise that, but
to carry it out in policy and action. I take this
opportunity at the beginning of this new Admin-
istration of emphasising that point, because I be-
lieve it is an essential for great victory, and for
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 85
the curtailment of the period before victory ar-
rives. /
The Issue Higher than Party.
I end with one personal note, for which I hope
the House will forgive me. May I say, and I say
it in all sincerity, that it is one of the deepest re-
grets of my life that I should part from the right
hon. gentleman (Mr. Asquith). Some of his
friends know how I strove to avert it. For years
I served under the right hon. gentleman, and I
am proud to say so. I never had a kinder or more
indulgent chief. If there were any faults of tem-
per, they were entirely mine, and I have no doubt I
must have been difficult at times. No man had
greater admiration for his brilliant intellectual
attainments, and no man was happier to serve
under him. For eight years we differed as men
of such different temperaments must necessarily
differ, but we never had a personal quarrel, in
spite of serious differences in policy; and it was
with deep, genuine grief that I felt it necessary to
tender my resignation to my right hon. friend.
But there are moments when personal and party
considerations must sink into absolute insignifi-
cance, and if in this War I have given scant heed
to the call of party, — and so I have, although I
have been as strong a party man as any in this
House, — it is because I realised, from the moment
the Prussian cannon hurled death at a peaceable
and inoffensive little country, that a challenge had
86 THE GREAT CRUSADE
been sent to cmlisation to decide an issue higher
than party, deeper than party, wider than all par-
ties — an issue upon the settlement of which will
depend the fate of men in this world for genera-
tions, when existing parties will have fallen like
dead leaves on the highway. Those issues are the
issues that I want to keep in front of the nation,
so that we shall not falter or faint in our resolve.
There is a time in every prolonged and fierce
war, in the passion and rage of the conflict, when
men forget the high purpose with which they en-
tered it. This is a struggle for international right,
international honour, international good faith —
the channel along which peace, honour, and good
will must flow amongst men. The embankments
laboriously built up by generations of men against
barbarism have been broken, and had not the might
of Britain passed into the breach, Europe would
have been inundated with a flood of savagery and
unbridled lust of power. The plain sense of fair
play amongst nations, the growth of an interna-
tional conscience, the protection of the weak
against the strong by the stronger, the conscious-
ness that justice has a more powerful backing in
this world than greed, the knowledge that any out-
rage upon fair dealing between nations, great or
small, will meet with prompt and inevitable chas-
tisement — these constitute the causeway along
which humanity was progressing sloM^ly to higher
things. The trimnph of Prussia would sweep it
all away and leave mankind to struggle helpless
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 87
in the morass. That is why, since this war be-
gan, I have known but one political aim. For that
I have fought with a single eye. It is the rescue
of mankind from the most overwhelming catas-
trophe that has ever yet menaced its well-being.
A SAFE INVESTMENT.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE GUILDHALL,
AT A MEETING HELD TO LAUNCH THE VICTORY WAR LOAN,
JANUARY 11th, 1917.
The German Trap.
The German Kaiser a few days ago sent a mes-
sage to liis people that the Allies had rejected his
peace offer. He did so in order to drug those
whom he can no longer dragoon. Where are those
offers 1 We have asked for them. We have never
seen them. We were not offered terms; we were
offered a trap baited with fair words. They
tempted ns once, bnt the lion has his eyes open
now. We have rejected no terms that we have
ever seen. Of course it would suit them to have
peace at the present moment on their own terms.
We all want peace ; but when we get it, it must be a
real peace. The Allied Powers separately, and in
council together, have come to the same conclu-
sion. Knowing well what war means, knowing
especially what this war means in suffering, in
burdens, in horror, they have decided that even
war is better than peace — peace at the Prussian
price of domination over Europe. We made that
clear in our reply to Germany; we made it still
clearer in our reply to the United States of Amer-
ica. Before we attempt to rebuild the temple of
A SAFE INVESTMENT 89
peace we must see now that the foundations are
solid. They were built before upon the shifting
sands of Prussian faith; henceforth, when the
time for rebuilding comes, it must be on the rook
of vindicated justice.
Determination of the Allies.
I have just returned from a Council of War of
the four great Allied countries upon whose shoul-
ders most of the burden of this terrible war falls.
I cannot give you the conclusions : there might be
useful information in them for the enemy. There
were no delusions as to the magnitude of our task ;
neither were there any doubts about the result.
All felt that if victory were difficult, defeat was
impossible. There was no flinching, no waver-
ing, no faintheartedness, no infirmity of purpose.
There was a grim resolution that at all costs we
must achieve the high aim with which we accepted
the challenge of the Prussian military caste and
rid Europe and the world of its menace for ever.
No country could have refused that challenge
without loss of honour. No one could have re-
jected it without impairing national security. No
one could have failed to take it up without forfeit-
ing something which is of greater value to every
free and self-respecting people than life itself.
Spirit of the Borne Conference.
These nations did not enter into the war light-
heartedly. They did not embark upon this enter-
90 THE GREAT CRUSADE
prise without knowing what it really meant. They
were not induced by the prospect of an easy
victory. Take this country. The millions of our
men who enrolled in the Army enlisted after the
German victories of August, 1914, when they
knew the accumulative and concentrated power of
the German military machine. That is when they
placed their lives at the disposal of their country.
What about other nations ? They knew what they
were encountering, that they were fighting an
organisation which had been perfected for genera-
tions by the best brains of Prussia, perfected with
one purpose — the subjugation of Europe. And
yet they faced it. Why did they do it? I passed
through hundreds of miles of the beautiful lands
of France and of Italy, and as I did so I asked
myself this question : Why did the peasants leave
by the million these sunny vineyards and corn-
fields in France — why did they quit these enchant-
ing valleys in Italy, with their comfort and their
security and their calm — in order to face the
dreary and wild horrors of the battlefield? They
did it for one purpose and one purpose only. They
were not driven to the slaughter by kings. These
are great democratic countries. No Government
could have lasted twenty-four hours that had
forced them into an abhorrent war. Of their own
free will they embarked upon it, because they
knew a fundamental issue had been raised which
no country could have shirked without imperilling
all that has been won in the centuries of the past
and all that remains to be won in the ages of the
A SAFE INVESTMENT 91
future. That is why, as the war proceeds, and the
German pui-pose becomes more manifest, the con-
viction has become deeper in the minds of these
people that they must break their way through
to victory in order to save Europe from unspeak-
able despotism. That was the spirit which ani-
mated the Allied Conference at Rome last week.
"Looking to Great Britain."
But I will tell you one thing that struck me, and
strikes me more and more each time that I visit
the Continent and attend these Conferences. That
is the increasing extent to which the Allied peoples
are looking to Great Britain. They are trusting
to her rugged strength, to her great resources.
To them she looks like a great tower in the deep.
She is becoming more and more the hope of the
oppressed and the despair of the oppressor, and
I feel more and more confident that we shall not
fail the people who put their trust in us. When
that arrogant Prussian caste flung the signature
of Britain to a treaty into the waste-paper basket
as if it were of no account, they knew not the pride
of the land they were treating with such insolent
disdain. They know it now. Our soldiers and
sailors have taught them to respect it.
You have heard the eloquent account of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer of the achievements
of our soldiers. Our sailors are gallantly defend-
ing the honour of our country on the high seas of
the world. They have strangled the enemy's com-
92 THE GREAT CRUSADE
merce, and will continue to do so, in spite of all
the piratical devices of the foe. In 1914 and 1915,
for two years, a small, ill-equipped army held up
the veterans of Prussia with the best equipment
in Europe. In 1916 they hurled them back, and
delivered a blow from which they are reeling. In
1917 the armies of Britain will be more f oraiidable
than ever in training, in efficiency, and in equip-
ment, and you may depend upon it that if we give
them the necessary support they will cleave a road
to victory through all the dangers and perils of
the next few months.
A Bombardment of Cheques.
But we must support them. They are worth it.
Have you ever talked to a soldier who has come
back from the front? There is not one of them
w^ho will not tell you how he is encouraged and
sustained by hearing the roar of the guns behind
him. This is what I want to see : I want to see
cheques hurtling through the air, fired from the
City of London, from every city, town, village,
and hamlet throughout the land, fired straight into
the entrenchments of the enemy. Every well-di-
rected cheque, well loaded, properly primed, is a
more formidable weapon of destruction than a 12-
inch shell. It clears the path of the barbed wire
entanglements for our gallant fellows to march
through. A big loan helps to ensure victory. A
big loan will also shorten the war. It will help
to save life; it will help to save the British Em-
A SAFE INVESTMENT 93
pire; it will help to save Europe; it will help to
save civilisation. That is why we want the coun-
try to rise to this occasion and shbw that the old
spirit of Britain, represented by this great British
meeting, is still as alive and as alert and as potent
as ever.
''Extravagance Costs Blood.*'
I want to appeal to the men at home, and to the
women also, for they have done their part nobly.
A man who has been Munitions Minister for
twelve months must feel a debt of gratitude to the
women for what they have done. They have
helped to win, and without them we should not do
it. I want to make a special appeal, or, rather, to
enforce the special appeal of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. Let no money be squandered in lux-
ury and indulgence which can be put into the fight.
Every ounce counts in this fight. Do not waste it.
Do not throw it away. Put it there to help the
valour of our brave young boys. Back them up.
Let us contribute to assist them. Have greater
pride in them than in costly garments. They in
their turn will feel proud of their mothers to-day,
and their pride in them will grow in years to come
when the best garments will have rotted. It will
glisten and glitter. It will improve with the years.
They can put it on with old age and say, ''This
is something I contributed in the Great War."
Men and women of England, Scotland, "Wales,
and Ireland, the first charge — ^the first charge —
upon all your surplus money over your needs for
94 THE GREAT CRUSADE
yourselves and your children should be to help
those gallant young men of ours who have ten-
dered their lives for the cause of humanity. The
more we get the surer the victory. The more we
get the shorter the war. The more we get the
less it will cost in treasure, and the greatest treas-
ure of all, brave blood. The more we give the
more will the nation gain. You will enrich it by
your contributions — by your sacrifices. Extrava-
gance — I want to bring this home to every man
and woman throughout these islands — extrava-
gance during the war costs blood — costs blood!
And what blood! Valiant blood — the blood of
heroes. It would be worth millions to save one of
them. A big loan will save myriads of them.
Help them not merely to win; help them to come
home to shout for the victory which they have
won!
*' Equipment for the Allies."
It means better equipment for our troops. It
means better equipment for the Allies as well, and
this — and I say it now for the fiftieth if not the
hundredth time — is a war of equipment. Why
are the Germans pressing back our gallant Allies
in Roumanial It is not that they are better fight-
ers. They are certainly not. The Roumanian
peasant has proved himself to be one of the dough-
tiest fighters in the field when he has a chance,
poor fellow, and he never had much. As for the
Russian, the way in which with bare breast he
has fought for two years and a half, with inferior
A SAFE INVESTMENT 95
guns, insufficient rifles, inadequate supplies of am-
munition, is one of the world's tales of heroism.
Let us help to equip them, and there will be an-
other story to tell soon.
"A Safe Investment.'*
That is why I am glad to follow the Chancellor
of the Exchequer in the appeal which he has made
to the patriotism of our race — ^but with true Scot-
tish instinct he put the appeal to prudence first!
He laid it down as a good foundation for patriot-
ism and reserved that for his peroration. I shall
reverse the order, belonging to a less canny race.
I want to say it is a good investment. After all,
the old country is the best investment in the world.
It was a sound concern before the war ; it will be
sounder and safer than ever after the war, and
especially safer. I do not know the nation that
will care to touch it after the war. They had
forgotten what we were like, but it will take them
a long time to forget this lesson.
Have you been watching what has been going
on? Before the war we had a good many short-
comings in our business, our commerce, and our
industry. The war is setting them all right in the
most marvellous way. You ask great business
men what is going on in the factories throughout
Great Britain and Ireland. Old machinery
scrapped, the newest and the best set up; slip-
shod, wasteful methods also scrapped, hampering
customs discontinued; millions brought into the
96 THE GREAT CRUSADE
labour market to help to produce who before were
merely consumers. I do not know what the Na-
tional Debt will be at the end of this war, but I
will make this prediction. Whatever it is, what
is added in real assets to the real riches of the
nation will be infinitely greater than any debt that
we shall ever acquire. The resources of the na-
tion in every direction will have been developed,
directed, perfected, the nation itself disciplined,
braced up, quickened. We have become a more
alert people. We have thrown off useless tissues.
We are a nation that has been taking exercise. We
are a different people.
''The Path of Gold.''
I will tell you another difference. The Prussian
menace was a running mortgage which detracted
from the value of our national security. No-
body knew what it meant. We know pretty well
now. You could not tell whether it meant a mort-
gage of hundreds of millions, or thousands of mil-
lions, and I know you could not tell that it would
not mean ruin. That mortgage will be cleared off
for ever, and there will be a better security, a bet-
ter, sounder, safer security, at a better rate of in-
terest. The world will then be able, when the war
is over, to attend to its business. There will be
no war or rumours of war to disturb and to dis-
tract it. We can build up; we can reconstruct;
we can till and cultivate and enrich ; and the bur-
den and terror and waste of war will have gone.
A SAFE INVESTMENT 97
The best security for peace will be that nations
will band themselves together to punish the first
peacebreaker. In the armouries of Europe every
weapon will be a sword of justice. In the govern-
ment of men every army will be the constabulary
of peace.
There were men who hoped to see this achieved
in the ways of peace. We were disappointed. It
was ordained that we should not reach that golden
era except along a path which itself was paved
with gold, yea, and cemented with valiant blood.
There are myriads who have given the latter, and
there are myriads more ready for the sacrifice if
their country needs it. It is for us to contribute
the former. Let no man and no woman, in this
crisis of their nation's fate, through indolence,
greed, avarice, or selfishness, fail. And if they do
their part, then, when the time comes for the tri-
umphal march through the darkness and the ter-
ror of night into the bright dawn of the morning
of the new age, they will each feel that they have
their share ia it.
SACEIFICE AT HOME.
EXTRACTS FROM I^PEECH ON" THE COUNTRY 's FOOD SUPPLIES,
DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY 23RD,
1917.
If all this programme is carried out ; if all those
who can help us with production do help; if all
those who are called upon to suffer restrictions
and limitations will suffer without complaint, then
honestly I say we can face the worst that the
enemy can do — the worst! And that is what we
ought to be prepared for. If we are not, — if it
were conceivable that the nation was not prepared
to do and endure all these things, — then I say
with all solemnity I do not know the body of hon-
ourable men who would undertake for one hour to
be responsible for the conduct of this terrible war.
It is essential. There are millions of gallant
young men in France, in Salonika, in Egypt, in
Mesopotamia, facing torture, terror, death. They
are the flower of our race. Unless the nation at
home is prepared to take its share of the sacrifice,
theirs would be in vain, and I say it would be a
crime — a black crime — for any Government to ask
them to risk their brave lives in the coming con-
flict if they knew that the nation behind them were
faint-hearted or selfish. Their sacrifice would be
thrown away. We have no right to ask it. For
98
SACRIFICE AT HOME 99
that reason I have come down, after long delibera-
tion and thought, careful and searching, on be-
half of the Government of this country to submit
to the House of Commons, and through the House
of Commons to the nation, proposals which I hope
the Commons will approve, and which I hope the
nation will carry out with an unflinching and an
ungrudging heart.
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT."
SPEECH DELIVERED AT CARNARVON, TO A MEETING OF CON-
STITUENTS, AFTER BECOMING PRIME MINISTER, FEBRUARY
3rd, 1917.
This is a strictly non-party gathering, and I
wish to emphasise that aspect of it, because, what-
ever OTir views may be on the political questions
which divide us in times of peace, there can be but
one opinion about the desirability of our sinking
all our differences in order to unite for the para-
mount national duty of carrying through to vic-
tory the great cause which this country has cham-
pioned with its blood.
The National Government.
Two great men have spoken this week from non-
party platforms — one of them the eminent states-
man who has taken charge in this trying hour of
the important office of Secretary of State for For-
eign Affairs, and whose brilliant memorandum
attached to the Allied reply to America is one of
the most striking documents of the war; the other
the distinguished leader of the Liberal Party —
both of them appealing to the nation to sink dif-
ferences and disputes, party and personal, and to
unite for the common great end that the nation is
100
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 101
putting its strength into achieving. I have the
honour of being called to the leadership of the
national Government — a non-party Government,
none the less a Government in which three parties
are represented, and in which I am perfectly cer-
tain it is a matter of regret for every member of
the three parties that the fourth has not been able
to join. And although we can recognise no party
during the war, the people of this comitry have the
party habit so thoroughly ingrained in their na-
ture that even in order to attain national unity it
was desirable that the three parties should be rep-
resented in any national Government, and they
are fully and substantially represented.
Labour's Part.
I am glad that, although some of my late col-
leagues, for reasons which I have no right to can-
vass, have not joined the present Government,
there are just as many Liberals in the present Ad-
ministration as in the old. There are Unionists
and there are Labour men, and I specially con-
gratulate the nation on the fact that Labour has
finally and firmly decided to abandon its attitude
of criticism and censure of Governments, as it had
already abandoned long ago its attitude of blind
adhesion to any party, and that it has decided to
take its share in the responsibility of governing
the Empire. A distinguished contribution it has
already made. The statesmanship displayed by
Mr. Henderson during the period in which he has
102 THE GREAT CRUSADE
been a member of an Imperial Government has
shown the value of the adhesion of Labour in the
task of administering the affairs of this Empire,
and I am glad that in the present Government, for
the first time. Labour has a seat in the inner coun-
cil that settles and decides the affairs of the coun-
try in the greatest emergency which has ever
befallen it. It has twice as many representatives
as it ever had in any Government before. I con-
gratulate the country on the fact that all parties
in the State — with the exception of the Irish
Party, whose absence from our counsels we all
regret — have united for the purpose of directing
the concerns of the Empire in its hour of trial.
Treading Gladstone's Path.
The Liberal Party has special interest in the
causes for which we are struggling in this great
war. The principle that the rights of nations,
however small, are as sacred as the rights of the
biggest empire — that is the principle which I was
taught as a lad among those mountains which sur-
round us. The principle that international right
is the basis of international peace — that is an-
other. The doctrine that the Turk is incapable
of governing any other race justly, and even his
own race well — that is another which I was taught.
I remember very well as a boy having to walk
some miles to the nearest railway station in order
to buy Mr. Gladstone's famous speech on the ex-
pelling of the Turk, bag and baggage, from Eu-
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 103
rope for his misrule and his massacres ; and I also
remember the sensation that was created by the
famous speech of Mr. Gladstone 6n the Belgian
question, when he said: *'If the Belgian people
desire on their own account to join France or any
other country'', I, for one, will be no party to tak-
ing up arms to prevent it; but that the Belgians,
whether they would or not, should go plumb down
the maw of another country, is another matter.
The accomplishment of such a crime as this im-
plies is coming near to the extinction of public
right in Europe, and I do not think we could look
on while the sacrifice of freedom and independ-
ence was in course of consummation." The path
which that great statesman hewed out in his great-
est days is the one I am humbly treading in this
great war. We are fighting for all that is best and
highest in the principles of his great rival — the
solidarity of the Empire, recognition of its in-
fluence and its power as essential instruments in
the progress of the human race. We are fighting
for all that is greatest and best in the career of
these two great men.
"A Fair Chance."
I recognise that the new Government is in some
respects an experiment. In its size it is rather
small, but you must not imagine that very small
men or small Cabinets are the least efficient. In
its constitution, in its composition, for the first
time, at any rate on a great scale, success in busi-
104. THE GREAT CRUSADE
ness has been placed on the same footing as suc-
cess in politics as a claim to high office. I am
going to ask for these men that they should have
fair play. They have been treated in some quar-
ters already as if they were mere fussers and
flounderers. They are men of great experience,
men who have shown they possess the wisdom and
judgment and the abiHty to make a suc<jess in their
own spheres. Give them a fair chance. They
have to straighten out tangles and make up many
accumulated deficiencies. They have arrears to
clear up. A vast amount of work has to be done,
and is being done. That work will be continued.
There was some bad work that will be scrapped.
Where there was slack work, that will be ener-
gised, and where there was no work it will be initi-
ated. They are not asking for a trial of two and
a half years ; they have not yet had two months ;
they have hardly had a month; they must have a
fair chance to look round, to plan, to consider,
and to act.
Example of Ministry of MmMions.
I have had a good deal of experience of what
men of this kind can do, the great business men
of this country, when you call upon them. The
Mayor was good enough fo refer to my work as
Minister of Munitions. The only credit I take is
this — that I gathered together as fine a body of
men of able experience as ever came together in
any Government Department, as ever existed in
this or any other land. I do not pretend I did
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 106
the work. They did it. I encouraged them. I
stood by them, and now and again J. scolded them ;
but we all worked hard, I will tell you what I
want to say about it, and what I am saying now
is not without its relevance, and you can each
apply it to everything read or heard. They had
not been there a few weeks dealing with an un-
doubted shortage, an undoubted deficiency, to-
gether with lost opportunities, before we heard
censure and criticising. Was there ever such a
muddle? It was chaos, confusion, failure. Club
comers, corridors, lobbies, dining-rooms, above all
drawing-rooms, sizzled with whispers of the mess
these gi'eat business men had made of things.
They took no notice of it, and, for a wond'^r, nor
did I. They knew they were going to confound
all these things, not by speech, but by accomplish-
ment. They knew they were not going to fail the
British Army at the appointed hour. They knew
the condition of things — ^when you had on the lines
of communication (there is no harm in telling it
now) and behind the front just equal to one-third
of your present daily output; when the British
Army had to stand in the trenches battered, ham-
mered, shelled, without an answer, with no sup-
port. It is one of the most heroic tales in the his-
tory of that grand infantry. For a year they
stood it without flinching. They never ran away.
And these men worked and worked and worked
because they thought the men were worth it, and
the men stood there because they knew there were
men behind prepared to help them.
106 THE GREAT CRUSADE
What happened ? The great battle of the Somme
came. These men had mobilised the whole of the
engineering resources of the country. Old work-
shops grew to life, new workshops were set up, —
you could see them north and south, east and west,
wherever you travelled — old machinery made the
best of, new machinery manufactured here and
also ordered in America — machinery that will
revolutionise industry after the war. New indus-
tries were set up where before the war we had
been dependent entirely on Germany ; and we are
not going to drop them after the war. And then,
when the time came, there was an overflowing
supply of shot and shell; batteries of the finest
artillery on the battlefield of Europe to-day; guns,
howitzers, machine-guns, shells of every calibre,
great and small, a surplus even to assist our
Allies, and after four months of incessant bom-
bardment, night and day, there were more guns
and there was more ammunition than on the first
day the battle began. And yet that was accom-
plished by a Department which was decried and
condemned as a failure within a few weeks after
it had been set up, by the same men who are be-
ginning clandestinely to do the same thing with
the new Government.
"The Work of the Nation."
I am only giving you that as a warning not to
rush into premature criticism. Wlien men are
ploughing and sowing it is no use saying *' Where
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 107
is the harvest?" It is enong-h for me to know
that they are good ploughmen. They know how
to handle the plough, and although they will now
and again come up against a hidden boulder they
will do their work, and I have very little doubt in
a short time I shall be able to show to you what
great things they have accomplished. They have
already saved hundreds of thousands of tons of
our shipping, invaluable in the face of the diffi-
culties we have to encounter. They have arranged
for the construction of hundreds of thousands of
new tonnage; they have saved locomotives,
wagons, and rails ; they have set up a great new
organisation for the production of food with
branches throughout the land; they are working,
and I think effectively, at the urgent problem of
dealing with the piratical brutality of Germany on
the seas. When necessary, in every department
of Government, there is an intensification, a quick-
ening, a new energy, a new system and method.
But they must be helped ; they are there not to do
the work of any party, nor of any Government,
and certainly not their cwn. They are there to do
the work of the nation, which is your work and
their own, and I am here to ask you to help them.
Their task is the most complicated, difficult, and
dangerous ever entnisted to any body of men.
''The Balkan Muddh."
I have never been a believer in concealing the
realities of the situation from my fellow-country-
168 THE GREAT CRUSADE
men. You cannot get the best out of them until
they face the facts. I have never had any doubt
as to ultimate victory ; but neither have I had any
doubt that before you reach it there are many
broad and turbulent rivers to cross, and the na-
tion — and by the nation I do not mean the Gov-
ernment, I mean the men and women that make
up the nation, — must help us to bridge those
rivers. I am not going to give a summary of the
military situation. There is much in it which, of
course, must necessarily cause anxiety. There is
the condition of the Balkans, where, through cir-
cumstances I do not wish to discuss, one advan-
tage after another has been thrown away. Any
man who looks at the map of Europe and knows
the circumstances must realise how important the
Balkans must necessarily be in a survey of the
whole field. It is no one's fault in particular.
You cannot say that is the fault of this country
or of that country, of this Government or of that
Government. All the four countries have un-
doubtedly been to blame for the present condition
of things in the Balkans ; the improvident lack of
vision, the lack of imagination, the lack of promp-
titude, the lack of decision, the delay, the hesita-
tion — they have all combined to produce this Bal-
kan muddle, which is the only part of the whole
battlefield which for the moment need cause any
anxiety to the Allies. On the Western front —
both Western fronts, France and Italy, — we have
driven the enemy back in battle after battle.
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 109
*'The Black Flag."
When you come to the sea there is much for
us to glory in as a nation. After two years and a
half our streng-th is unbroken, and not merely
this country but all the countries which are in
alliance with it owe a deep debt of gratitude to
the skill and gallantry of our great Navy which
holds the seas. But here again I must call atten-
tion to the great and to the growing menace of
Germany's piratical devices. I want the nation
to realise what this most recent move of Germany
really portends. It is nothing new in essence ; it is
a development, it is an advance along the road to
complete barbarism ; it is casting off the last gar-
ment of civilisation; it is the Goth in his naked
savagery. What more can he do? He must
stand revealed now even to the most indulgent
neutral. He had already sunk 570 neutral ships,
I think 430 by submarines, that is deliberately,
some of the crews being lost. Now he means to
sink them all without warning. He will respect
henceforth no flag except the black flag. I beg his
pardon; he has had the graciousness to intimate
as a favour to the great Republic of the West
that he will allow one American passenger ship a
week to ply to one British port provided it bears
the mark of a Dutch paddle steamer. Was there
ever such insolence? It amounts to insanity.
We can overcome it, but only if the nation is
prepared to back the Goveniment with the whole
of its resources. I don't want anyone to go away
110 THE GREAT CRUSADE
from this meeting, or to read what is said at this
meeting, and draw any inference from, that ex-
cept one. The peril is great, but it can be sur-
mounted by the grit, the energy, the courage, the
determination of a great people like the people of
these lands. But the nation must support the Gov-
ernment, in money, in labour, in land, in the sacri-
fice of conveniences, nay, of comforts; then we
shall pull through in our deadly struggle with
these desperadoes.
"The Prussian Baal."
Let me make clear to you what the enemy is
doing. I want the nation thoroughly to under-
stand what it all means. He is doing it because
he is getting desperate. The Prussian thoroughly
understands that the resources at his disposal can-
not command complete victory on land. I want
you fully to appreciate what that means for him
and for us. I am very glad to read what Mr.
Asquith said yesterday or the day before about
' ' peace without victory. ' ' He was absolutely right.
What would it mean? It would mean not a peace,
but a rest — a rest for him and for the Central
Powers, a time to recuperate from their exhausted
condition. I can tell exactly what would happen
without pretending to any gifts of prophecy. The
military leaders of Germany would say, '*We
made a few mistakes at the beginning of the war,
otherwise we should have rushed these nations.
Next time we will repair those errors." They
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 111
would also say, ''We were done by the blockade;
we were short of food and material.' Next time we
will accumulate a sufficient quantity of food and
raw material so that the German Empire shall
not have its life crushed out by a blockade." But
if we destroy the prestige of the Prussian military
idol, that cannot be set up again. They could pre-
pare swarms of submarines and aircraft in order
to get over the blockade, but if they lose confi-
dence in their army, if that is broken, it camiot be
restored. The Germans put their trust in it in a
way you can hardly conceive, as we all put our
trust in our great Navy. But mth them it is
more than that ; it is something that is ever press-
ing, it enters into the whole life of the nation, its
arrogance struts through the streets. The Ger-
man people fear it, and to-day are hating it. But
they rely upon it. It terrorises them, but they
put up with it so long as it intimidates their neigh-
bours. It bullies them, but they bear with it so
long as it enables them to bully Europe. But
though they bow before it they worship it as a
god.
We have to demonstrate that the Prussian Baal
is a false god, that its pretensions are a sham,
that its priests are a cruel fraud. We must show
them that he has brought famine to their land;
that he could not protect himself, let alone them.
Once you do that they will tear do^vn his altars
and strike his images into the dust. It is essen-
tial that this nation, with its great Allies, should
destroy the delusion of the Prussian military
112 THE GREAT CRUSADE
power. You will then have in Europe one great
emancipated land from the Ural to the Atlantic
shores.
*^ Regardless."
But we must have time. What is the German
calculation? I will tell you what it is. They know
perfectly well that, given time, the great armies
of the Allies will break up their military machine
with its terrors, but they know that if they de-
stroy our transports at sea our armies will lan-
guish for lack of support and sustenance, and our
people will die of hunger; we cannot keep up our
armies in the East and the West, and the barba-
rian hordes of Turkey will have our Eastern Em-
pire at their mercy. You must not merely see that
this does not happen. You must demonstrate to
them that it cannot happen. You must make it
clear to them that they cannot do it. You will
get peace in 1917 if the enemy knows that by hold-
ing out until 1918 he will be worse and not better
off. That is what he is working for, and I want
you to understand it — the destruction of all access
to our shores. For that purpose he is defying
every law, human and Divine. You saw what the
German Chancellor said in his speech which was
reported either to-day or yesterday. He called it
the "U-boat campaign regardless." So it is; re-
gardless of the good will of the world, regard-
less of honour, regardless of fair play, regardless
of humanity. They care for nothing, and he said
so, as long as they can win; and we must see
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 113
by our own efforts that that policy, which de-
grades Europe, the success of which would put
civilisation back untold centuries, cannot and will
not triumplL
The Imperial Conference.
We want to utilise far more than we have done
in the past the great resources of the Empire.
The contribution of the Dominions and of India
has been splendid. The assistance they have given
us in the most trying hours of this campaign has
been incalculable in its value. But, after all, it is
an Empire of 300 millions of population, and it
can do far more, and it will do it. It is purely a
question of indicating what can be done, and with
that object in view a meeting of the Imperial
Conference will be held in the course of the next
few weeks in London, at which the Dominions and
India will be represented. It will be the first Im-
perial Cabinet ever held. After all, it is right
when they are making sacrifices that they should
be consulted as to the use which is to be made of
their endeavours as well as of our own. The ques-
tion of the conquered German territories will be
considered, among others. It is unthinkable that
their disposition after the war should be deter-
mined without consulting the Dominions, since
they have shed their blood in acquiring them. It
is also unthinkable that the question should be
settled without the Dominions taking their share
114 THE GREAT CRUSADE
of the responsibility of considering this issue, not
as a separate one, but as part of the settlement —
the whole settlement — of the great world-prob-
lems which must inevitably follow the end of this
world-war. Their presence at this Conference,
or rather Cabinet, is essential in order that they
should share with us the anxious burden of con-
sidering not merely a part, however important,
but all the factors in a cause for which their sons
so freely sacrificed their lives.
^'We Must Endure More."
But I want to get nearer home, and I want to
tell you what you can do. We can do nothing un-
less the nation is prepared to back us up, and if
you will allow me I am going to speak quite
frankly. I certainly should not be worthy of the
position which I hold unless I talked quite openly,
quite fearlessly, to the nation. The nation has
done great things ; it can do more. No great ends
have ever been achieved in this world without
great sacrifices, and they must not be confined to
one class or one section of the community. We
must not choose able-bodied men between eighteen
and forty-one who do not happen to be indispen-
sable to a business and say the sacrifice is theirs
— we must not choose them to bear the burden of
sacrifice and the rest go free. We must all share
in it. There is no belligerent country in Europe
on either side where the general public have suf-
fered less than in Great Britain. There are ex-
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 115
ceptions, but tlioy are small. There are certain
professions wliicli have suffered severely from the
war, and let me say this for them: they are just
the professions from which you never hear a
growl; they are the most patriotic. But with
these exceptions the general community has not
suffered in this country anything which is com-
parable to what it has suffered in other belligerent
lands.
To win the war we must endure more. The
sacrifice has been delegated too much to the men
in the trenches ; the privations have been endured
by the men in the trenches. Nobly, heroically,
they faced them, and we must all be prepared
to give up something for the victory of our native
land and the cause for which it stands. And
may I say to those whom I have heard complain-
ing about little inconveniences and little discom-
forts that the first thing we have to give up is to
give up grumbling. The vast majority are only
too anxious to help, and the grumblers, fortu-
nately, are few. What people want to know is
how they can help, and it is the business of the
Government to indicate how they can. The first
thing is: Out with your ready cash, or even
with unready cash. It is indispensable in order
to carry on the war. I have not merely been in two
spending Departments, but I have been in the De-
partment which provides the money, so I know the
problem from both sides. You must have silver
bullets or golden bullets. Those who cannot af-
ford the gold, let them produce the silver.
lie THE GREAT CRUSADE
"Don't Let Them Down!"
There is great fighting in front of us. Our gal-
lant soldiers will do their duty. There are men
everj^ day and every night who are going down
to the sea in ships to defend our shores and the
access to our shores, and our gallant sailors will
not finish, whatever danger the deep may conceal
for them. But I do beg for our sailors and our
soldiers, don't let them down in the hour of bat-
tle. Support them with all we can and all we have.
A big loan will shorten the war ; a big number of
subscribers will shorten it further. If you can-
not give much, give what you can. It will swell
the number of subscribers, it will encourage the
Army, it will discourage the foe. Let the Army
at the front know that at home there is an army
behind the Army; and every man who has any-
thing to give, I ask him to enlist in that army in
order to do his share and to contribute his help
to the winning of the war.
''Enlist Time."
There must be no hanging back, there must be
no loitering, there must be no lingering. Time
is a hesitating and perplexed neutral. He has
not yet decided on which side he is going to swing
his terrible scythe. For the moment that scythe
is striking both sides with terrible havoc. The
hour will come when it will be swung finally
"SOWING THE WINTER WHEAT" 117
on one side or the other. Time is the deadliest of
all the neutral powers. Let us see that we enlist
him among our Allies. The only way to win time
is not to lose time. You must not lose time in the
council chamber; you must not lose time in the
departments which carry out the decrees of the
council ; you must not lose time in the field, in the
factory, or in the workshop. Whoever tarries
when he ought to be active — whether it is a states-
man, a soldier, an official, a farmer, a worker, a
rich man with his money — is simply helping the
enemy to secure the aid of the most powerful fac-
tor in this war — time. Act and act in time. That
is our appeal to you.
"A New Country."
In conclusion I would sum up the appeal which
I am making to you in the Caraarvon Boroughs,
men and women, and through you to the men and
women of this land. Do these things for the sake
of your country during the war. Do them for
the sake of your country after the war. When the
smoke of this great conflict has been dissolved in
the atmosphere we breathe, there will reappear
a new Britain. It will be the old country still,
but it will be a new country. Its commerce will
be new, its trade will be new, its industries will
be new. There will be new conditions of life and
of toil, for capital and for labour alike, and there
will be new relations between both of them and
for ever. But there will be new ideas, there will
118 THE GREAT CRUSADE
be a new outlook, there will be a new character in
the land. The men and women of this country will
be burnt into fine building material for the new
Britain in the tiery kilns of the war. It will not
merely be the millions of men who, please God!
will come back from the battlefield to enjoy the
victory which they have won by their bravery.
A finer fomidation I would not want for the new
country; but it will not be merely that. The
Britain that is to be will depend also upon what
will be done now by the many more millions who
remain at home.
There are rare epochs in the history of the
world when in a few raging years the character,
the destiny, of the whole race is determined for
unknown ages. This is one. The winter wheat
is being sown. It is better, it is surer, it is more
bountiful in its harvest than when it is sown in
the soft springtime. There are many storms to
pass through, there are many frosts to endure, be-
fore the land brings forth its green promise. But
let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due sea-
son we shall reap if we faint not.
THE ENTRY OF AMERICA INTO THE WAR.
SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE AMERICAN LUNCHEON CLUB
(savoy hotel), APRIL 12th, 1917.
I AM in the happy position, I think, of being the
first British Minister of the CroA\Ti who, speak-
ing on behalf of the people of this country, can
salute the American nation as comrades in arms.
I am glad. I am proud. I am glad not merely be-
cause of the stupendous resources which this
great nation can bring to the succour of the Al-
liance, but I rejoice as a Democrat that the ad-
vent of the United States into this war gives the
final stamp and seal to the character of the con-
flict as a struggle against military autocracy
throughout the world.
'■b
^'A Fight for Human Liberty.*'
That was the note that rang through the great
deliverance of President Wilson. It was echoed
in your resounding words to-day, Sir. The
United States of America have a noble tradi-
tion, never broken, of having never engaged in a
war except for liberty, and this is the greatest
struggle for liberty they have ever embarked
upon. I am not at all surprised, when one recol-
119
120 THE GREAT CRUSADE
lects the wars of the past, that America took its
time to make up its mind about the character of
this struggle. In Europe most of the great wars
of the past were waged for dynastic aggrandise-
ments and for conquest. No wonder that when
this great war started there were some elements
of suspicion still lurking in the minds of the peo-
ple of the United States of America. There were
many who thought, perhaps, that kings were at
their old tricks, and although they saw the gal-
lant Republic of France fighting, some of them
perhaps, regarded France as the poor victim of
conspiracy and of monarchical swashbucklers.
The fact that the United States of America has
made up its mind finally makes it abundantly
clear to the world that this is no struggle of that
character, but a great fight for human liberty.
The Prussian Military Caste.
They naturally did not know at first what we
had endured in Europe for years from this mili-
tary caste in Prussia. It never reached as far
as the United States of America. Prussia is not
a democracy, but the Kaiser promises it will be
a democracy after the war. I think he is right.
But Prussia not merely was not a democracy;
Prussia was not a State. Prussia was an army.
It had great industries, highly developed. It had
a great educational system. It had its universi-
ties. It developed its sciences. But all these
were subordinate to the one great predominant
AMERICA AND THE WAR 121
purpose of an all-conquering army which was to
intimidate the world. The army was the spear-
point of Prussia; the rest was merely the shaft.
That is what we had to deal with in these old
countries. It got on the neiwes of Europe. We
knew what it all meant. The Prussian Army in
recent times had waged three wars — all for con-
quest. And the incessant tramping of its legions
through the streets of Prussia and on the parade
grounds of Prussia had got into the Prussian
head. The Kaiser, when he witnessed it on a
grand scale in his reviews, got drunk with the
sound of it. He delivered the law to the world, as
though Potsdam were a new Sinai and he were
uttering the law from the thundercloud. But
make no mistake; Europe was uneasy. Europe
was half intimidated; Europe was anxious;
Europe was apprehensive. We knew the whole
time what it meant. What we did not know was
the moment it would come. This is the menace,
this is the oppression, from which Europe has
suffered for fifty years. It paralysed the benef-
icent activities of all States, which ought to have
been devoted to, and concentrated upon, the well-
being of their people. They had to think about
this menace, which was there constantly as a
cloud, ready to burst over the land.
Take France. No one can tell except the
Frenchman what they endured from this tyranny,
patiently, gallantly, with dignity, until the hour
of deliverance came. The best energies in demo-
cratic France have been devoted to defence
122 THE GREAT CRUSADE
against the impending terror. France was like
a nation which had pnt up its right arm to ward
off a blow, and it could not use the whole of its
strength for tl^ie great things France was capable
of. That great, bold, imaginative, fertile mind,
which would otherwise have been cleaving new
paths of progress, was paralysed. This was the
state of things we had to encounter.
^t>^
"The Hindenhurg Line."
The most characteristic of all Prussian institu-
tions is the Hindenburg line. What is the Hinden-
burg line? The Hindenburg line is a line drawn
in the territories of other people with a warning
that the inhabitants of those territories shall not
cross it at the peril of their lives. That line has
been drawn in Europe for fifty years in many
lands. You recollect what happened some years
ago in France when the French Foreign Minister
was practically driven out of office by Prussian
interference. Why? What had he done? He
had done nothing that the Minister of an inde-
pendent State had not the most absolute right
to do. He crossed that imaginary line drawn in
French territory by Prussian despotism, and he
had to leave.
Europe, after enduring this for generations,
made up its mind at last that the Hindenburg
line must be drawn along the legitimate frontiers
of Germany herself. It has been an undoubted
fight for the emancipation of Europe and the
AMERICA AND THE WAR 123
emancipation of the world. It was hard at first
for the people of America quite to appreciate
that. Germany had not interfered to the same ex-
tent with their freedom, if at all. But at last she
has endured the same experience to which Europe
has been subjected. Ajnericans were told they
were not to be allowed to cross and recross the At-
lantic except at their peril. American ships were
sunk without warning. American subjects were
dro^^^led with hardly an apology, in fact as a mat-
ter of German right. At first America could
hardly believe it. They could not think it pos-
sible that any sane people could behave in that
manner. And they tolerated it once, they tole-
rated it twice, until at last it became clear that
the Germans really meant it. The Hindenburg
line was draA\Ti along the shores of America, and
Americans were told they must not cross it.
America said, ''What is this?" and was told that
this was a line beyond which they must not go.
Then America acted, and acted promptly. Amer-
ica said, ''The place for that line is not the At-
lantic, but on the Rhine, and we mean to help
you to roll it up. ' ' And they have started.
The Inspiratian of Freedom.
There are two great facts which clinch the
argument that this is a great struggle for free-
dom. The first is the fact that America has come
in. She could not have done otherwise. The
second is the Russian Revolution. When France
124 THE GREAT CRUSADE
in the eighteenth century sent her soldiers to
America to fight for the freedom and independ-
ence of that land France also was an autocracy.
But when the Frenchmen were in America their
aim was freedom, their atmosphere was freedom,
and their inspiration was freedom^ They ac-
quired a taste for freedom and they took it home,
and France became free. That is the story of
Russia. Russia engaged in this great war for the
freedom of Serbia, of Montenegro, and Bulgaria.
Russians have fought for the freedom of Europe,
and they wanted to make their o^vn country free.
They have done it. The Russian Revolution is
not merely the outcome of the struggle for free-
dom. It is a proof of its character as a struggle
for liberty. And if the Russian people realise,
as there is evidence they are doing, that national
discipline is not incompatible with national free-
dom, and know that national discipline is essen-
tial to the security of national freedom, they will
indeed become a free people.
I have been asking myself the question. Why
is it that Germany deliberately in the third year
of the war provoked America to this declaration,
and to this action? Deliberately! Yes; reso-
lutely ! It has been suggested that the reason was
that there were certain elements in American life
which Germany was under the impression would
make it impossible for the United States to de-
clare war. That I can hardly believe ; but the an-
swer has been afforded by General Hindenburg
himself in the very remarkable interview which
AMERICA AND THE WAR 125
appears, I think, this morning in the Press. He
depended clearly on one of two things — that the
submarine campaign would have destroyed inter-
national shipping to such an extent that England
would have been put out of business before Amer-
ica was ready. According to his computation,
America would not be ready for twelve months.
He does not know America. Then alternatively,
and when America was ready at the end of twelve
months with her army, she would have no ships
to transport that army to the field of battle. In
Hindenburg's words, '^America carries no
weight." I suppose he means that she has no
ships to carry it in !
''Ships!"
Well, it is not wise always to assume, even when
the German General Staff has miscalculated, that
they have had no ground for their calculation;
and therefore it behooves the whole of the Allies
— Britain and America in particular — to see that
that reckoning of Von Hindenburg is as false as
the one he made about the famous line which we
have already broken. The road to victory, the
guarantee of victoiy, the absolute assurance of
victory, is to be found in one word — ships ! In a
second word — ships! In a third word — ships!
I see that America, with that quickness of com-
prehension which characterises your nation, fully
realises that, and to-day I observe that they have
already made an arrangement to build a thousand
126 THE GREAT CRUSADE
3,000-tonners for the Atlantic. I think that the
German military advisers must already begin to
realise that this is another of the tragic miscalcu-
lations which is going to lead them to disaster and
to ruin.
America to Study Our Blunders.
But you will pardon me for just emphasising
that we are a slow people in these islands. Yes,
but sure! Slowly, blunderingly we go; but we
get there. You get there sooner, and that is why
I am glad to see you in. But may I say we have
been in this business for three years. We have
made blunders; we generally do; we have tried
every blunder. In golfing phraseology we have
gone through every bunker; but we have a good
niblick stroke, and we are now right out on the
course. May I respectfully suggest that it is
worth America's while to study our blunders so
as to begin just where we are now — not where
we were three years ago. That is an advantage
in war time, and if taken to-day may lead to as-
sured victory, but taken to-morrow may barely
avert disaster. All the Allies have discovered
that. It was a new country for us all. It was
trackless, mapless; we had to go by instinct, but
we found the way. I am glad that you are send-
ing your great naval and military experts here
just to exchange experiences with men who have
been through all the dreary, anxious course of
the last three years.
AMERICA AND THE WAR 127
''What America Can Do."
America has helped us even to win the battle
of Arras — this great battle. Those guns which
destroyed the German trenches and shattered the
barbed wire — I remember with some friends of
mine I see here discussing the matter and arrang-
ing to order from America the machines to make
those guns. Not all ! You did your share ; it was
only a share, but it is a glorious one. America
has been making guns, making munitions, making
machinery to prepare both, supplying us with
steel, and she has all that organisation, that
wonderful facility, adaptability, and resourceful-
ness of the great people who inliabit that great
continent. Ah ! it was a bad day for military au-
tocracy in Prussia when she challenged the great
Republic of the "West. We know what America
can do; and we also know that now she is in it
she will do it. She will wage an effective and suc-
cessful war.
There is something more important. She will
ensure a beneficent peace. I am the last man in
the world — ^knowing for three years what our
difficulties have been, what our anxieties have
been, what our fears have been — to deny that the
succour which is given us from America is some-
thing to rejoice in, and rejoice greatly in; but
I do not mind telling you that I rejoice even more
in the knowledge that America is going to win her
right to be at the conference table when the terms
of peace are being discussed. That conference
1^8 THE GREAT CRUSADE
will settle the destiny of nations, the course of
human life, for God knows how many ages. It
would have been a tragedy for mankind if Amer-
ica had not been there, and there with all the in-
fluence, and the power, and the right which she
has now won by flinging herself into this great
struggle.
"The Peace of Democracy.*'
I can see peace coming now — not a peace which
would be a beginning of war, not a peace which
would be an endless preparation for strife and
bloodshed, but a real peace. The world is an old
world which has never had peace. It has been
rocking, swaying, like the ocean, and Europe —
poor Europe — has always lived under the menace
of the sword. When this war began two-thirds
of Europe was under autocratic rule. It is the
other way about now, and democracy means peace.
The democracy of France did not want war. The
democracy of Italy hesitated long before enter-
ing the war. The democracy of this country
shrank from it and shuddered, and would never
have entered that cauldron if it had not been for
the invasion of Belgium. Democracy sought
peace, strove for peace, and if Prussia had been
a democracy there would have been no war.
But strange things have happened in this war,
and stranger things are to come — and they are
coming rapidly. There are times in history when
the world spins so leisurely along its destined
course that it seems for centuries to be at a stand-
AMERICA AND THE WAR 129
still. There are also times when it rushes along
at a giddy pace, covering the traoV of centuries
in a year. These are the times we are living in
now. Six weeks ago Russia was an autocracy.
She is now one of the most advanced democracies
in the world. To-day we are waging the most de-
vastating war that the world has even seen. To-
morrow — not perhaps a distant to-morrow — war
may be abolished for ever from the categories of
human crimes. This may be something like that
fierce outburst of winter which we are now wit-
nessing before the complete triumph of spring.
''With the Dawn."
It was written of those gallant men who won
that victory on Monday — men from Canada,
from Australia, and from this old country which
has proved that in spite of its age it is not de-
crepit — it was written of those gallant men that
they attacked with the dawn. Fitting work for
the dawn to drive out of forty miles of French
soil those miscreants who had defiled it for nearly
three years. They attacked with the dawn. It
is a significant phrase. The breaking up of the
dark rule of the Turk, which, for centuries has
clouded the sunniest lands in the world, the free-
ing of Russia from the oppression which has
covered it like a cloud for so long, the great
declaration of President Wilson, coming with the
might of the great nation he represents in the
struggle for liberty, are heralds of the dawn.
130 THE GREAT CRUSADE
"They attacked with the dawn"; and those men
are marching forward in the full radiance of that
dawn, and soon Frenchmen and Americans,
British, Italians, and Russians, yea, Serbians,
Belgians, Montenegrins, and Rumanians, will
march into the full light of perfect day.
THE WAR AND THE EMPIRE.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE eUILDHALL,
ON BEING PRESENTED WITH THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY OF
LONDON, APRIL 27tH, 1917.
I THANK the City of London, not merely for this
great personal distinction which has been con-
ferred upon me, but as the head of the Govern-
ment in the greatest trial which a nation can pass
through. I thank the City of London for its serv-
ices to the nation during that period. I have had
three years' experience in various offices in this
war. I have always received the readiest and
most patriotic support from the City. Not merely
in money, but in men, have they contributed to the
help of the country in this great war. You, Sir,
referred in your kind and flattering observations
to what occurred at the beginning of this war,
when there was something in the nature of a
financial panic, and when the whole complicated
and apparently flimsy structure of credit seemed
to have been shattered by one blow. We shall
never forget those days. They were days of
panic. There was something for the moment like
consternation, stupefaction. But British credit
survived that blow, in spite of many predictions
to the contrary. And the City of London took an
131
132 THE GREAT CRUSADE
honourable and leading part in the promotion
of that last loan, which was the most remarkable
financial exploit that has ever been witnessed in
the history of the world.
The Turning of the Tide.
You referred also to the part I took in organis-
ing the resources of the country for the equip-
ment of our armies in the field with the neces-
sary material to give them, at any rate, a fair
chance in the fight. You remember the dark and
dreary time when our gallant fellows in shattered
trenches had night and day to endure the mockery
of the slaughtering tongues of the German can-
non. And how they stood it ! The way in which
the British infantry stood the guns of Napoleon
for one day is one of the epics of military history.
Their descendants stood greater guns for days
and nights and weeks and months, and never
flinched. It is one of the greatest stories in the
world, how they were never broken, and it is only
those who met them and talked with them who
can realise what they endured. Our gratitude
goes for ever to them. And, let me say here, our
gratitude ought to go to that brave little man who
led them through all those trying months under
very great difficulties, and was never beaten, and
never lost heart — Lord French.
When I took the job in hand of organising the
resources of this country, I did it in order to give
those brave men a real chance in the fight. And,
THE WAR AND THE EMPIRE 133
thank God, they have got it. The tide has changed,
thanks to the efforts put forth by, the manufac^
turers of the country, the workmen of the country,
and, let us not forget, by the women — the hun-
dreds of thousands of women who flocked to the
factories and asked what they could do to help
their gallant kinsmen in the field. They have
done it, and the story now is a very different one.
There is no better test of victory than guns and
prisoners. Before June, 1915, we had lost 84
guns and a very considerable number of prisoners,
and we had captured, so far as I can recollect, not
one gun. Since that date we have not lost one,
and we have captured 400, and when you come to
the tale of prisoners, we have captured ten at
least for every one. The tide has changed; our
victory is becoming increasingly assured. Take,
if you like, the difference between the Battle of
the Somme and the last great battle, around Vimy
Ridge. The Vimy Ridge had cost the French
enonnous losses. In spite of untold gallantry,
they had only secured part of it. Entirely owing
to the fact that we have superior equipment —
and I have always said that better guns and more
shells meant saving life, and this is the proof of it
— we captured the whole of the Vimy Ridge, with
about 200 guns, at something like one-fifth of what
it cost the French Army in the days of inferior
equipment to attack it and fail to capture it.
Take the first 18 days of the Battle of the
Somme and the first 18 days of this battle. I have
just had these figures. In the first 18 days of the
134 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Battle of the Somme we captured 11,000 prisoners
and 54 guns. In the first 18 days of the Battle of
Arras we captured 18,000 prisoners and 230 guns.
We have gained four times as much ground, and
our losses are exactly one-half.
I will tell you what that means. It means not
merely ultimate victory, but it means that victory
is going to be won at less cost, and that the chances
are growing as our equipment is improving. The
Germans know it, and that is the explanation of
the despair which has driven them to black piracy
on the high seas. That is the next job we have to
face, and we mean to do it. They mean to make
the sea absolutely impassable for any craft. It is
essential to victory for them that they should do
it. It is equally essential for victory for us that
they should fail. That is the proposition w^ith
which we are confronted.
"What is our minimum problem! To feed a pop-
ulation of forty-five millions in a country which is
not self-supporting, to provide the necessary raw
material and food to equip and feed our armies,
and to keep the sea free for the transport of troops
and their equipment for ourselves and our Allies
— all that has to be done against a swarm of pi-
rates, moving unseen under the trackless seas.
Do not let us minimise the problem. Unless we
thoroughly appreciate its gravity we shall not
put our strength, our full strength, into dealing
with it. It is the greatest attack ever directed
against our existence.
THE WAR AND THE EMPIRE 135
The Future of Politics.
The future of this country depends upon how
much the politicians have learnt. I have heard of
politicians who think that when the war is over
the same old machinery will be set up, the same
old methods applied, and the same old notions ad-
hered to. People who do not know politicians
think of them as wild revolutionaries. The wildest
revolutionary is the most reactionary person in
the world.
There used to be two parties in this country.
Before the war there were five, absolutely inde-
pendent of each other. The people are discover-
ing that no party had a monopoly of wisdom,
that not even the five parties together were the
sole repositories of political sagacity, and that
there are more things in heaven and earth than
were dreamt of in the philosophy of any one, two,
or five of these parties. That is one of the revela-
tions which we have seen in the lurid fires of this
war. We have been driven to do things in this
war that no party ever thought of. There is no
party that does not admit that these things were
absolutely necessary to save the country.
When the war is over and reconstruction begins,
I hope and trust and pray that we are not going
to dive into the pigeon-holes of any party for
dust-laden precedents and progranunes. Let us
think out the best methods for ourselves in the
face of seaching facts we knew not of before the
war. We are a thousand years older and wiser.
136 THE GREAT CRUSADE
The experience of generations has been crowded
into just a few winters, and we should indeed be
unworthy of the great destiny to which Provi-
dence has called this generation of men if we
threw all that away for the sake of any formulas
that were framed before the Flood. There is no
part of the whole sphere of statesmanship where
there is a greater need for us to revise our ideas
than in our attitude towards that great common-
wealth of nations which is known as the British
Empire. In the past we treated it as an abstrac-
tion — a glorious abstraction, but an abstraction.
The war has shown us, all of us, that the British
Empire is a fact, nay, a factor, the most potent
factor to-day in the struggle for human liberty.
We sent a hundred thousand men to France in
August, 1914. They turned the tide of history.
The Dominions and the great Empire of India
have contributed one million men. That has trans-
formed our ideas as to the reality and the benef-
icence of the British Empire. The world cannot
afford to let it dissolve. But the choice must be
between immediate concentration and ultimate dis-
solution. We can never let things remain where
they were. It may be said that the shadowy char-
acter of the relations between us and the Domin-
ions and the great territories of the East have
produced this real cohesion. That was all very
well before they made great sacrifices. They have
established claims now to a real partnership.
Henceforth effective consultation must be the only
basis of co-operation. If our action brings them
THE WAR AND THE EMPIRE 137
into trouble, as it has, costing them mj^riads of
precious lives, they must henceforth be consulted
beforehand.
Methods must be carefully considered. The
whirl of a great war is not the best time for think-
ing out perhaps new Constitutions, but our Coun-
cils of Empire must at any rate be a reality. The
Imperial War Cabinet, the first ever held, has
been a demonstration of the value of these coun-
cils. Our colleagues from the Dominions and from
the great Empire of India have not taken part,
believe me, in a formal conference to carry resolu-
tions. They have had a real share in our coun-
cils and in our decisions, and they have been a
great source of strength and wisdom to our de-
liberations. They have come there with fresh
minds. They have viewed this world-conflict from,
as it were, different peaks. Minds running the
same course for a long time are apt to get rutty,
and the weightier the minds the deeper the ruts.
You require fresh minds to lift the cart out of
those worn furrows, and we have had them. We
have had war decisions of the most far-reaching
character, in which our colleagues from beyond
the seas have assisted us. These great problems
in regard to submarines, shipping, and food, as
well as our military decisions, have all come for
review at councils in wliich they have taken part.
But we must do more. I feel that this experi-
ment must be incorporated in the fabric of the Em-
pire. We have been taught by the war the real
value of the Empire as a world-force, and one of
138 THE GREAT CRUSADE
the first duties of statesmanship in the future will
be to take all measures which are necessary to aid
in the development of the stupendous resources
of the Empire. That ought to be our special
care, our special pride, as it undoubtedly would
be our special security. We want to develop the
lands under the Flag. If fifty years ago we had
directed our minds and our power and our in-
fluence to that end, you would now have had
double the population you have got in these
Dominions, by diverting the tide of emigration to
British Dominions instead of other lands, and you
Avould have attracted the virile populations of
Europe in addition to that.
In the future we have decided that it is the
business of statesmanship in Great Britain, as
well as in the lands beyond the seas, to knit
the Empire together in closer bonds of interest, of
trade, of commerce, of business, and of general
intercourse in affairs.
We have given grave consideration to this prob-
lem, and have decided that in order to develop
these enormous territories in future it is neces-
sary that exceptional encouragement should be
given to the products of each part of the Empire.
We believe that a system of preference can be es-
tablished which will not involve the imposition of
burdens upon food. We believe that it can be
done without that, and, of course, with food at
its scarcest and at its dearest, this is not the time
to talk about putting additional burdens on food.
But for purposes of preference that would not be
THE WAR AND THE EMPIRE 139
essential. You can secure that by other means,
and more particularly by taking measures which
other lands have taken for improving the com-
munications between one part of their dominions
and another. By these means the jjroducts of
one countrj'^ inside this great Imperial Common-
wealth can be brought more freely, readily, and
economically to the markets of the others.
This great Emj^ire has infinite resources in
wealth, in minerals, in food products, in timber,
and in every cormnodity needful for man, and it
is obviously to the advantage, not merely of the
particular countries where these products come
from, but of every other part of the Empire, in-
cluding the United Kingdom, that these commodi-
ties should be developed to the utmost. It en-
riches, it strengthens, and it binds together the
Empire as a whole.
Therefore I say to Britain, she has faced the
problems of war with a courage that has amazed
the w^orld ; she must face the problems of peace in
the same great spirit.
RESTATEMENT OF THE CAUSES AND AIMS OF
THE WAR.
EXTRACTS PROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT GLASGOW, ON BE-
ING PRESENTED WITH THE FREEDOM OF THAT CITY, JUNE
29th, 1917.
It is a satisfaction for Britain in these ter-
rible times that no share of the responsibility for
these events rests on her. She is not the Jonah
in this storm. The part taken by our counti^^ in
this conflict, in its origin and in its conduct, has
been as honourable and chivalrous as any part
ever taken in any country in any operation. We
might imagine from declarations which were made
by the Germans, aye, and even by a few people
in this country who are constantly referring to
''our German comrades," that this terrible war
was wantonly and wickedly provoked by England
— never Scotland, never Wales, and never Ireland
— ^wantonly provoked by England to increase her
possessions and to destroy the influence, the
power, and the prosperity of a dangerous rival.
There never was a more foolish travesty of the
actual facts. It happened three years ago, or less,
but there have been so many bewildering events
crowded into those intervening years that some
people might have forgotten, perhaps, some of the
140
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 141
essential facts, and it is essential that we should
now and again restate them, not merely to refute
the calumniators of our native land, but in order
to sustain the hearts of her people by the un-
swerving conviction that no part of the guilt of
this terrible bloodshed rests upon their conscience.
Britain the Last to Enter the War.
What are the main facts? There were six
countries which entered the war at the beginning.
Britain w^as the last, not the first. Before she
entered the war Britain made every effort to
avoid it, begged, supplicated, and entreated that
there should be no conflict. I was a member of
the Cabinet at the time, and I remember the
earnest endeavours we made to persuade Ger-
many and Austria not to precipitate Europe into
this welter of blood. We begged them to summon
a European conference. Had that conference
met, arguments against provoking such a ca-
tastrophe were so overwhelming that there would
never have been a war. Germany knew that, so
she rejected the conference. Although Austria
was prepared to accept it, she suddenly declared
war, and yet we are the people who wantonly pro-
voked this war in order to attack Germany! We
begged Germany not to attack Belgium, and pro-
duced a treaty signed by the King of Prussia, as
well as the King of England, pledging himself to
protect Belgium against an invader, and we said,
*'If you invade Belgium we shall have no altema-
142 THE GREAT CRUSADE
tive but to defend it." The enemy invaded Bel-
gium, and now they say, "Why, forsooth, you,
England, provoked this war. " It is not quite the
story of the wolf and the lamb. I will tell you
why: because Germany expected to find a lamb
and found a lion. So much for our responsibility
for war, and it is necessary that the facts should
be stated and restated, because we want to carry
on this war with a pure, clear conscience to the
end.
The Military Situation.
But you will ask me what progress are we mak-
ing with the war, and I mean to tell you my view
of that. I am steeped every day — morning, noon,
and night — in the perplexities and difficulties and
the anxieties of this grim business, but all the
same I feel confident. The difficulties are there to
be overcome, the anxieties to be faced, the disaj)-
pointments to be persevered through. What is
the present military position I No doubt, startling
events in Russia modified the military situation
this year temporarily to our disadvantage, but
permanently for the better. What has happened
recently on both the Western fronts shows what
could have been accomplished this year, if all the
Allied forces had been ready to bring an all-round
pressure to bear. In training, in experience, in
equipment, our Army is infinitely better than it
has ever been. The Lord Provost has referred
to the munitions work of this countiy. The finest
collection of trench-pounding machiner}^ which any
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 143
army has ever seen is now in the possession of
the British forces. You have only tp look at what
happened at the Vimy and Messines Ridges.
Fortifications which had defined the power of the
British and French armies for two or three years
were swept away by our great attack, and by the
gallant onslaught of our Allies. The valour of
the French troops against the dense hordes of
German troops must have impressed all as a con-
spicuous example of what that great nation is ca-
pable of; and there are the brilliant achievements
of our Italian comrades, who with dash, courage,
and skill storm great Alpine heights in the teeth
of those legions of Austria.
The Russian Situation.
We have demonstrated the superiority of the
Allied armies in all these great conflicts, but no
doubt for the moment the difficulty w^e have to deal
with is that the internal distractions in Russia
have robbed the Russian Army of the power to
put forth the whole of its strength. Broken di-
visions from the West have been taken to the
East and fresh divisions from the East have been
brought back to the West, and the same thing ap-
plies to the German and the Austrian artillery.
The Russian Revolution, beneficent as it un-
doubtedly is and undoubtedly great as will be its
results both this year and even more hereafter,
has had the effect of postponing a complete vic-
tory. Revolution is a fever brought about by the
144. THE GREAT CRUSADE
constant and reckless disregard of the laws of
health in the government of a countiy. While
it is on, the strength of a country is diverted to
the internal conflict which is raging in its blood,
and it is naturally not so effective for external use
during that period. The patient takes some time
to recover his normal temperature, but when he
begins to recover, if his constitution is good — and
the Russian nation has as fine a constitution as
any nation ever possessed — then he will regain it
straight at a bound, and be mightier and more
formidable than ever. That is the case in Russia,
Although this distraction has had the effect of
postponing complete victory, it has made victory
more sure than ever, more complete than ever.
What is more important, it has made surer than
ever the quality of the victory we shall gain.
What do I mean when I say it has ensured a
better quality of victory? I will tell you, because
that is important. There were many of us whose
hearts were filled with gloomy anxiety when we
contemplated all the prospects of a great peace
conference summoned to settle the future of
democracy with one of the most powerful partners
at that table the most reactionary autocracy in
the world. I remember very well discussing the
very point with one of the greatest of French
statesmen, and he had great misgivings about
what would happen. Now Russia is unshackled,
Russia is free, and the representatives of Russia
at the Peace Congress will be representatives of a
free people fighting for freedom, arranging the
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 145
future of democracy on the lines of freedom.
That is what I mean when I say that not merely
will the Russian Revolution ensure more com-
plete victory, it will ensure victory more exalted
than any one could have contemplated before.
I ventured in August, 1915, to launch into the
realms of prophecy. It was rather a dangerous
thing to do, but if you will allow me I will quote
what I said then about Russia. I referred to the
great Russian defeat by the German forces. The
Russian armies were broken, the Russian armies
were in full retreat, and things looked darker
than they had ever done in the whole course of the
war. "The Eastern sky is dark and lowering, the
stars have been clouded over. I regard the stormy
horizon with anxiety but with no dread. To-day
I can see the colour of a new hope beginning to
empurple the sky. The enemy in their victorious
march know not what they are doing. Let them
beware, for they are unshackling Russia. With
their monster artillery they are shattering the
rusty bars that fettered the strength of the people
of Russia. You can see them shaking their power-
ful limbs free from the stifling debris, and pre-
paring for the conflict with a new spirit. They
[the Germans] are hammering a sword that will
destroy them and freeing a p-roat nation to \vield
it with a more potent stroke and a mightier sweep
than it ever yet commanded."
That little speech got me into trouble with the
Russian Court, but it is exactly what has hap-
pened. That was the beginning of the end of an-
146 THE GREAT CRUSADE
tocracy, and Russia and the Russian people felt
that the system which had brought such disaster
upon them could not be safely entrusted in future
with the honour of that great nation. Russia is
now free, Russia is now unfettered, and when
the distractions have passed away, Russia will
be more powerful, Russia will be more formidable
than ever, because in future the whole of her
power will be cast on the side of liberty and de-
mocracy, and not of autocracy.
The Burden Cast Upon the Other Allies.
Meanwhile, France, Italy, and ourselves have
to bear the greatest share of the burden, and I
should like to say to those who hailed the Rus-
sian Revolution with delight as well as condemn-
ing and doing their best to thwart the military
efforts of their own country, that but for these
military efforts the Russian Revolution would
have had no chance to fructify. What would
have happened if we had not been ready, if we
had not had this great Army prepared, if we had
not possessed such enormous equipment? I will
tell you what would have happened. Germany
would have concentrated one desperate effort to
overwhelm free democracy in France while Rus-
sia was engaged in the troubles of her revolution,
and while the new democracy was arising in the
East, the old democracy in the West, the great old
democracy of France, would have been strangled.
How long do you think the new democracy, the
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 147
new democracy of the East, would have survived
it? Not long, and you would have had one great
outstanding military autocracy in Europe govern-
ing from the East to the West, and only these lit-
tle islands standing between the world and dis-
aster.
I would counsel those who criticise the measures
we have taken to mobilise the strength of this
country — strong measures, ruthless measures if
you will, interfering measures if you will, but
measures which will accomplish their purpose — to
dwell upon the catastrophe that would have be-
fallen the free democracies throughout the world
if we had not done so. It was Britain, the strength
of Britain flung into the breach, that once more
saved Europe and human liberties. Even dur-
ing the last few weeks, when Russia was not ready,
we defeated the German Army at its strongest,
and at its boastfulest. Now Russia is gaining
strength every day; it has a capable, strong
Government of able, patriotic men guiding its
destinies. Russia never had a better Government
than the men who are now wielding the power,
and her armies will fight henceforth with that
power which is inspired by freedom.
And America — always the mainstay and the
hope of freedom — America, who never engaged
in a war yet except for freedom — America is be-
ginning to send her valiant sons to the battlefields
of Europe to fight around the standards of liberty.
That is why I say that although victory may have
been postponed by the events of the last few
MS THE GREAT CRUSADE
months in Russia, victory will be more complete,
victory will be on higher lines, than ever we
could have hoped.
The Conditions of Victory.
It is assured, under two conditions : the first is
that the submarine attack must be defeated, or
kept within reasonable bounds. They may, and
probably will, drive us to further restrictions in
some trades, perhaps to hardships, but all de-
pends on the nation, for after carefully reckon-
ing the chances, the probabilities, the Government
have come to the conclusion, on the best advice
that we can seek, that submarines can neither
starve us at home nor drive our armies out of the
field abroad. In the words of the song we had at
the beginning, despite the worst they can do,
''Britain will rule the waves" through the war
and after the war. Our losses in May and June
were heavy, but they were hundreds of thousands
of tons beneath the Admiralty forecast of what
they would be. We are beginning to get them.
The arrangements that have been made for frus-
trating them and for destroying them are im-
proving, and I have no hesitation in saying that
if we all do our part the German submarine will
be almost as great a failure as the German Zep-
pelin.
What is the next condition? The moral of the
nation must be kept up; that is essential. Our
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 149
Army is great, and the Army now is the people.
There is hardly a household which has not con-
tributed to tlie Army. It is a sample of the peo-
ple God planted in these islands. We can view
with pride the achievements of our Army. I am
not afraid of the Army, but take care that the
spirit of the people behind them is as good as that
of the Army; if not, it affects the Army. I met
a young fellow who had been in the fighting at
Vimy and at Arras, and he said : "We came back,
and we were all so cheerful. We saw the Huns
running for four or five miles before British bayo-
nets. We stoimed positions that defied armies
for two or three years, and we were so cheerful
when we came back. Then we picked up the pa-
pers full of grumblings and grousings from Eng-
land.'' His conclusion was a memorable one:
* ' You will never give us a chance of being cheer-
ful." That is not fair to the Army. After all,
everybody is doing his best within human limi-
tations — generals, officers, soldiers, admirals,
sailors, officials, employers, workmen, yea. Minis-
ters of the Crown — forgive me for saying it — we
are doing our best in our way. I cannot see any
slackening or indolence anywhere; and will you
allow me to say there is one man who is work-
ing as hard as the hardest-worked man in this
country, and that is the Sovereign of this realm.*
I am quite sure His Majesty the King will ap-
preciate the fact that the citizens of Glasgow
* Here the whole of the audience rose spontaneously to their
feet and san2' "God Save the Kino."
150 THE GREAT CRUSADE
realise tlie contribution he is making to tlie work
of the nation under these trying conditions.
''Keep Steady!"
What is wanted, therefore, is that the nation
should keep steady. It is he who endureth to the
end that will win. Don't allow the nation to be
"rattled." I rather object to John Bull always
being represented as if he were in a towering
rage with somebody or something, growling at
his food, and generally swearing at everybody.
That does not represent him. As a matter of
fact he is a good-tempered, forbearing, patient,
tenacious old gentleman, who has cultivated the
habit of never giving in once he has made up his
mind about it. There are people who think the
nation is like a petrol machine, that it can only
be driven by a rapid succession of petty explo-
sions, and unless they always hear its spluttering
they think the machine is at a standstill. Not at
all. Let us keep steady, that is my advice to the
nation; and I appeal to those who address the
public, whether on platforms or in the public
Press, to keep up the nerve of the nation, to sup-
port it in its purpose. If we grip hard we shall
win victory, but don't let us fray the rope, other-
wise it might not bear the strain. I specially ap-
peal to the great journals of this country. Every
morning and evening they are in the households
of the people, and if they breathe distrust and dis-
sension and suspicion they weaken the purpose
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 151
of the people gradually; but if they breathe con-
fidence, unity, strength, and hope, it adds to the
power of the people to go througli this terrible
crisis. That is why I am appealing first of all
to those who have power and influence in the land,
whether great or small, each in his circle helping
the spirit of the nation to support its purpose,
give strength to its wdll. Then victory is as-
sured to us — as surely as the rising of the sun to-
morrow
The Allies' War Aims.
There are people asking: When are you go-
ing to bring this war to an end, how are you go-
ing to bring it to an end, and when you have
brought it to an end what end do you want for it?
All of them are justifiable questions, and all of
them demand reasonable answer, and I propose to
make my contribution to the solution of these
direct and searching questions.
In my judgment this war will come to an end
when the Allied Powers have reached the aims
w^hich they set out to attain when they accepted
the challenge thro\vn down by Germany to civilisa-
tion. These aims were set out recently by Presi-
dent Wilson with his unrivalled gift of succinct
and trenchant speech. As soon as these objec-
tives are reached and guaranteed, this war ought
to come to an end, but if it comes to an end a
single hour before, it will be the greatest disaster
that has ever befallen mankind. I hear there are
people going about the country saying Germany
152 THE GREAT CRUSADE
is prepared to give you peace now, an honourable
peace, and a satisfactory peace. Well, let us ex-
amine that. If it is true, then it would be criminal
if we sacrificed more precious life and treasure,
and prolonged the wretchedness and anxiety and
suffering associated with the war. No doubt you
can have peace; you can have peace now. Ger-
many will give us peace now — at a price. Ger-
many wants peace, even Prussia ardently desires
it. They don't enjoy seeing their veteran soldiers
hurled back time after time by what they regard
as an amateur army. It does not give them
pleasure; it does not rouse their enthusiasm; it
does not make them eager to get more of it. They
don't like to see their crack — somebody said
cracked — regiments prisoners of war, and hun-
dreds of their cannon captured. It is humiliat-
ing constantly to fall back. ''A little territory
here and a little land there, and just a few privi-
leges in the other direction, and we will clear
out."
"Bmjing Out the Goth."
Well, 3^ou can have peace at that price, but do
you know what it would be? The old policy of
buying out the Goth, which eventually destroyed
the Roman Empire, and threw Europe into the
ages of barbarous cruelties. Believe me, that
policy had its undoubted advantages. I can hear
the echoes of the pacifists of the day in the Roman
Forum dwelling on the fact that if they could only
buy out the Goths at a small price compared
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 153
with the war, a little territory and a little cash,
the Roman youth would be spared the terrors
of war, and their parents the anxieties of war,
people of all ranks and classes would avoid the
hardships of war, and be able to continue their
lives of comfort and luxury and ease. The
pacifists of the day, when they made the bargain
that avoided bloodshed, had only transmitted it
to the children. You remember what the Roman
Senator said of one of these bargains, which gave
peace for the moment to the Roman Empire. He
said ''This is not a peace, it is a pact of serv-
tude." So it was. If they had bravely and wisely
faced their responsibilities what would have hap-
pened? Rome would have thrown off its sloth as
Britain did in 1914; its blood cleansed by sacrifice,
the old vitality, the old virility of the race would
have been restored, Rome would have been
grander than ever, its rule would have been more
beneficent, and the world would have been spared
centuries of cruelties and chaos.
German Offers.
Yon can have peace to-day, but it would be on
a basis that history has demonstrated to be fatal
to the lives of any great commonwealth that pur-
chased tranquillity upon it. I am told that if you
are prepared to make peace now, Germany, for
instance, would restore the independence of Bel-
gium. But who says so? There are men in this
country who profess to know a good deal about
154. THE GREAT CRUSADE
the intentions of German statesmen. No German
statesman has ever said they would restore the
independence of Belgium. The German Chan-
cellor came very near it, but the Junkers forth-
with fell upon him, and he was boxed soundly on
the ear by the mailed fist, and he has never re-
peated the offence. He said: "We will restore
Belgium to its people, but it must form part of the
economic system of Germany, of the military and
naval defence of Germany. We must have some
control over its ports." That is the sort of inde-
pendence Edward I. offered to Scotland, and af-
ter a good many years Scotland gave its final an-
swer at Bannockbum. That is not independence
— that is vassalage.
The Meaning of Indemnity.
Then there comes the doctrine of the status
quo — no annexations, no indemnities. No . Ger-
man speeches are explicit on that. But what does
indemnity mean? A man breaks into your house,
turns you out for three years, murders some of
the inmates, and is guilty of every infamy that
barbarism can suggest, occupies your premises for
three years, and turns round and says when the
law is beginning to go against him, *'Take your
house; I am willing to give you the status quo.
I will not even charge you any indemnity." But
even a pacifist, if it were done in his house, would
turn round and say, ' * You have wronged me. You
have occupied these premises for three years.
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 165
You have done me an injury. You must pay com-
pensation. There is not a law in the civilised
world that does not make it an essential part of
justice that you should do so." And lie says in
a lofty way, '*My principle is *No indemnity.' "
It is not a question of being vindictive, it is not
a question of pursuing revenge; indemnity is an
essential part of a mechanism of civilisation in
every land and clime; otherwise, what guarantee
have you against a repetition, against the man
remaining there for three years and, when it has
got rather too hot for him, clearing out and pay-
ing neither rent nor compensation? Wliy, every
man in this land would be at the mercy of any
strong-handed villain.
There is no law, there is no civilisation in that.
You could not keep the commimity together. We
are fighting for the essential principles of civili-
sation, and unless we insist upon it we shall not
have vindicated what is the basis of right in every
land. The same thing applies to Serbia.
But they say, ''That is not what you are after.
You are after our colonies and Mesopotamia, and
perhaps Palestine." If we had entered into this
war purely for Gennan colonies we would not have
raised an army of three or four millions. We
could have got them all without adding a single
battalion to the army we had, and if Germany
had won elsewhere we should have defied the
whole of her victorious legions to take one of them
back. If we engaged in the gigantic enterprise,
it was not for German colonies. Our greatest
156 THE GREAT CRUSADE
army is in France. "What territory are we after
there? We have an army in Salonika. What land
are we coveting there? We are there to recover
for people who have been driven out of their
patrimony the land which belongs to them and to
their fathers.
Mesopotmnia.
But they say, **What is going to happen to those
colonies? What is going to happen to Mesopo-
tamia?" Well, if you like, take Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia is not Turkish, never has been
Turkish ; the Turk is as much an alien in Mesopo-
tamia as the German, and every one knows how
he ruled it. This was the Garden of Eden. What
a land it is now ! You have only to read that ter-
rible report to see what a country the Turk has
made of the Garden of Eden. This land, the
cradle of civilisation, once the granary of civili-
sation, the shrine and the temple of civilisation,
is a wilderness under the rule of the Turk.
What will happen to Mesopotamia must be left
to the Peace Congress when it meets, but there is
one thing that will never happen to it — it will
never be restored to the blasting tyranny of the
Turk. At best he was the trustee of this far-
famed land on behalf of civilisation. Ah ! What
a trustee ! He has been false to his trust and the
trusteeship must be given over to more com-
petent and more equitable hands, chosen by the
Congress which will settle the atfairs of the world.
That same observation applies to Armenia, a land
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 157
soaked with the blood of innocents massacred by
the people who were bound to protect them.
The German Colonies.
As to the German colonics, that is a matter
which must be settled by the great international
Peace Congress. Let me point out that our critics
talk as if we had annexed lands peopled by Ger-
mans, as if we had subjected the Teutonic people
to British rule. When you come to settle who
shall be the future trustees of these uncivilised
lands, you must take into account the sentiments
of the people themselves, what confidence has
been inspired in their untutored minds by the
German rule of which they have had an experi-
ence, whether they are anxious to secure the re-
turn of their former masters, or whether they
would rather trust their destinies to other and
juster and — ^may I confidently say — gentler hands
than those who have had the governing of them
up to the present time. The wishes, the desires,
and the interests of the people of these countries
themselves must be the dominant factor in settling
their future government. That is the principle
upon which we are proceeding.
Chiarantees of Peace.
Is there any trace of any desire on the part of
Germany, any indication of a desire on the part
of Germany, to settle upon these essential terms?
158 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Where are the negotiations? In a speech which
appeared in the Glasgow papers this morning,
delivered, I think yesterday, by the Austrian
Premier, he emphatically repudiated the princi-
ple that nations must have their destinies con-
trolled according to their desires. Where is the
common ground for peace there? Unless both
principles are accepted, not merely will there be
no peace, but if you had a peace there would be
no guarantee of its continuance.
What will have to be guaranteed, first of all, by
the conditions of peace? That they should be
framed upon so equitable a basis that nations
■will not wish to disturb them. They must be
guaranteed by the destruction of the Prussian
military power; by the certainty that the con-
fidence of the German people shall be in the equity
of their cause and not in the might of their arms.
May I say that a better guarantee than either
would have been the democratisation of the Ger-
man Government?
One of the outstanding features of the war has
been the reluctance with which democratic
countries entered it, and the historian will con-
clude, in reviemng the facts of these last few
years, that if all the belligerent nations had been
ruled by Governments directly responsible to their
peoples there would have been no war. And if the
German Government's Constitution becomes as
democratic as either the French, Italian, Ameri-
can, Eussian, or British Governments' Consti-
tutions are, that in itself would constitute the
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 159
best guarantee for peace in Europe and the world
that we can hope to secure.
No one wishes to dictate to the German people
the form of government under which they choose
to live. That is a matter entirely for themselves;
but it is right we should say that we could enter
into negotiations with a free Government in Ger-
many with a different attitude of mind, a different
temper, a different spirit, with less suspicion, with
more confidence, than we could with a Govern-
ment whom we Imow to be dominated by the ag-
gressive and arrogant spirit of Prussian mili-
tarism ; and the Allied Governments would, in my
judgment, be acting wisely if they drew that dis-
tinction in their general attitude to a discussion
of the terms of peace. The fatal error committed
by Prussia in 1870 — the error which undoubtedly
proves her bad faith at that time — was that when
she entered the war she was fighting against a
restless military Empire dominated largely by
military ideals with military traditions behind
them. When that Empire fell it would have been
wisdom on the part of Germany to recognise the
change immediately. Democratic France was a
more sure guarantee for the peace of Germany
than the fortress of Metz or the walled ramparts
of Strassburg. If Prussia had taken that view
European history would have taken a different
course. It would have acted on the generous
spirit of the great people who dwell in France ; it
would have reacted on the spirit and policy of
Germany herself. Europe would have reaped a
160 THE GREAT CRUSADE
harvest of peace and good will amongst men in-
stead of garnering, as she does now, a whirlwind
of hate, rage, and human savagery. I trust that
the Allied Governments will take that as an ele-
ment in their whole discussion of the terms and
prospects of peace.
Fighting for Future Generaiions.
I have one thing to say in conclusion. In pur-
suing this conflict we must think not merely of the
present but of the future of the world. We are
settling questions which will affect the lives of
people, not merely in this generation but for count-
less generations to come. In France last year I
went along the French front and I met one of the
finest generals in the French Army, General
Gouraud, and he said : ''One of my soldiers a few
days ago did one of the most gallant and daring
things any soldier ever did. He was reckless, but
he managed to come back alive, and someone said
to him, 'Why did you do that? You have four
children and you might have left it to one of the
young fellows in the army. What would have
happened to your children*?' And his answer was,
*lt was for them I did it.' "
''Hallowed Causes.''
This war involves issues upon which will de-
pend the lives of our children and our children's
children. Sometimes in the course of human
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 161
events great challenges are hurled from the un-
known amongst the sons and daughters of men.
Upon the answer which is given to these chal-
lenges, and upon the heroism with which the
answer is sustained, depends the question
whether the world would be better or whether
the world be worse for ages to come. These chal-
lenges end in terrible conflicts which bring
wretchedness, misery, bloodshed, martyrdom in
all its myriad forms to the world, and if you look
at the pages of history these conflicts stand out
like great mountain ranges such as you have in
Scotland — scenes of destruction, of vast conflicts,
scarred by the volcanoes w^hich threw them up,
but drawing blessings from the heavens, they ferti-
lise the valleys and the plains perennially far
beyond the horizon of the highest peaks.
You had such a conflict in Scotland in the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries, a great fight for
the right of men to worship God according to their
consciences. The Scottish Covenanters might
have given this answer to the challenge: they
might have said, *'Let there be peace in our time,
Lord." They might have said, *'Why should
we suffer for privileges that even our fathers
never enjoyed? If w^e win we may never live to
enjoy the fruits of it, but we have got to face priva-
tions, unspeakable torture, the destruction of our
homes, the scattering of our families, and name-
less death. Let there be peace." Scotland would
have been a thing of no account among the nations.
Its hills would have bowed their heads in shame
162 THE GREAT CRUSADE
for the people they sheltered. But the answer of
the old Scottish Covenanter, the old, dying Cove-
nanter Cargill, rings down the ages even to us at
this fateful hour. "Satisfy your conscience and
go forward." That was the answer. That conflict
was fought in the valleys of Scotland and the rich
plains and market-places of England, where
candles were lighted which will never be put out;
and on the plains, too, of Bohemia, and on the
fields and in the walled cities of Germany, there
Europe suffered unendurable agonies and mis-
eries; but at the end of it humanity took a great
leap forward towards the dawn.
Then came the conflict of the eighteenth century,
the great fight for the right of men, as men, and
Europe again was drenched with blood, but at the
end of it the peasantry were free and democracy
became a reality.
Now we are faced with the greatest and the
grimmest struggle of all. Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity, not amongst men, but amongst na-
tions — great and small, powerful and weak, ex-
alted and humble, Germany and Belgium, Aus-
tria and Serbia — equality, fraternity, amongst
peoples as well as amongst men — that is the chal-
lenge which has been thrown to us. Europe is
again drenched with the blood of its bravest and
best. But, do not forget, these are the great suc-
cessions of hallowed causes; they are the Sta-
tions of the Cross on the road to the emancipa-
tion of mankind. Let us endure as our fathers
did. Every birth is an agony, and the new world
CAUSES AND AIMS OF THE WAR 163
is born out of the agony of the old world. My ap-
peal to the people of this country, and, if my ap-
peal can reach beyond it, is this, that we should
continue to fight for the great goal of interna-
tional right and international justice, so that
never again shall brute force sit on the throne of
justice, nor barbaric strength wield the sceptre of
right.
"VICTORY WILL COME."
EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT DUNDEE, ON BEING
PRESENTED WITH THE FREEDOM OP THAT CITY, JUNE 30tH,
1917.
I KNOW the struggle is a prolonged one; I al-
ways knew it would be. I have always urged
plans on the assumption that it was going to be
a long one. The evil was a great one and you don't
root great evils out of the earth without great
struggles. All the same, with a continuous, per-
sistent, unflinching, unfaltering will we shall win.
There are occasional discouragements, there are
occasional disappointments. So there are in every
great struggle; the end seems to be postponed. I
remember in the early days of April attending a
conference on the Italian frontier. I passed
through lands that ought to have been green with
springtime. They were bleak and grey ; there was
not a bud to be seen ; the land was still locked in
the cells of winter. All was cold and forbidding,
and I entered the warm valleys of Savoy and they
were blind with a driving blizzard, and I said,
' ' Will the winter ever cease ? Will the spring ever
come ! Shall we ever see the summer sun and the
harvest again?" And for the moment I had a
thrill of horror that some visitation had come
164
"VICTORY WILL COME" 165
upon the earth. I came back in a fortnight and
the sun was shining, the trees were in bud. The
earth of France had burst the shackles of winter ;
the almond was in bloom ; the glorious splendour
of spring was upon the earth, and I knew France
was free. And I tell you now, although the win-
ter tarries the springtime of victory will come.
BELGIUM.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE QUEEN 'S
HALL TO COMMEMORATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF BELGIAN
INDEPENDENCE, JULY 21ST, 1917,
"We are here to-day on the anniversary of the in-
dependence of the people who have rendered such
unforgettable services to the independence of
Europe. The world will never forget the services
rendered by Belgium to international right, for
the great battles of Europe during recent centuries
have been fought on her soil. Belgium is the gate-
way between the Central Powers and the West,
and modern statesmen had devised the plan — if
I may use the phrase — of putting Belgium out of
bounds and thus preserving the liberties of Europe
by making it impossible either for an aggressive
France to destroy Germany or an aggressive Ger-
many to destroy France. The Treaty of the Neu-
trality of Belgium was one of the pediments of
the public law of Europe. Belgium was the gate-
keeper of European liberty — the highest, the most
onerous, the most dangerous trust ever imposed
on a people. Faithfully, loyally, have the Belgian
people discharged their trust to Europe. If I
may quote from an historic document — a document
which is part of the history of the world, the reply
166
BELGIUM 167
of the Belgian Government to the German Ulti-
matum — there is nothing that more clearly states,
not merely the duty of Belgium to Europe, but the
way in which you Belgians have discharged that
duty :—
''The Belgian Government, if they were to ac-
cept the proposals submitted to them, would sacri-
fice the honour of the nation and betray their
duty towards Europe." A great answer, greatly
kept.
What were the German proposals 1 They were
the proposals of the assassin who approached a
man and said, "Open unto me your gates, so that
I may take your peaceful neighbour at a disad-
vantage." "What manner of mind must men pos-
sess when they suggest such an infamy to any-
body? Belgium, as an honourable people, re-
jected it with disdain, and great will be their
status for everaiore in the story of the world.
The Agony of Belgium.
But Belgium has suffered for performing her
high duty and keeping her high trust. She has
suffered the unbridled savagery of the conqueror,
the men who are committing outrages in France
and in Belgium that Attila had not the fine cruelty
to devise; the pirates of the high seas who are
sinking unarmed merchant vessels and passenger
ships and drowning women and children. That
fury has been concentrated for three years upon
Belgium. Three years of oppression, of humilia-
168 THE GREAT CRUSADE
tion, of servitude, of anxiety, of agony. But at
the end Belgium will be greater than she ever
was. Her sacrifice will be her discipline ; her for-
titude will be her redemption. In the words of
your heroic King, ''A country defending itself is
respected by all. That country will not perish."
Three years — even of agony — are not long in
the life of a nation, and the deliverance of Belgium
is assuredly coming, and when it comes that de-
liverance must be complete. France owes it,
Britain owes it, Europe owes it, the civilisation of
the world owes it to Belgium that her deliverance
shall be complete.
The German Chancellor's Speech.
What have we in the way? There is a new
Chancellor. The Junker has thrown the old
Chancellor into the waste-paper basket with his
scrap of paper and they are lying there side by
side. You will not have to wait long before
Junkerdom will follow. What hope is there in
his speech of peace — I mean an honourable peace,
which is the only possible peace? It is a dexter-
ous speech, a facing-all-ways speech. There are
phrases for those who earnestly desire peace —
many. But there are phrases which the military
powers of Germany will understand — phrases
about making the frontiers of Germany secure.
That is the phrase which annexed Alsace-Lor-
raine; that is the phrase which has drenched
Europe with blood from 1914; that is the phrase
BELGIUM 169
which, if they dare, will annex Belgium ; and that
is the phrase which will once more precipitate
Europe into a welter of blood within a generation
unless that phrase is wiped out of the statesman-
ship of Europe.
There are phrases for men of democratic mind
in that speech — many. He was calling men from
the Reichstag to co-operate with the Government;
they were even to get office, men of all parties and
men of democratic sentiment. But there were
phrases to satisfy the Junkers — to other men
nothing. There was to be no parting mth Im-
perialistic rights. All! They will call men from
the Reichstag to office, but they will be not Min-
isters, but clerks. It is the speech of a man wait-
ing on the militarj^ situation, and let the Allies —
Russia, Britain, France, Italy, all of them — bear
that in mind. It is a speech that can be made bet-
ter by improving the military situation. If the
Germans win in the West, if they destroy the Rus-
sian army in the East, if their friends the Turks
drive Britain out of Mesopotamia, if the U-boats
sink more merchant ships, then that speech, be-
lieve me, means annexation all round and military
autocracy more firmly established than ever. But,
on the other hand, should the German army be
driven back in the West, be beaten in the East,
and should their friends the Turks fail in Bagh-
dad, and the submarines be a failure on the high
seas, that speech is all right. We must all help
to make that a good speech. There are possibil-
ities in it of excellence. Let us help Dr. Michaelis ;
170 THE GREAT CRUSADE
let us give our assistance to the new Chancellor to
make his first speech a real success. But for the
moment it means that the military party have
won.
i want to repeat in another form a statement
which I made before. What manner of Govern-
ment they choose to rule over them is entirely the
business of the German people themselves; but
what manner of Government we can trust to make
peace with is our business. Democracy is in itself
a guarantee of peace, and if you cannot get it in
Germany, then we must secure other guarantees
as a substitute. The German Chancellor's speech
shows, in my judgment, that those who are in
charge of affairs in Germany have for the mo-
ment elected for war.
Belgium Must Be Restored.
There is no hope for Belgium in that speech.
It is not even mentioned. The phraseology is full
of menace to Belgium. All that about making
their frontiers secure — which took Metz and
Strassburg away, and will take Liege and the con-
trol over Antwerp again — that is not a phrase of
good omen for Belgium. All that about the neces-
sity of seeing that the economic interests of Ger-
many are secure means that, even if they restore
Belgium, their restoration will be a sham. The
determination of the Allies is this, that Belgium
must be restored as a free and an independent
people. Belgium must be a people and not a Pro-
BELGIUM 171
tectorate. We must not have a Belgian scabbard
for the Prussian sword. The sceptre must be
Belgian, the sword must be Belgian, the scab-
bard must be Belgian, the soul must be Belgian.
I read that speech, as it was my duty to read
it, once, twice, thrice, to seek anything in it which
would give hope for an end of this bloodshed,
and I see a sham independence for Belgium, a
sham democracy for Germany, a sham peace for
Europe ; and I say Europe has not sacrificed mil-
lions of her gallant sons to set up on soil con-
secrated by their blood a mere sanctuary for
shams.
Democracy versus Auiocracy.
The issues are becoming clearer day by day.
Belgium, with a sure instinct, understood them
the first hour of the contest. You made no mis-
take as to what this great conflict meant for you,
for France, for Britain, for Europe, for the world,
for humanity, for all generations. It is to your
glory that you have jumped to the right conclu-
sion. A great German newspaper said the other
day that the Germans were fighting for the free-
dom and independence of the Fatherland. It was
never true. It is less true to-day than it ever was.
The freer Germany is, the more independent Ger-
many is, the better we like it. Those who are the
enemies of the freedom and independence of Ger-
172 THE GREAT CRUSADE
many are her own rulers and not the Allied
Powers.
We prefer a free Germany. We can make peace
with a free Germany. It is with a Germany dom-
inated by autocracy that we cannot make any
terms of peace. When they were fighting perhaps
a corrupt and narrow autocracy in the East they
had some specious pretext for appeals of that
kind to their own people. They have none now.
For what has happened? Russia has not merely
become a great democracy which is not fighting
to extend its own territories ; it has actually de-
clared that it is prepared to concede independence
to a nation which was once under the Russian flag.
Since then the last shadow of a pretext on the
part of Germany that she is fighting for freedom
and independence has completely vanished, even
if she ever had one.
It has now become a struggle between two
definite groups : one a democratic group — a group
of democratic, free nations; another a group of
nations governed by militaiy autocracy — Ger-
many, Austria, Turkey, and King Ferdinand of
Bulgaria — fit associates. That is the grouping.
In the great coming struggles in the East and in
the West, every German soldier must know in his
heart that if he falls he will be dying for mili-
tary autocracy in fighting against the federation
of free peoples. On the other hand, every Bel-
gian soldier, every French soldier, every Russian
BELGIUM 173
soldier knows that he is risking his life for the
freedom and independence of his native land.
Every British, every iVmeriean, every Portuguese
soldier knows that he will be fighting side by side
with the others for international right and justice
throughout the world ; and it is that growing con-
viction more even than the knowledge of vast un-
exhausted resources which gives them all heart —
it gives us heart — to go on fighting to the end,
knowing full well that the future of mankind is
our trust to maintain and to defend.
SERBIA.
SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE SERBIAN LUNCH ( SAVOY HOTEL),
AUGUST 8th, 1917.
I FELT that I could not let this opportunity pass
without coming here to say that my heart is with
Serbia, and to pay a personal tribute of deep re-
spect to the venerable and distinguished Serbian
Prime Minister. I have heard of and esteemed
him for years as one of the wisest, most sage, and
most patriotic figures in the East. Serbia owes a
good deal to him. I think Europe owes a good deal
to him. It was through his action — and he is far
too wise a man not to have known that his action
involved suffering for himself and his country —
that the great challenge was accepted by civilisa-
tion to the barbarism of Prussia. It is not for
naught that two of the greatest statesmen in
Europe at the present moment have been pro-
duced by two comparatively small nations in the
East — M. Pasiteh and M. Venizelos — to whose far-
seeing patriotism we owe so much at the present
moment. In fact, we owe far more than it is pos-
sible for us to reveal as to the prospects of the
future. M. Venizelos 's steadfastness, his cour-
age, his insight, have kept the soul of Greece alive
under most trying conditions. But we are here
174
SERBIA 175
specially to do honour to the leader of the small
nation which has passed through such trying con-
ditions during the last three years.
*'Singing of Defeat.'*
I am a believer in little nations. I have the
honour to belong to one myself. There is one thing
about the Serbian nation that always touches me
as a "Welshman. I believe in a nation that can
sing about its defeats. The great event in the
story of Serbia is not a triumph, not a victory,
but r. great defeat that submerged it in bar-
barism. Yet Serbia sang of that right through
the centuries until the day of restoration came.
If I may say so, that is almost what has hap-
pened in the case of my little people — our greatest
song is the song that drove us into the mountains,
but we always sang it with hope, and we are still
alive. So the people of Serbia sang in the moun-
tains of the battle of Kossovo, with the refrain
of sadness, and a certain lilt of hope at the end
of it, until the day of triumph came.
Serhia to he Restored.
A nation that can sing about its defeat is a na-
tion which is immortal, and that is w^hy Serbia is
immortal. At present she is submerged in a del-
uge of barbarism, but she is not destroyed. Like
a fresco, a beautiful picture covered with the foul-
ness of centuries, something comes to cleanse it,
176 THE GREAT CRUSADE
and it is as fresh and bright as when it came from
the hand of the master. That is Serbia — a great
picture painted in the mountains of the East by
the hand of the Great Master, limned and coloured
with all the foulness of Turkish barbarism. Does
anyone imagine that a race which survives the
centuries without degradation is going to die by
two or three years of defeat? That is why I be-
lieve in Serbia. She has the necessary grit, en-
durance, hope, and faith that will make her live.
I fear not what is going to happen to Serbia.
What I ventured to say about Belgium, speaking
on behalf of the British Government, I say here
again, speaking on behalf of the same Govern-
ment and of the people of Serbia — the first con-
dition of peace is restoration, complete and with-
out reservation. I came here to make no speech.
I came to say that however long this war may
last — and it is in the hands of God — British hon-
our is involved in seeing that Serbian independ-
ence is fully restored.
It is not merely a matter of honour ; it is a mat-
ter of the security of civilisation. Just as Belgium
is the warder of the gateway of the West, so
Serbia is the guardian of the gateway of the East,
and faithfully has she stood to her trust. She has
done it to her detriment. She has suffered. She
has had two, three glorious campaigns. With her
own right hand she defeated the legions of Aus-
tria, and had it not been for the overwhelming
masses of the whole of the Central Powers that
attacked her she would still have kept the gate.
SERBIA 177
But her gallant troops in the hour of defeat have
never been broken-hearted. On the contrary, the
remnants of her army have rallied together. Men
came from the East and the West with Serbian
blood in their veins, and their hearts throbbing
with the traditions of their people. They are still
at that door watching, and one day they will break
through and recapture their independence. Once
more we here extend the hand of fellowship to
Serbia, and say, *'Come weal, come woe, we are
not merely Allies, but friends and partners, and
we will go through the world together. ' '
THE PAN-GERMAN DREAM.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT QUEEN 'S HALL ON
THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF WAR,
AUGUST 4th, 1917.
"Why We Are at War.
This is tlie third anniversary of the greatest
war the world has ever witnessed. What are we
fighting for? To defeat the most dangerous con-
spiracy ever plotted against the liberty of nations,
carefully, skilfully, insidiously, clandestinely
planned in every detail with ruthless, cynical de-
termination. Those who have read the revelations
which have recently appeared of that meeting in
Berlin a few weeks before the war must have
read with a shudder the account of that meeting
of the confederates before the firing of the train
— one of the most sinister episodes in the whole
history of brigandage.
Should there be any man in this country who
wants to know why we are at war, let him put
this question to himself. What would have hap-
pened to Europe — what would have happened to
the world — if we had not gone into this war? See,
looking back over the last three years, what has
befallen Europe as our justification for entering
the war. With the whole of our might thrown
into the task — all our great Army and Navy —
178
THE PAN-GERMAN DREAIM 179
Belgium, Serbia, Eumania, Montenegro, some of
the fairest provinces of France anc^ Russia over-
ran, devastated, humiliated, and Bulgaria and
Turkey miserable vassal States — that is what has
happened with the w^hole w^eight of the British
Empire thro^vn in on the other side. Can you pic-
ture what would have happened if our vast Navy
had not been keeping the seas ; if we had not been
there to keep the ring and secure a certain measure
of forbearance and fair play ; if we had not raised
a huge new army to confront the Prussian legions?
Russia would have been swallowed up. She is
demoralised for the moment, and disintegration
has rendered her brave army impotent for the
present, but it would have happened sooner.
France would have fought with all the traditional
valour of her race, a valour which in history and
in the despatches of to-day has thrilled the world
with wonder; but with succour and supplies by sea
cut off and left isolated on land, even her gallant
armies might have been overwhelmed. What kind
of peace would you have had in Europe then? It
would not have been a peace ; it would have been a
conquest, a subjugation of Europe ; Europe would
have been at the mercy of one great dominating
Power; yes, and at the mercy of the worst ele-
ments of that Power.
The Pan-German Dream.
Will those people who still have doubt as to
whether we ought to have intervened three years
180 THE GREAT CRUSADE
ago reflect upon what kind of Europe there would
be to-day if we had not gone into the war? There
would have been many nations ; there would have
been one Great Power ; there would have been two
navies, Great Britain's and Germany's for a time
— for a time! Think of the terms of peace. In-
demnity might have taken the form of a demand
for surrender of navies, and Russia, France,
Greece, perhaps Italy — Europe — ^would have been
at the mercy of that great cruel Power. You
may say this is a nightmare. It is not; it is the
description of the Pan-German dream.
What would have happened in America? The
Monroe Doctrine would have been treated like any
other ''scrap of paper." It was a doctrine to
which Germany never subscribed, though if she
had appended her signature to it, it would have
made no difference ; but we know her ambitions in
South America. Not a year after the signing of
peace would have elapsed before she would have
started to realise those ambitions, and America
would have been helpless. The Allied Powers felt
instinctively, from the first moment, that a great
peril to human liberty had appeared on the hori-
zon, and without delay, without hesitation, they
accepted the challenge. America realised the
peril later, and therefore is with us to-day. This
peril we have for three years been trying to avert,
and not without success.
Do not lo blinded, do not be discouraged, by
any unfortunate episodes; realise the gre?t cen-
tral fact that we have checked the ambition of
THE PAN-GERMAN DREAM 181
Germany. The nations of the world have been
painfully climbing the steep that leads to national
independence and self-respect. Great Britain and
France reached the plateau long ago. Other na-
tions came later. It was towards the end of the
nineteenth century that Italy achieved the posi-
tion of an independent State. And then comes a
Great Power with brute force to thrust the na-
tions back, crushed and bleeding, into the old
dark chasm of servitude. This is why we have
been fighting for the last three years.
''The Kaiser's Stutter."
There are people who say : * ' But the peril is now
past. Why, therefore, do you not make peace?
The Kaiser now talks a different language. You
never hear now those resounding phrases about
the world-power of Germany. He talks modestly
about defending German soil." Who ever wanted
to invade German soil? Did Britain with her
"contemptible little Army" want to invade Ger-
many? Was Russia, who had not a railway sys-
tem which was adequate to keeping an army to
defend her own frontier, preparing for invasion?
Was France, who was obviously unprepared to
protect even her own frontiers, preparing for in-
vasion? Or was it Belgium that was going to in-
vade Germany? Was the Serbian army going
to March to Berlin? No; the Kaiser must know
that it is not true. That is not why he went to
war. That is not why he is at war now. Even now
182 THE GREAT CRUSADE
neither he nor his new Chancellor say they will
be satisfied with German soil. They both talk
glibly of peace, but they stammer, they stutter,
when they come to the word restoration. It has
not yet crossed their lips in its entirety. We have
challenged them. They cannot say it. Before we
enter a peace conference they must learn to utter
that word to begin with. The gallant soldiers, of
whom I am delighted to see specimens in this meet-
ing, are gradually going to cure the Kaiser of this
stutter. So far he has not yet learned the alpha-
bet of peace. The first letter in that alphabet is
restoration. Then we will talk.
"No 'Next Time.' "
That is not all. War is a ghastly thing, but not
as grim as a bad peace. There is an end to the
most horrible war, but a bad peace goes on and on
staggering from one war to another. What do
they mean? Do they mean peace when they talk?
The truth is — I have followed closely every line
they have uttered, and I have watched their pa-
pers — ^the Prussian war lords have not yet
abandoned their ambitions. They are not dis-
cussing that. They are only discussing the post-
ponement of the realisation of these ambitions.
There is a feeling among them — a genuine feeling,
believe me — that this time the plot has miscarried.
They are perfectly honest about that, and they
blame this country with its Fleet and its factories,
and they say, "Had it not been for Britain all
THE PAN-GERMAN DREAM 183
would have been well." Next time they mean t'^
make sure. There must be no "make sure." i\.
man in a very high and powerful position in Ger-
many has said there will be peace shortly, but war
will be resumed in ten years. That is their idea.
This is the way they talk. They say, * ' Well, there
are many things we ought to have foreseen. We
ought to have had plenty of food stored in Ger-
many. Next time we will see to that. We ought to
have had plenty of cotton. Then, we have made
a mistake about submarines. Instead of having
two or three hundred, we ought to have had at
least two or three thousand. ' ' Next time ! There
must be no "next time"! Far better, in spite of
all the cost, all the sorrow, and all the tragedy of
it — let us have done with it ! Do not let us repeat
this horror ! Let us be the generation that man-
fully, courageously, resolutely eliminated war
from among the tragedies of human life. Let us,
at any rate, make victory so complete that na-
tional liberty, whether for great nations or for
small nations, can never be challenged. That is
the ordinary law. The small man, the poor man,
has the same protection as the powerful man. So
the little nation must be as well guarded and pro-
tected as the big nation.
You ask, ' ' How are we getting on ? " Well, like
all roads that have ever been constructed, there
are ups and downs, and no doubt the Russian col-
lapse is rather a deep glen through which we are
passing, and I am not sure that we have reached
its darkest level. But across the valley I can see
184. THE GREAT CRUSADE
the ascent. I will give you my reason. Russia
herself has been taught by this collapse the much-
needed lesson that an army without discipline is
a mere rabble where the brave are sacrificed to
protect cowards. The French Revolution quickly
taught that lesson, otherwise the Prussians and
the Austrians would have quenched French liberty
in the blood of its sons.
*^Both Eyes on Victory."
"While the Army is fighting so valiantly let the
nation behind it be patient, be strong, and, above
all, united. The strain is great on nations and on
individuals, and when men get over-strained
tempers get ragged, and small grievances are ex-
aggerated, and small misunderstandings and mis-
takes swell into mountains. Long wars, like long
voyages and long journeys, are very trying to
the temper, and wise men keep watch on it and
make allowances for it. There are some who
are more concerned about ending the war than
about winning it, and plans which lead to victory,
if they prolong the conflict, have their disapproval,
and the people who are responsible for such plans
have their condemnation. Let us keep our eye
steadily on the winning of the war. May I say
let us keep both eyes ? Some have a cast in their
eye, and while one eye is fixed truly on victory,
the other is wandering around to other issues or
staring stonily at some pet or partisan project of
THE PAN-GERMAN DREAM 185
their own. Beware of becoming cross-eyed ! Keep
both eyes on victory. Look neither to the right
nor to the left. That is the way we shall win. If
anyone promotes national distrust or disunion at
this hour he is helping the enemy and hurting his
native land. And it makes no difference whether
he is for or against the war. As a matter of fact,
the hurt is deeper if he is for the war, because
whatever the pure pacifist says is discounted and,
as far as the war is concerned, discredited.
Let there be one thought in every head. If you
sow distrust, discontent, disunion, in the nation
we shall reap defeat. If, on the other hand, we
sow the seeds of patience, confidence, and unity,
we shall gamer in victory and its fruits. The last
ridges of a climb are always the most trying to
the nerves and to the heart, but the real test of
great endurance and courage is the last few hun-
dreds or scores of feet in a climb upwards. The
climber who turns back when he is almost there
never becomes a great mountaineer, and the na-
tion that turns back and falters before it reaches
its purpose never becomes a great people. You
have all had experience in climbing, no doubt —
perhaps in Wales. Any mountaineer can start;
any sort of mountaineer can go part of the way;
and very often the poorer the mountaineer, the
greater is his ardour when he does start; but
fatigue and danger wear out all but the stoutest
hearts, and even the most stout-hearted some-
times fail when they come to the last slippery
precipice. But if they do turn back and after-
186 THE GREAT CRUSADE
wards look up and see how near they had got to
the top, how they curse the faint-heartedness
which bade them give up when they were so near
the goal!
No one has any idea, no one in Britain, France,
Italy, or Russia, nor in Germany, nor in Austria,
how near the top we may be. A mere crag may
hide it from our view. And there are accidents.
Russia may have staggered for a moment, but she
is still on the rope ; in due time she will be up again
climbing, strong-limbed and firm of purpose, and
together we shall reach the summit of our hopes.
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE TOWN HALL
OF BIRKENHEAD ON BEING PRESENTED WITH THE FREEDOM
OP THAT CITY, SEPTEMBER 7TH, 1917.
There is no use disguising the fact that the news
from Russia is disappointing. I have always
believed in telling the truth and the whole truth
to my countrymen, because I know full well that
that is the way to get the best out of them. I
have always thought that the Revolution, when it
came, would have the effect of postponing victory.
Revolutions may be good things or they may be
bad things according to circumstances, but they do
upset a country when they come. There is con-
siderable disorganisation ; it inevitably follows. I
did expect an earlier recovery, but what I want
to say is that we must exercise patience. The
Russian leaders, who are able and very patriotic
men, very loyal to the cause of the Alliance, know
quite well what is at stake. If Russia were de-
feated and humiliated under the leadership of a
Revolutionary Government large territories in
Russia would be overrun, and many of them would
be torn for ever from the side of Russia. The
Germans are already referring to Riga — which
they only captured a few hours ago — as the Ger-
man town of Riga. The Russian leaders, I am
187
188 THE GREAT CRUSADE
convinced, know that all this Revolution is at
stake, and that the credit of democratic govern-
ment in Russia and elsewhere is at stake. No
people will readily forgive a system of government
which cannot defend their native land against an
invader. It is no mean part of the glory of the
French Revolution that its sons, ill-clad, half
starved, ragged, and tattered, still hurled back the
armies of the invader, and kept France free.
Those victories constitute the title-deeds of the
French Revolution. Had the French Revolution-
ary leaders permitted anarchy to paralyse na-
tional defence their names would be held to-day
in contempt in France, and the cause represented
by the Revolution would have suffered, for
Frenchmen are, above all, patriotic.
Liberty Must Be Defended.
But we must bear in mind that the Russians are
repairing the machine which has broken down.
They are repairing that machine under fire. They
are attempting to repair the mismanagement of
centuries under the most trying circumstances,
and we must be patient. I feel confident that in
the end they will succeed. They know too well
that if the Kaiser's army gets to Petrograd it will
not go there to establish a reign of liberty. The
French revolutionary leaders knew this when, at
the end of the eighteenth century, the Emperor
of Austria and the King of Prussia — the same au-
tocratic partnership — invaded France. And they
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 189
also knew that it was not enough to proclaim
liberty in France. They had to defend it. It was
not enough to declare liberty in the streets of
Paris, they had to defend it on the Sambre and on
the Meuse. It is all very well to worship at the
shrine of liberty, but you cannot defend it with
garlands. The Prussian sword would soon make
short work of them. I am not concerned merely
as to the effect upon victory, but because I know
that a Kussian failure would do infinite harm to
the cause of democracy all the world over. The
judgment would be an unjust one, because it would
not take into full account all that had preceded.
If the Russian democracy has not received that
training which would enable it in a few months
of war to run a great Empire with efficiency
and steadiness, and which it has taken other
countries generations and centuries to acquire,
we must not blame the people but the system that
deprived them of the education, the training, the
opportunity, the experience, and the responsibility
essential to enable any race to govern itself. We
must make allowance for a nation, freed as it were
by a lightning stroke from the oppression of cen-
turies. It takes as long for an oppressed people
to get accustomed to freedom as it does for a free
people to get accustomed to oppression.
Russia Loyal to the Allies.
One thing gives me great encouragement : Ger-
man attempts to sow dissension between the Al-
190 THE GREAT CRUSADE
lies, between the Allies in the West and the Al-
lies in the East, have failed. Why did Germany
not invade Russia months ago 1 She did, not with
armies but with agents. Battalions of them cover
the land. What fori To sow distrust, suspicion,
hatred of the Allies of Russia, and if Germany is
to-day invading with her guns it is because she
knows that her other methods have failed. At the
great Conference at Moscow there was no dis-
tinction of parties in the heartiness with which
men of all sections declared their adhesion to the
cause of the Allies and the loyalty of Russia to its
treaty obligations. The old German attempt to
produce the impression in Russia that the war was
due to the machinations of England has not gone
home. They know too well that it is a calumny.
It is a falsehood on the face of it. The war be-
gan in the East and not in the West. Russia was
brought in because she undertook to champion the
cause of Serbia; France was brought in because
Lhe had undertaken, by solemn treaty obligation,
to stand by Russia if attacked; Belgium was
brought in because she was on the direct road to
France; Britain was brought in because she had
given her word to defend Belgium. Russia was
first in the fray and not last, and the leaders of
Russian democracy know that, and that is why
they have not been moved from their loyalty to
the cause of the Allies in spite of all Prussian sub-
terfuges, devices, and tricks.
Had Russia been a democracy in 1914 she would
not have allowed a small country of men and
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 191
women of her own kith and kin to have been un-
scrnpulously trampled upon by a confederacy of
military autocracies. Surely, they are not less
likely than autocracies to defend the weak, and
anyone who contends that a Russian democracy in
1914 would not have defended Serbia is libelling
the people of Russia.
However, the fact remains that the machinery
has broken down for the moment in Russia. M.
Kerensky and his colleagues have had cast upon
them the terrible task of straightening the mis-
management of centuries, and they are doing so
under the fire of the Prussian guns. It is a dif-
ficult task — a task that would try the mettle of
any man. I believe the Russian Ministers are
equal to it. So I bid you so far from despairing
of Russia to look forward with hope to her re-
covery and to the great part she will take before
this war is over in emancipating the world from
the menace of Prussian militarism. Anything
this country can do to assist — and when I speak
of this country I am certain I can speak with equal
confidence of other countries in the Alliance —
whatever any and each of us can do to assist Rus-
sia to restore her strength we shall only be too de-
lighted to do.
Keep On!
For all these reasons I bid you be of stout heart.
The stout heart of Britain has won through
192 THE GREAT CRUSADE
greater difficulties than those which beset us at
this hour. I have been in the habit once or twice
of telling my Welsh fellow countrymen when there
was anything that made them feel in the least de-
pressed to look upon the phenomena of their hills.
On a clear day they look as if they were near.
You could reach them in an easy march — ^you could
climb the highest of them in an hour. That is
wrong; you could not. Then comes a cloudy day,
and the mists fall upon them, and you say:
''There are no hills. They have vanished."
Again, you are wrong. The optimist is wrong;
the hills are not as near as he thought. The pessi-
mist is still more wrong, because they are there.
All you have to do is keep on, keep on. Falter
not. We have many dangerous marshes to cross ;
we will cross them. We have steep and stony
paths to climb; we will climb them. Our foot-
prints may be stained with blood, but we will reach
the heights; and beyond them we shall see the
rich valleys and plains of the new world which
we have sacrificed so much to attain.
THE DESTRUCTION OP A FALSE IDEAL.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE ALBERT HALL
ON THE LAUNCHING OF THE NEW WAR ECONOMY CAMPAIGN,
OCTOBER 22nd, 1917.
I AM not going to predict when the end of the
war will come. No man in his senses would pro-
long it one hour if there were an opportunity for
a real and a lasting peace. But it must be a last-
ing peace. It must not be a peace which is a prel-
ude to a new and a more devastating war. As
you may imagine, I have scanned the horizon
anxiously and I cannot see any terms in sight
which would lead to an enduring peace. I feel
that the only terms which would be possible now
would be terms which would end in an armed truce.
I will say an arming truce, ending in an even more
frightful struggle. This war is terrible beyond all
wars, but, terrible as it is in itself, it is still more
terrible in the possibilities which it has revealed
of new horrors on land and sea and in the air.
I ask those who are pressing, should there be
any, for a premature peace, to reflect for a mo-
ment what might happen if we made an unsatis-
factory settlement. All the best scientific brains
in all lands, stimulated by national rivalries, na-
tional hatreds, national hopes, would be devot-
ing their energies for ten, twenty, thirty years to
193
194 THE GREAT CRUSADE
magnifying the destructive power of those hor-
rible agents whose power has only just been dis-
closed to the belligerents within the last few
months. We must settle this once and for all.
The power of the air in its initial stages, the in-
fernal weapons of the deep basely developed, all
those chemical elements which have been utilised
for the first time — if this is going to be repeated
after thirty years of scientific work and applica-
tion, believe me there are men and women in this
hall now who may live to see the death of civilisa-
tion. It must be the end of conflicts of this kind
now. And that is why it is essential for the
future well-being of the human race that such a
decision should be reached now in this struggle,
that brute force shall be dethroned for ever, so
that our children may not be condemned to hor-
rors and terrors which even the most vivid imag-
ination dare not portray.
The Potsdann Shrine.
That is why we are putting all our strength into
getting the right issue in this conflict now. But I
ask the question : Is such a settlement within im-
mediate reach f I have already told you that in
my judgment, frankly, it is not. Germany, in
my judgment, would only make peace now on
terms which would enable her to benefit by the
war into which she has wantonly plunged the
world. That would mean that Germany would
profit by her own wicked venture. It would be
THE DESTRUCTION OF A FALSE IDEAL 195
an encouragement for every domineering empire
in tlie future to repeat tlie experiment.
The failure of Napoleon taught France a les-
son she never forgot, and a similar lesson — it took
twenty years then and more ; it will not take that
now — but a similar lesson must be burnt into the
heart and memory of every Prussian before this
war is done with. Amidst all discussions about
terms and concessions here and there we must keep
our eyes steadfastly on the great purposes of the
war. It is not a question of territorial read-
justment, except in so far as that is necessary for
the recognition of national right. It is not a ques-
tion of indemnities, except in so far as that is es-
sential in order to compensate for wrong inflicted.
It is pre-eminently a question of the destruction
of a false ideal, which has intimidated and en-
slaved Europe, or would have done so had it been
triumphant. The real enemy is the war spirit
fostered in Prussia. It is an ideal of a world in
which force and brutality reign supreme, as
against a world, an ideal of a world, peopled by
free democracies, united in an honourable league
of peace. That ideal, that war spirit, has its
shrine in Potsdam, w^here for fifty years they
have been incessantly plotting, planning, schem-
ing how to invade this country and to trample
down another. Russia, Belgium, Serbia, France,
Great Britain — all their energies, all their
thoughts, every ingenuity has been exhausted in
devising machinery; all their energies absorbed in
manufacturing machinery. German industry,
196 THE GREAT CRUSADE
German education, German science, German poli-
tics, German diplomacy, German flesh and blood,
for generations have been devoted to the de-
struction or the enslavement of their neighbours.
That has been their dream, and it has been our
nightmare.
Tvme on Our Side.
That is the war spirit enshrined in Potsdam.
There will be no peace in the world, no liberty,
until that shrine is shattered and its priesthood
dispersed and discredited for ever. This year I
had hoped that we might have broken that ter-
rible power. We had all looked forward to the
great converging movement which would have ac-
complished that purpose. The temporary col-
lapse of the Russian military power has, I will not
say disappointed, but postponed, our hopes. But
time is on our side. There was a moment when
time was a doubtful and dangerous neutral, rather
disposed to favour our foes. Two things have
changed his disposition. The first is the advent of
America. To realise what that means you have
only to follow the rapid growth of our own little
army to the position of one of the most formid-
able armies in the field. America is now starting.
Its resources in man-power are twice as consider-
able as those of the United Kingdom. You have
there about the best fighting material in the world.
We have good reason to know that. For in-
genuity, resolution, bravery, they are indeed a
formidable people, and their mechanical resources
THE DESTRUCTION OF A FALSE IDEAL 197
are unequalled in the whole world. They have
come in, and they are throwing the whole of their
volcanic energy into preparing for the conflict.
Time is on our side.
What is the second factor? The increasing
failure of the German submarine campaign. You
can hardly realise, without going into it thor-
oughly, how much Germany gambled on that.
They said: "In 1917 America will not count. She
has no army." "In 1918," they said, "she will
not have very much of an army; 1919 will never
arrive." That is how they reckon at Potsdam.
Why did they say that I "Because," said Pots-
dam, "before 1918 arrives the shipping tonnage
of the world will be rusting at the bottom of the
deep." That was their reckoning. It was wrong.
There are fluctuations, there are ups and downs,
there are bad days and goods days, bad weeks
and good weeks, but our monthly loss in tonnage
in the good and the bad is not much over one-
third of what it was in April last. I will give you
another figure I have never given yet. The losses
of German submarines during this year — ^not
quite ten months of the year — are more than twice
what they were in the whole of last year.
Time is on our side. Our shipbuilding is in-
creasing. We have laid down plans and made ar-
rangements by which we can turn out next year
four times what we turned out last year. America
is doing the same.
198 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Keep Together.
To win through you must last out. What must
we do 1 Husband our resources to last through the
trying interval — and it is very trying — until Rus-
sia recovers and America is ready. Save money,
save food, save in energy, save in luxuries, save
in labour, and increase production in every direc-
tion. Above all let us cultivate patience, endur-
ance, steadfastness. Waiting means winning. Let
us keep together. Beware of people who try to
sow dissension, distrust, suspicion, disunion. The
enemy, beaten on most of the battlefields, is organ-
ising with deadly care and ingenuity an offensive
behind the lines. I know what I am talking about.
See what has happened in France — they dis-
covered it in time — and look out for Boloism in
all its shapes and forms. It is the latest and
most formidable weapon in the German armoury.
Dissension among ourselves will be fatal to any
and every campaign. Wait and have patience,
endurance, concentration, unity. Personal and
sectional differences, suspicions, resentments,
must be forgotten, or at any rate postponed ; this
is no time to talk of parties; there must be one
party and that is the nation. Let us help to de-
fend the nation, the State, the Allied Governments
— America, France, Italy, Russia — resist the at-
tempts to sow mistrust among us and seek to
shake our nerves, keep steady and we shall win.
A NATION'S THANKS.
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF
COMMONS, OCTOBEIR 29tH, 1917.
I BEG to move * ' That the thanks of this House be
given to the officers, petty officers, and men of the
Navy for their faithful watch upon the seas dur-
ing more than three years of ceaseless danger and
stress, while guarding our shores and protecting
from the attacks of a barbarous foe the commerce
upon which the victoiy of the Allied Cause de-
pends.
' ' That the thanks of this House be given to the
officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the
British Armies in the field, and also to the women
in the medical and other services auxiliary there-
to, for their unfailing courage and endurance in
defending the right, amid sufferings and hard-
ships unparalleled in the history of war, and for
their loyal readiness to continue the work to which
they have set their hands until the liberty of the
world is secure,
"That the thanks of this House be accorded to
the gallant troops from the Dominions Overseas,
from India, and from the Crown Colonies who
have travelled many thousands of miles to share
with their comrades from the British Isles in the
sacrifices and triumphs of the battlefield, and to
199
200 THE GREAT CRUSADE
take their full part in the struggle for human free-
dom.
' ' That the thanks of this House be accorded to
the officers and men of the Mercantile Marine for
the devotion to duty with which they have con-
tinued to carry the vital supplies to the Allies
through seas infested with deadly perils.
' ' That this House doth acknowledge with grate-
ful admiration the valour and devotion of those
who have offered their lives in the service of their
country, and tenders its sympathy to their rela-
tives and friends in the sorrows they have sus-
tained."
The Navy.
Even had I the leisure, which I certainly have
not in these terrible times, especially in the
anxiety of the last two or three days, I feel that I
could not do justice to this great theme, but the
deeds which are referred to in the Resolution are
so well known and have won universal admiration
and gratitude, not merely from every member of
this House but from every subject of His Majesty,
that I feel that no words are necessary in order
to commend it to the acceptance of any body of
Britishers throughout the world. Taking the first
paragraph in the Resolution, that which refers
to the British Navy, the enormous magnitude of
our Army, the fact that it has representatives in
millions of homes in the country, and the dazzling
record of its great achievements, may in some re-
spects have obscured the service which the British
A NATION'S THANKS 201
Xavy has rendered to this countiy and to its Al-
Hes. The British Navy is like one of those in-
ternal organs, essential to life, but of the existence
of which we are not conscious until something
goes wrong. The Navj^ is taken for granted. In
this war the British Navy has been the anchor of
the Allied cause. If it lost its hold the hopes of
the Alliance would be shattered. To realise the
power and might of the British Navy and how
essential a part it has played in this great strug-
gle, one has only to imagine for a moment what
would have happened, not if we had not the com-
mand of the sea at the beginning of the war, but
if the British Navy had been defeated even a
year ago and the sceptre of the seas had been
snatched by our foes. Our armies in France, in
Mesopotamia, in Salonika, and in Egypt would
have languished and finally vanished for lack of
support in men and material. France, deprived
not merely of our support but of the material as-
sistance which the British Navy enables us still
to get from abroad, would be unable probably to
defend herself against the overwhelming hordes
of the foe. Italy, deprived at home of her am-
munition and of food, would have fallen a ready
prey to her fierce and vindictive enemies, which
she has not done yet and will not do. Russia, cut
off on the east and the west, would indeed have
been defenceless. I have no hesitation in saying
that but for the British Navy overwhelming dis-
aster would have fallen on the Allied cause. Pitis-
sia would have been the insolent mistress of
202 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Europe, and through Europe, of the world.
Never in the whole of the affairs of the world has
the British Navy been a more potent and a more
beneficent influence in the affairs of men. What
has it accomplished? In spite of hidden foes, as
well as open attack, in spite of legitimate naval
warfare and in spite of black piracy, it has pre-
served the highway of the seas for Britain and
her Allies.
The Mercantile Marine.
As to the smaller craft of the Fleet, their work
and peril never ends. They are numbered by the
thousand, and their hardships and dangers are
barely realised, but through their action security
and plenty are enjoyed by the population of these
Islands. They patrol the seas from the icy waters
of the Arctic Ocean to the stormy floods of Ma-
gellan. There is not an ocean, a sea, a bay, a gulf
— there is not an estuary used for commerce which
is not patrolled by the ships of the British Navy.
How dangerous a task it is the casualty lists pro-
claim, because in proportion to their numbers
the dead are equal to those of the British Army.
Through it all the command of the sea has been
maintained. I am glad that in this respect special
recognition is accorded to the officers and men of
the mercantile marine. It is a great distinction
for any civilian body to be placed in the same
category as the soldiers of the British Aimy and
A NATION'S THANKS 203
the sailors of the British Navy, but the officers
and men of the British mercantile marine have
won that distinction. Seamansliip at best is a
comfortless and a cheerless calling. I remember
that when I occupied the office which is now held
by my right hon. friend (Sir A. Stanley), as Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade, the concern of the
Department at that time was the difficulty in get-
ting men to engage in this avocation, and as the
standard of living improved it was impossible
almost to persuade men to pursue a trade so full
of peril and so devoid of comfort. That was in
time of peace. What is it now? During the war
the strain, the hardship, the terror, the peril, have
increased manifold. Piracy is more rampant and
ruthless than it has ever been in the history of the
world. This is a new terror added to those of the
deep.
The risks of the navigator have increased in
every direction. Lighthouses which were there
to warn the mariner against imminent peril are,
many of them, dark. Ships have to tear at full
speed through fog and through storm to avoid
worse dangers, and the ceaseless watch has now
a new and more terrible meaning. And not merely
in the daylight — the sailor has to spear the dark
for objects hardly visible on the surface of the
seas, even in sunlight ; and yet life depends upon
observing those objects in time. Then when the
blow comes from the invisible foe they are faced
with conditions which would make the stoutest
heart pall. The mariner is left with the surging
204 THE GREAT CRUSADE
seas around him, scores of miles from a friendly
shore. And yet amongst those who go down to
the deep in ships there has not been found one
man who failed to return. I have made inquiries,
and I am told on all hands that the men return
with greater alacrity than in times of peace. Men
torpedoed twice, thrice, seven times, lose no time
in seeking another ship, hardly wait for their pa-
pers before they return, because they realise that
in these times their country cannot spare one man
or one hour of time.
This is no time to dwell upon the dark deeds
of our foes on the sea; but they are all in the
reckoning. What has struck me with regard to the
sailors is this: that they have no fear of danger.
There is not one of them who shirks it; but they
abhor the degradation of seamanship involved in
these actions and the dishonour to the traditions
of a noble calling. That is why the sailor stead-
fastly refuses to have any traffic with men who are
guilty of such conduct, or of sanctioning it, until
the stain is wiped out.
The Fishermen.
I would like to say a word about our fishermen.
Their contribution has been a great one. Sixty
per cent, of our fishermen are in the Naval Serv-
ice. Their trawlers are engaged in some of the
most perilous tasks that can be entrusted to
sailors. There is mine-sweeping, a dangerous oc-
cupation often ending in disaster. The number
A NATION'S THANKS 205
of mines they have swept is incredible, and if they
had not done this Britain would now have been
blockaded by a ring of deadly machines anchored
round our shores. But their services have not
been confined to this work. You find their trawlers
patrolling the seas everywhere protecting ships,
and not merely around the British Isles. You find
these fishing trawlers in the Mediterranean.
These men surely deserve the best thanks that we
can accord them for the services which they have
rendered.
I should like to give the House one or two illus-
trations of the way in which these fishermen have
faced these new perils. Here is one case given to
me by the Admiralty. A trawler was attacked
by the gunfire of a German submarine. Though
armed only with a three-pounder gun and out-
ranged by her opponents she refused to haul down
her flag, even when the skipper had both legs shot
off and most of the crew were killed or injured.
"Throw the confidential books overboard and
throw me after them," said the skipper, and, re-
fusing to leave his ship when the few survivors
took to the boat, he went down with his trawler.
There is another case of an armed trawler escort-
ing a number of fishing vessels. Attacked by
submarines, outranged, the main boom broken,
the funnel down, the wheelhouse blown up, the
steering gear disabled, many of the men killed, the
ship sinking, they patched her up with canvas;
she goes on fighting, and when she ultimately goes
down the fishing fleet is safe in port. These are
206 THE GREAT CRUSADE
not men trained for war. These are fishermen;
but this is the spirit that has animated our sailors
whether in the Navy or in the Mercantile Marine
or our fishing fleets. Never have British sailors,
whether in the Navy or in the auxiliary services,
shown more grit. Never have they rendered
greater service to their native land or to hu-
manity. For their courage, for their resolution,
for the service they have rendered and for the
resource they have shown, I invite the House in
this Resolution to thank them, officers and men.
The Old Army.
I come now to the part of the Resolution which
deals with the Army. Our Expeditionary Force
numbered at the beginning of the war 160,000
men. Our Expeditionary Forces to-day number
over 3,000,000 — probably the greatest feat of
military organisation in the history of the world.
It never could have been accomplished but for
the heroism and self-sacrifice of the old Army —
the old Army, the finest body of troops in the
world at that time, more highly trained, more dis-
ciplined, more perfect in physique than any other.
It saved Europe. In the retreat from Mons it de-
layed overwhelming hordes of the enemy, and
at the Marne helped to roll back the invader. But
more than all, the great first battle of Ypres was
one of the decisive battles of the world. With
unparalleled tenacity and sacrifice it held su-
perior forces for weeks — ^held them finally. The
A NATION'S THANKS 207
enemy superior in numbers and material; our
troops short of heavy artillery and ammunition,
with no reserves. Every man was put in, cavalry-
men, cooks, drivers, servants, and through the
individual efforts of officers and men, iron dis-
cipline, dogged determination, the Army held out
to the last and saved us from disaster. By the
end of November France was saved, and Europe ;
and there was hardly a man left out of the old
Army. One division went into battle 12,000
strong. It came out 3,000. Of 400 officers only
fifty were left — in one battle. The old Army is
the A^-my that gathered the spears of the Prus-
sian legions into its breast, and in perishing saved
Europe. No sacrifice in the history of the world
has had greater results, and those seven divisions
have a unique position in history and in the an-
nals of the British Army.
The Territorials.
Then after that came the dreary winter and
spring of 1914 and 1915. Most of the old veterans
gone ! And here let me say a word for the Ter-
ritorials who came to the rescue. Old Army gone ;
New Army not ready; and somebody had to oc-
cupy water-logged trenches. Somebody had to
stand torrents of shot and shell from well-
equipped artillery, with orders that only two or
three shells could be spared for our guns. Some-
body had to do that for months while the New
Army was getting ready; and the Territorials
208 THE GREAT CRUSADE
fought with the ardour of recruits in their first
charge; yea, and with the steadiness of veterans
in their hundredth fight! And let me say one
word here — and I am glad to say it — we owe a debt
of gratitude to the man who created that organisa-
tion which came to the rescue of the Empire at
such a critical hour.
The New Army.
Now we come to our New Army, who occupy the
battle line from the German Ocean to the Persian
Gulf. The raising and training of that Am: / was
an unexampled feat, and will always be associated
with the name, the great name, of Lord Kitchener.
I could not even pretend to give a summary of
their achievements. We know, we have heard,
many descriptions of battles, and all I can say is
that it fills us with a sense of swelling pride that
we should belong to the race that has produced
such men. There has been nothing comparable to
the sustained courage displayed by the British
soldier in this war. In previous wars you had
great, you had fierce, battles, wliich lasted for
hours, not many of them lasting for days. Those
have been the great examples in history ; and then
you had long intervals of marching and prepara-
tion. Now you have battles that last not for
hours, not for days or for weeks, but battles that
last for months. Never has British courage been
put to so terrible a test; never has it endured it
so triumphantly. When I read of the conditions
A NATION'S THANKS 209
under whioli our gallant soldiers fight I marvel
that the delicate and sensitive mechanism of the
human nerve and th6 human mind can endure
them without derangement. The campaigns of
Stonewall Jackson fill us with admiration and with
wonder. How that man of iron led his troops
through the mire and the swamps of Virginia!
But his men were never called upon to lie for
days and nights in morasses under ceaseless
thunderbolts from a powerful artillery, and then
march into battle through an engulfing quagmire
under a hailstorm of machine-gun fire. That is
what our troops have gone through.
They were confronted with the finest Army in
the world — the men trained for years, the officers
instructed and prepared for this hour. Our men,
with a few months' training, our officers in the
main taken from counting houses, factories,
schools and colleges. Their generals, accustomed
to handle scores and hundreds of thousands of
men in great manoeuvres, while ours at the best
were only afforded the opportunity of handling a
few thousands. And yet these men with this
training, with these scant opportunities, are bring-
ing to defeat veteran armies, entrenched in for-
midable positions. We really owe a debt of the
deepest thanks to this great Army. I can only
barely refer to their achievements in other things.
In Salonika they have had few opportunities for
glory. They arrived too late to save Serbia, but
they have faced the malaria of summer and the
piercing cold of winter, and they have borne them
210 THE GREAT CRUSADE
all with spirit and good clieer, because no country
has ever had more cheerful heroes than we have.
In Mesopotamia there is a record of heroism —
the way they endured the disasters of the earlier
months, the brilliant way in which they retrieved
those disasters, re-estabhshing British prestige
throughout the East. In Africa, under most try-
ing conditions of climate — everj^where — these
men have behaved in a way which is worthy of
the great country to which they belong, and of
the record of the great Army in which they are
serving.
The Dominions.
I must say a word now about the Dominions.
They have contributed between 700,000 and 800,-
000 men. What does that mean? — five times the
number of our Expeditionary Force. And what
a contribution! How well they have fought, the
citizen armies! The ready and resourceful cour-
age of the Canadians — how it saved France and
the British Army at the second battle of Ypres!
How, on the heights of Vimy, they swept the foe
from the positions where they had defied the
greatest armies of the Allies for two or three
years ! And then the men of the Southern Seas,
of Australia and New Zealand — the dash and the
tenacity which enabled them first to capture the
precipitous rocks of Anzac, and to cling to them
for months ; to capture Pozieres and to hold Bulle-
A NATION'S THANKS 311
court; tlie men who came in smaller contingents
from South Africa, clearing DelviUe Wood; and
the noble sacrifices of the men of Newfoundland.
I could not even give a catalogue of their achieve-
ments without detaining the House beyond the
limits. And then there is India. How bravely,
how loyally she has supported the British arms I
The memory of the powerful aid which she will-
ingly accorded in the hour of our trouble will not
be forgotten after the war is over, and when the
affairs of India come up for examination and for
action. Then our Colonies throughout the world,
how they helped in men and assisted us with
labour! Never has the British Empire shown
greater and more effective unity. It was regarded
as a dream by many ; now it is a fact — a powerful
fact, fashioning the history of the world and the
destinies of men.
The Air Service.
It would be invidious if I were to attempt to dis-
tinguish between the various arms of the Serv-
ice — our splendid Infantry who have borne the
brunt of the battle, our Cavalry, and our Artil-
lery, who have lost more heavily, perhaps, in this
war than in any war ever waged. The mere fact
that we have the Artillery is in itself an achieve-
ment. Who would have believed — when you
thought it took years to train gunners — that in a
few months we would turn out Artillery the pre-
cision of whose fire is at once the admiration and
gl2 THE GREAT CRUSADE
terror of the foe. But, amongst all these, I may be
permitted to mention one arm of the Service which
has appeared for the first time in this great war —
I mean the Air Service. I am sure the House
would like special mention to be made of our Air
Service. The heavens are their battlefield; they
are the Cavalry of the clouds. High above the
squalor and the mud, so high in the firmament that
they are not visible from earth, they fight out the
eternal issues of right and wrong. Their daily,
yea, their nightly struggles, are like the Miltonic
conflict between the winged hosts of light and of
darkness. They fight the foe high up and they
fight him low down; they skim like armed swal-
lows, hanging over trenches full of armed men,
wrecking convoys, scattering infantry, attacking
battalions on the march. Every flight is a ro-
mance; every report is an epic. They are the
knighthood of this war, without fear and without
reproach. They recall the old legends of chivalry,
not merely by the daring of their exploits, but
by the nobility of their spirit, and, amongst the
multitudes of heroes, let us think of the chivalry
of the air.
The Chaplains and the Medical Service.
I do not think we ought to pass by the chap-
lains in the Army. They have sustained their
losses and have done their duty manfully, coura-
geously and tenderly. When you come to the Medi-
cal Service, the men and the women, they have
A NATION'S THANKS 213
never shown greater courage, knowledge and ex-
perience. Thousands of them have devoted them-
selves — devotion is the right word — to the cur-
ing of the wounded and the healing of the sick.
Great consultants have given up princely incomes
and volunteered for this service. Wounds have
been cured which before the war were regarded
as fatal, and I may give an illustration, and only
one illustration, of the services they have rendered
in saving life, not merely by their curing ex-
pedients, but by the precautions they have taken.
In the South African War, I believe, 50,000 men
died of typhoid. In France, out of our gigantic
Army, during the w^hole three years of the war,
only 3,000 have fallen victims to this disease. We
owe thanks to the medical profession. They have
suffered; hundreds have been killed and many
more hundreds wounded. We should also thank
the women, our trained and untrained nurses,
whose tenderness and care for the wounded have
earned thanks from the lips of hundreds of thou-
sands of poor men whose lives have been saved,
and who have been spared much suffering through
their tender ministration. They have not escaped
perils. Many have been killed by shell-fire, many
of them drowned in hospital ships sunk with the
sign of the Red Cross. We all owe them a debt
of gratitude.
The last paragraph in the Resolution is one I
must say a word about, and it will be brief. There
214 THE GREAT CRUSADE
are hundreds of thousands of sorrowing men and
women in this land on account of the war. Their
anguish is too deep to be expressed or to be com-
forted by words, but, judging the multitudes whom
I know not by those I do know, there is not a
single one of them who would recall the valiant
dead to life at the price of their country's dis-
honour. The example of these brave men who
have fallen has enriched the life and exalted the
purpose of all people. You cannot have 4,000,000
of men in any land who voluntarily sacrificed
everything the world can offer them in obedience
to a higher call without ennobling the country
from which they sprang, and the fallen, whilst
they have illumined with a fresh lustre the glory
of their native land, have touched with a new dig-
nity the households which they left for the battle-
field. There will be millions who will come back
and live to tell children now unborn how a genera-
tion before in England, Scotland, Ireland, and
Wales, and in the ends of the earth, the men of
our race were willing to leave ease and comfort
to face privation, torture, and death to win pro-
tection for the weak and justice for the oppressed.
There are hundreds of thousands who will never
come back. For them there wil) be for ages to
come sacred memories in a myriad of homes, of
brave, chivalrous men who gave up their young
lives for justice, for right, for freedom in peril.
This Resolution means that the greatest Empire
on earth, through this House, thanks the living
for the readiness with which they obeyed its sum-
A NATION'S THANKS 215
mons and the gallantry with which they supported
its behests. It also means that this great Em-
pire, through this House, enters each home of the
heroic dead, grasps the bereaved by the hand,
and says, "The Empire owes you gratitude for
your share of the sacrifice as well as for theirs,
partakes in your pride for their valour, and in
your grief for their fall.'*
THE CO-ORDINATION OF MILITARY EFFORT.
SPEECH DELIVERED IN PARIS ON THE SETTING UP OP THE
SUPREME ALLIED WAR COUNCIL, NOVEMBER 13tH, 1917.
I MUST claim your indulgence for taking up the
time of so many men who hold great and re-
sponsible positions in the State and the Legis-
lature at a moment when they can ill spare from
the conduct of important affairs time for listen-
ing to speeches. My only apology is that I have
important practical considerations to submit to
you, which affect not merely the future of your
own country and of mine, but the destiny of the
world. I have one advantage in speaking of this
war, in that I am almost the only Minister in any
land, on either side, who has been in it from the
beginning to this hour. I therefore ought to know
something about the course of events and their
hidden causes. Of both I want to say something
to you to-day.
My friend and comrade, M. Painleve, has ex-
plained to you the important decision taken by
the Governments of France, Italy, and Great
Britain in setting up a Supreme Council of the
Allies whose forces operate in the West to en-
sure the united direction of their efforts on that
front. As he has already explained, that Coun-
cil will consist of the leading Ministers of the Al-
216
MILITARY EFFORT 217
lied countries, advised by some of their most
distinguished soldiers, and the choice which has
already been made by these countries of their ex-
perts proves that the Governments mean this
Council to be a real power in the co-ordination of
their military effort.
Unfortunately, there was no time to consult
America and Russia before setting up this Coun-
cil. The Italian disaster and the need of imme-
diate action to repair it rendered it essential that
we should make a start with the Powers whose
forces could be drawn upon for action on the
Italian front. But in order to ensure the com-
plete success of this great experiment — an ex-
periment the success of which I believe to be es-
sential to victory for the Allied cause — it is nec-
essary that all our great Allies should be repre-
sented in its deliberations, and I look forward
with confidence to securing the agreement of those
two great countries and to their co-operation in
the work of this Council.
There are two questions which may be asked
with reference to the step which we have taken.
Why are we taking it now? That is easy to an-
swer. The second question is more difficult to find
a satisfactory answer for — Why did we not take
it before?
I propose to answer both. In regard to the first
question, the events of the war have demonstrated,
even to the most separatist and suspicious mind,
the need for greater unity amongst the Allies in
their war control. The Allies had on their side
218 THE GREAT CRUSADE
— in spite of all that has happened they still have
at their command — all the essential ingredients
of victory. They have command of the sea, which
has never yet failed to bring victory in the end to
the Power that can hold out. On land they have
the advantage in numbers, in weight of men and
material, in economic and financial resources, and
beyond and above all in the justice of their cause.
In a prolonged war nothing counts as much as a
good conscience. This combined with superiority
ought ere now to have ensured victory for the
Allies. At least it ought to have carried them
much further along the road to victory than the
point which they have yet reached. To the extent
that they have failed in achieving their purpose,
who and what are responsible?
Let us ruthlessly search out the answer to that
question without undue regard to susceptibilities.
The fate of the world is at stake and we have no
right to think of anything but realities. The fault
has not been with the Navies or with the Armies.
We all admire the skill of our naval and military
leaders. We are all enthralled with the valour
of our sailors and soldiers. The defence of Ver-
dun will be remembered with amazement and with
pride until the world grows cold. Yea, and the
story of the indomitable tenacity which won the
crests of Passchendaele, after months of conflict
almost unexampled in its fierce stubbornness, will
make the mists of my native land ever glow with
splendour. And let me say this word for the
Italian Army in its hour of discomfiture : No one
MILITARY EFFORT 219
can look at those frontier mountains without a
thrill of respect for the gallantry that once
stormed them in face of the entrenched legions of
Austria.
Let us also bo just to Russia. Russia is suf-
fering from a violent fever, into which she has
been driven by conditions of atrocious misgovern-
ment. She is making a great struggle, and
through fluctuations she is winning her way to
steadier and cleaner health than she has ever yet
enjoyed. She now lies stricken through no fault
of her o^^^l. Let us not forget what she did in the
early hours of the war, when her heroic sacrifice
helped to save the West, in France and in Italy,
from the cruel dominion of the Prussian. And
there are the heroic little nations who have lost
their lands. Let us not forget their gallantry,
their sacrifice.
No, the fault has not been with the armies. It
has been entirely due to the absence of real unity
in the war direction of the Allied countries. We
have all felt the need for it. We have all talked
about it. We have passed endless resolutions re-
solving it. But it has never yet been achieved. In
this important matter we have never passed from
rhetoric into reality, from speech into strategy.
In spite of all the resolutions there has been no
authority responsible for co-ordinating the con-
duct of the war on all fronts, and in the absence
of that central authority each countiy was left to
its own devices. We have gone on talking of the
Eastern front and the Western front and the
220 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Italian front and the Salonika front and the
Egyptian front and the Mesopotamia front, for-
getting that there is but one front with many
flanks ; that with these colossal armies the battle-
field is continental.
As my colleagues here know very well, there
have been many attempts made to achieve
strategic unity. Conferences have been annually
held to concert united action for the campaign of
the coming year. Great generals came from many
lands to Paris with carefully and sldlfully pre-
pared plans for their own fronts. In the absence
of a genuine Inter-AJlied Council of men re-
sponsible as much for one part of the battlefield
as for another there was a sensitiveness, a deli-
cacy about even tendering advice, letting alone
support for any sector other than that for which
the generals were themselves directly responsible.
But there had to be an appearance of a strategic
whole, so they all sat at the same table and,
metaphorically, took thread and needle, sewed
these plans together, and produced them to a sub-
sequent civilian conference as one great strategic
piece ; and it was solemnly proclaimed to the world
the following morning that the unity of the Allies
was complete.
That unity, in so far as strategy went, was pure
make-believe; and make-believe may live through
a generation of peace — it cannot survive a week
of war. It was a collection of completely inde-
pendent schemes pieced together. Stitching is not
strategy. So it came to pass that when these
MILITARY EFFORT 221
plans were worked out in the terrible realities of
war the stitches came out and disintegration was
complete.
I know the answer that is given to an appeal for
unity of control. It is that Germany and Austria
are acting on interior lines, whereas we are on
external lines. That is no answer. That fact
simply affords an additional argument for unifica-
tion of effort in order to overcome the natural
advantages possessed by the foe.
You have only to summarise events to realise
how many of the failures from which we have
suffered are attributable to this one fundamental
defect in the Allied war organisation. We have
won great victories. When I look at the appalling
casualty lists I sometimes wish it had not been
necessary to win so many. Still, on one impor-
tant part of the land front we have more than held
our own. We have driven the enemy back. On
the sea front we have beaten him, in spite of the
infamy of the submarine warfare. We have
achieved a great deal ; I believe we should already
have achieved all if in time we had achieved unity.
There is one feature of this war which makes it
unique among all the innumerable wars of the
past. It is a siege of nations. The Allies are
blockading two huge Empires. It would have
been well for us if at all times we had thoroughly
grasped that fact. In a siege not only must every
part of the line of circumvallation be strong
enough to resist the strongest attack which the
besieged can bring to bear upon it ; more than that,
S22 THE GREAT CRUSADE
the besieging army must be ready to strike at the
weakest point of the enemy, wherever tliat may be.
Have we done so? Look at the facts.
The enemy was cut otf by the Allied navies from
all the rich lands beyond the seas, whence he had
been drawing enormous stores of food and ma-
terial. On the east he was blockaded by Russia,
on the west by the armies of France, Britain, and
Italy. But the south, the important south, with
its gateway to the East, was left to be held by
the forces of a small country with half the popu-
lation of Belgium, its armies exhausted by the
struggles of three wars and with two treacherous
kings behind, lying in wait for an opportunitj^ to
knife it when it was engaged in defending it-
self against a mightier foe.
What was the result of this inconceivable
blunder? What would any man whose mind was
devoted to the examination of the whole, not
merely to one part of the great battlefield, have
expected to happen? Exactly what did happen.
While we were hammering with the whole of our
might at the impenetrable barrier in the West,
the Central Powers, feeling confident that we
could not break through, threw their weight on
that little country, crushed her resistance, opened
the gate to the East, and unlocked great stores of
com, cattle, and minerals, yea, unlocked the door
of hope — all essential to enable Germany to sus-
tain her struggle.
Without these additional stores Germany might
have failed to support her armies at full strength.
MILITARY EFFORT 223
Hundreds of thousands of splendid fighting ma-
terial were added to the armies which Germany
can control — added to her and lost to us. Turkey,
which at that time had nearly exhausted its re-
sources for war, cut off from the only possible
source of supply, was re-equipped and resusci-
tated, and became once more a formidable mili-
tary Power, whose activities absorbed hundreds
of thousands of our best men in order to enable
us at all to retain our prestige in the East. By
this fatuity this terrible war was given new life.
Why was this incredible blunder perpetrated?
The answer is simple. Because it was no one's
business in particular to guard the gates of the
Balkans. The one front had not become a reality.
France and England were absorbed in other
spheres. Italy had her mind on the Carso. Rus-
sia had a 1,000-mile frontier to guard, and, even
if she had not, she could not get through to help
Serbia, because Rumania was neutral. It is true
we sent forces to Salonika to rescue Serbia, but,
as usual, they were sent too late. They were sent
when the mischief was complete. Half of those
forces sent in time — ^nay, half the men who fell in
the futile attempt to break through on the Western
front in September of that year — ^would have
saved Serbia, would have saved the Balkans and
completed the blockade of Germany.
You may say that is an old story. I wish it
were. It is simply the first chapter of a serial
which has been running to this hour. 1915 was
the year of tragedy for Serbia; 1916 was ^
2M THE GREAT CRUSADE
tlie year of tragedy for Rumania. The story is
too fresh in our memories to make it necessary
for me to recapitulate events. What am I to say?
I have nothing to say but that it was the Serbian
story almost without a variation. It is incredible
when you think of the consequences to the Allied
cause of the Rumanian defeat. The rich corn
and oil fields of Rumania passed to the foe. Ger-
many was enabled to escape through to the harvest
of 1917. The siege of the Central Powers was
once more raised and this horrible war was once
more prolonged. This could not have happened
if there had been some central authority whose
responsibility was to think out the problem of
war for the whole battlefield. But once again
France and England had the whole of their
strength engaged in the bloody assaults of the
Somme, Italy was fighting for her life on the
Carso, Russia was engaged in the Carpathians,
and there was no authority whose concern it was
to prepare measures in advance for averting the
doom of Rumania.
I you want to appreciate thoroughly how we
were waging four wars and not one, I will give
you one fact to reflect upon. In 1916 we had the
same Conference in Paris and the same appear-
ance of preparing one great strategic plan. But
when the military power of Russia collapsed in
March, what took place? If Europe had been
treated as one battlefield you might have thought
that when it was clear that a great army which
was operating on one flank could not come up in
MILITARY EFFORT 225
time, or even come into action at all, there would
have been a change in stratec:}'. Not in the loast.
Their plans proceeded exactly as if nothing had
occurred in Russia. Why? Because their plans
were essentially independent of each other and
not part of a strategic whole. You will forgive
me for talking quite plainly because this is no
time for concealing or for glossing over facts.
Was is pre-eminently a game where realities
count. This is 1917. What has happened? I wish
there had even been some variety in the character
of the tragedy. But there has been the same dis-
aster due to the same cause. Russia collapsed.
Italy w^as menaced. The business of Russia is to
look after her own front. It is the concern of
Italy to look after her OAvn war. ''Am I my
brother's keeper?" Disastrous! Fatal! The
Italian front is just as important to France and
Britain as it was to Germany. Germany under-
stood that in time. Unfortunately we did not.
It is no use minimising the extent of the dis-
aster. If you do, then you will never take ade-
quate steps to repair it. When we advance a
kilometre into the enemy's lines, snatch a small
shattered village out of his cruel grip, capture
a few hundreds of his soldiers, we shout with un-
feigned joy. And rightly so, for it is the s^nnbol
of our superiority over a boastful foe and a sure
guarantee that in the end we can and shall win.
But w^hat if we had advanced fifty kilometres
beyond his lines and made 200,000 of his soldiers
prisoners and taken 2,500 of his best guns, with
226 THE GREAT CRUSADE
enormous quantities of ammunition and stores?
What print would we have for our headlines?
Have you an idea how long it would take the
arsenals of France and Great Britain to manu-
facture 2,500 guns?
At this moment the extent to which we can pre-
vent this defeat from developing into a catas-
trophe depends upon the promptitude and com-
pleteness with which we break with our past and
for the first time realise in action the essential
unity of all the Allied fronts. I believe that we
have at last learned this great lesson. That is
the meaning of this Superior Council. If I am
right in my conjectures then tliis Council will be
given real power, the efforts of the Allies will be
co-ordinated, and victory will await valour. We
shall then live to bless even the Italian di§,aster,
for without it I do not believe it would have been
possible to secure real unity. Prejudices and sus-
picions would have kept us apart. Had we learned
this lesson even three months ago what a differ-
ence it would have made !
I must read to you a message which appeared
in The Times three days ago from its Washing-
ton Correspondent. It is a message of the first
importance, for, in the words of an old English
saying, "Outsiders see most of the game." And
these shrewd men in America, calmly observing
the course of events from a distance of thou-
sands of miles, have come to conclusions which we
would have done well to make ours years ago : —
MILITARY EFFORT 227
**It is realised here that delicate questions of
prestige exist between the great European nations
engaged in the war, and that this militates against
quick decisions and effective action when these are
most needed. It is believed by some of President
Wilson's closest advisers that Germany owes
much of her success in this Avar to her unity of
control, which permits the full direction of all
Teutonic efforts from Berlin. Indeed, it is felt
here that unless the Allies can achieve a degree
of co-ordination equal to that which has enabled
Germany to score her striking, though perhaps
ineffectual successes, she will be able to hold out
far longer than otherwise would have been be-
lieved possible. American military experts be-
lieve that if the Allied help rushed to General
Cadoma's assistance to stem the tide of invasion
had been thrown into the balance when Italy's
forces were within forty miles of Laibach, the
Allies would have been able to force the road to
Vienna. Victory at Laibach would have spelled a
new Austerlitz, and the magnitude of the prize
almost within his grasp is believed here to have
justified General Cadoma in taking the risk of
advancing his centre too far and temporarily
weakening his left flanjk:. The lack of co-operation
between France, Great Britain, and Italy is
blamed here for the disaster which ensued, and
which it is believed would not have occurred if
one supreme military authority had directed the
combined operations of the Allies with the sole
aim of victory without regard to any other con-
siderations.'*
You may say the American estimate of the pos-
sibilities of the Italian front for the Allies is too
favourable. Why? It is not for me to express an
THE GREAT CRUSADE
opinion. I am but a civilian ; but I am entitled to
point out that the Austrian Army is certainly not
better than the Italian. On the contrary, when-
ever there was a straight fight between the Italians
and the Austrians the former invariably won.
And the Germans are certainly no better than the
British and French troops. When there has been
a straight fight between them we have invariably
defeated their best and most vaunted regiments.
And as for the difficulties of getting there, what
we have already accomplished in the course of
the last few days is the best answer to that.
But now I will answer the other question —
"Why was this not said before and why was this
not done before? I have said it before, and I
have tried to do it before, and so have some of
my French colleagues that I see here. For weeks,
for months, for years, at committees, at confer-
ences, at consultations, until I almost became
weary of the attempt. I have written it where it
may be read and will be read when the time comes.
I should like to be able to read you the statement
submitted to the conference in Rome in January
about the perils and possibilities of the Italian
front this year, so that you might judge it in the
light of subsequent events. I feel confident that
nothing could more convincingly demonstrate the
opportunities which the Allies have lost through
lack of combined thought and action.
We have latterly sought strenuously to improve
matters by more frequent conferences and consul-
tations, and there is no doubt that substantial
MILITARY EFFORT
improvement has been effected. As the result of
that conference in Rome and the Subsequent con-
sultations, arrangements were made which short-
ened considerablj'^ the period within which aid
could be given to Italy in the event of her being
attacked. And if the tragedies of Serbia and Ru-
mania are not to be repeated — and I feel assured
that they will not, in spite of the very untoward
circumstances — it will be because the preparations
made as the result of the Rome Conference have
materially affected the situation. But if there had
been real co-ordination of the military efforts of
the Allies we should now have been engaged in
Italy not in averting disaster from our Allies, but
in inflicting disaster upon our enemies. That is
why we have come to the conclusion that for the
cumbrous and clumsy machinery of conferences
there shall be substituted a permanent council
whose duty it will be to survey the whole field of
military endeavour with a view to determining
where and how the resources of the Allies can be
most effectually employed. Personally I had made
up my mind that, unless some change were ef-
fected, I could no longer remain responsible for
a war direction doomed to disaster for lack of
unity.
The Italian disaster may yet save the alliance,
for without it I do not believe that even now we
should have set up a real Council. National and
professional traditions, prestige, and susceptibili-
ties aU conspired to render nugatory our best
resolutions. There was no one in particular to
230 THE GREAT CRUSADE
blame. It was an inherent difficulty in getting so
many independent nations, so many independent
organisations, to merge all their individual idio-
syncrasies and to act together as if they were one
people. Now that we have set up this Council
our business is to see that the unity which it repre-
sents is a fact and not a fraud.
It is for this reason that I have spoken to-day
^vith perhaps brutal frankness, at the risk of much
misconception here and elsewhere, and perhaps
at some risk of giving temporary encouragement
to the foe. This Council has been set up. It has
started its work. But particularism will again re-
assert itself, because it represents permanent
forces deeply entrenched in every political and
military organisation. And it is only by means
of public opinion awakened to real danger that
you can keep these narrow instincts and interests,
with the narrow vision and outlook which they in-
volve, from reasserting their dominance and once
more plunging us into the course of action which
produced the tragedies of Serbia and Rumania
and has very nearly produced an even deeper trag-
edy for Italy. The war has been prolonged by
sectionalism; it will be shortened by solidarity.
If this effort at achieving solidarity is made a
reality, I have no doubt of the issue of the war.
The weight of men, material, and moral, with all
its meaning, is on our side. I say so, whatever
may happen to, or in, Russia. I am not one of
those who despair of Russia. A Revolutionary
Russia can never be anything but a menace to
MILITARY EFFORT 231
Holienzollernism. But even if I were in despair
of Russia, my faith in tlie ultimate triumph of
the Allied cause would remain unshaken. The
tried democracies of France, Great Britain, and
Italy, with the aid of the mighty democracy of the
West, must win in the end. Autocracy ma}^ be
better for swift striking, but Freedom is the best
stayer. We shall win, but I want to win as soon
as possible. I want to win with as little sacrifice
as possible. I want as many as possible of that
splendid young manhood which has helped to win
victory to live through to enjoy its fruits.
Unity — not sham unity, but real unity — is the
only sure pathway to victory. The magnitude of
the sacrifices made by the people of all the Al-
lied countries ought to impel us to suppress all
minor appeals in order to attain the common pur-
pose of all this sacrifice. All personal, all sec-
tional, considerations should be relentlessly sup-
pressed. This is one of the greatest hours in the
history of mankind. Let us not dishonour great-
ness with pettiness.
I have just returned from Italy, where I saw
your fine troops marching cheerily to face their
ancient foes, marching past battlefields where men
of their race once upon a time wrought deeds
which now constitute part of the romance of this
old world — Areola, Lodi, Marengo. We met the
King of Italy on the battlefield of Solferino, and
we there again saw French soldiers pass on to
defend the freedom wliich their fathers helped to
win with their blood. When I saw them in such
232 THE GREAT CRUSADE
environment I thought that France has a greater
gift for sacrificing herself for human liberty than
any nation in the world. And as I reflected on the
sacrifices she had made in this war for freedom
of mankind I had a sob in my heart. You as-
sembled here to-day must be proud that you have
been called to be leaders of so great a people at so
great an hour. And as one who sincerely loves
France, you will forgive me for saying that I
know that, in the discharge of your trust, you will
in all things seek to be worthy of so glorious a
land.
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE."
EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT GRAY'S INN, DE-
CEMBER 14th, 1917.
The danger is not the extreme pacifist. I am
not afraid of him. But I warn the nation to watch
the man who thinks that there is a halfway house
between victory and defeat. There is no halfway
house between victory and defeat. These are the
men who think that you can end the war now by
some sort of what they call pact of peace, by the
setting np of a League of Nations with conditions
as to arbitration in the event of disputes, with pro-
vision for disarmament, and with a solemn cove-
nant on the part of all nations to sign a treaty
on those lines, and not merely to abide by it them-
selves, but to help to enforce it against any na-
tion that dares to break it.
That is the right policy after victory. "With-
out victory it would be a farce. Wliy, we are
engaged in a war because an equally solemn treaty
was treated as a scrap of paper. Who would
sign the new treaty? I presume, among others,
the people who have so far successfully broken
the last. W^ho would enforce the new treaty? I
presume that they would be the nations that have
233
234 THE GREAT CRUSADE
so far not quite succeeded in enforcing the last.
To end the war entered on, to enforce a treaty
without rejDaration for the infringement of that
treaty, merely by entering into a new, a more
sweeping and a more comprehensive treaty, would
be, indeed, a farce in the setting of a tragedy.
We must take care not to be misled by mere words
— ''leagTie of nations," *' disarmament, " ''arbitra-
tion, " " security. ' ' They are all great and blessed
phrases, but without the vitalising force of vic-
tory they are nothing but words. You cannot
wage war with words. You cannot secure peace
with words. You cannot long cover defeat with
words. Unless there are deeds behind them, they
are but dead leaves which the first storm will scat-
ter and reveal your strangled and abandoned pur-
pose to the world.
We ought never to have started unless we
meant, at all hazards, to complete our task. There
is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished
tasks. I can understand, although I cannot respect,
the attitude of the man — and there are a few —
who said from the first, ''Do not interfere, what-
ever happens." When you said to them, "Sup-
posing the Prussians overrun Belgium?" their an-
swer was, "Let them overrun Belgium!" If you
said, "We promised solemnly to protect Belgium
against all invaders, and we ought to stand by our
word," they replied, "We ought never to have
given our word." If you said to them, "What
if the Germans trample in the mire our friends
and neighbours, the free Eepublic of France?"
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE" 235
they answered, "That is not our business." If
you asked, *'What if they murder innocent peo-
ple, old and young, male and female, bum cities
and ravage and outrage before your eyes ? " in ef-
fect they said, "Let them perpetrate every crime
in the calendar so long as it is not done in our
land. "What concern is it of ours? Are we our
brothers' keepers? Let us not meddle and pro-
voke anger which might disturb our serenity and
our comfort." In fact, as one leading journalist
put it with shameless candour, "Let us rather
profit by manufacturing goods for both sides ; for
the assassins as well as for the survivors among
our friends."
That is not an exalted line to take, but it is a
definite and clear line of action, intelligible in con-
sciences of a certain quality. "Ourselves first,
ourselves last, ourselves all the time, and our-
selves alone." It is pretty mean, but there are in
every country men built that way, and you must
reckon with them in the world. But the man I
cannot comprehend is the sort of man who, when
he first saw these outrages, called out, his gener-
ous soul aflame with righteous wrath, "In the
name of Heaven let us leap in and arrest this
infamy, and if we fail, then at least let us punish
the perpetrators so as to make it impossible for
it to happen again." And having said all this
and having helped to commit the nation to that
career of honour, now, before the task is nearly
accomplished, he suddenly turns round and says,
"I have had enough of this. It is time it should
236 THE GREAT CRUSADE
come to an end. Let us shake hands with the male-
factor. Let us trade with him to our mutual ad-
vantage. ' '
The Terms Germany Offers.
He is not to be asked for reparation for dam-
age done. He need not even apologise. He is
simply invited to enter into a bargain to join with
you in punching the head of the next man who
dares to imitate his villainies. And we are told
that we can have peace now on these terms. Ger-
many has said so, Austria has said so, the Pope
has said so. It must, therefore, be true. Of
course it is true. Why should they refuse peace
on such terms, especially as it would leave them
with some of the richest provinces and fairest
cities of Russia in their pockets? There are dis-
tinguished judges present. They are often called
on to administer justice for offences not unlike
those committed by Prussia. It is true that rarely
have they had before them a criminal who, in his
own person, has committed all these offences —
murder, arson, rape, burglary, fraud, piracy.
Supposing next time they try such a case, and are
tired out by the insistence of the prisoner's advo-
cate, they were to turn to the offender and say
''This is a profitless business. We are wasting a
good deal of money and valuable time. I am
weary of it. I want to get back to more useful
work. If I let you off now without any punish-
ment beyond that which is necessarily entailed
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE" 237
in the expenses which you have been put to in de-
fending your honour, will you promise me to help
the police to catch the next burglar? If you
agree to these teims I propose to enrol you now
as a special constable. I will now formally put
on your armlet, and, by the way, if you leave me
your address I will promise to cement the good
feeling which I wish to prevail in future between
us, to deal at your store without further inquiry
as to where, or how, you got the goods. I might
add that you need not worry to return the stuff
you stole from your next-door neighbour on your
right, as I understand he has withdrawn his claim
to restoration."
Now, what do you think would be the effect on
crime ? It is idle to talk of security to be won by
such feeble means. There is no security in any
land without certainty of punishment. There is
no protection for life, property, or money in a
State where the criminal is more powerful than
the law. The law of nations is no exception, and,
until it has been vindicated, the peace of the world
will always be at the mercy of any nation whose
professors have assiduously taught it to believe
that no crime is wrong so long as it leads to the
aggrandisement and enrichment of the country to
which they owe allegiance. There have been many
times in the history of the world criminal States.
We are dealing with one of them now. And there
will always be criminal States until the reward
of international crime becomes too precarious to
make it profitable, and the punishment of inter-
238 THE GREAT CRUSADE
national crime becomes too sure to make it attrac-
tive.
Victory Essential for Security.
Let there be no doubt as to the alternatives with
which we are confronted. One of them is to make
easy terms with the triumphant outlaw, as men
are driven to do in order to buy immunity in lands
where there is no authority to enforce law. That
is one course. It means abasing ourselves in ter-
ror before lawlessness. It means, ultimately, a
world intimidated by successful bandits. The
other is to go through with our divine task of
vindicating justice, so as to establish a righteous
and everlasting peace for ourselves and for our
children. Surely no nation with any regard for
its interests, for its self-respect, for its honour,
can hesitate a moment in its choice. Victory is
an essential condition for the security of a free
world. All the same, intensely as I realise that,
if I thought things would get no better the longer
you fought, not merely would there be no object
in prolonging the war, but to do so would be in-
famous. Wantonly to sacrifice brave lives, nay,
to force brave men to endure for one profitless
hour the terrible conditions of this war merely
because statesmen had not the courage to face
the obloquy which would be involved in agreeing
to an unsatisfactory peace, would be a black crime
when we remember what we owe to these gallant
men. It is because I am firmly convinced that, de-
spite some untoward events, despite discouraging
"NO HALim^AY HOUSE" 2'ZO
appearances, we are making steady progress to-
wards the goal we set in front of us in 1914, that
I would regard peace overtures to Prussia, at the
very moment when the Prussian military spirit is
drunk with boastf illness, as a betrayal of the great
trust with which my colleagues and I have been
charged.
"Cmnplete the Bridge."
Much of the progress we are making may not be
visible except to those whose business it is to
search out the facts. The victories of Germany
are all blazoned forth to the world. Her troubles
appear in no Press communiques or wireless mes-
sages, but we know something of these. The
deadly grip of the British Navy is having its ef-
fect, and the valour of our troops is making an
impression which in the end will tell. We are
laying surely the foundation of the bridge which,
when it is complete, will carry us into the new
world. The river is, for the moment, in spate, and
some of the scaffolding has been carried away,
and much of the progress we had made seems
submerged and hidden, and there are men who
say, "Let us abandon the enterprise altogether.
It is too costly. It is impracticable of achieve-
ment. Let us rather build a pontoon bridge of
new treaties, league of nations, understandings.'*
It might last you some time. It would always be
shaky and uncertain. It would not bear much
strain. It would not carry heavy traffic, and the
first flood would sweep it away. Let us get along
240 THE GREAT CRUSADE
with the pile-driving, and make a real, solid, per-
manent structure.
*' Sanity of Outlook."
Meanwhile, let us maintain our steadiness and
sanity of outlook. There are people who are too
apt at one moment to get unduly elated at victories
which are but incidents in the great march of
events, and the same people get unwholesomely
depressed by defeats which, again, are nothing
more than incidents. The very persons who within
the last fortnight have been organising a nervous
breakdown in the nation some weeks ago were or-
ganising a hysterical shout over our victories in
Flanders and at Cambrai. We were breaking
through the enemy's barrier. We were rolling up
the German armies and clearing them out of Bel-
gium and the North of France. They remind me
of a clock I used to pass at one time in my life
almost every day. It worried me a great deal,
for whatever the time of the day the finger al-
ways pointed at 12 o'clock. If you trusted that
clock you would have believed it was either noon
or midnight. There are people of that type in
this war who one moment point to the high noon
of triumph and the next to the black midnight of
defeat or despair. There is no twilight. There is
no morning. They can claim a certain consistency,
for they are always at 12, but you will find that
their mainspring in this war is out of repair. We
must go through all the hours, minute by minute.
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE" 241
second by second, with a steady swing, and the
hour of the dawn will in due time strike.
The Bussian Collapse.
This is not the most propitious hour. Russia
threatens to retire out of the war and leave the
French democracy, whose loyalty to the word
they passed to Russia brought on them the hor-
rors of this war, to shift for themselves. I do
not wish to minimise in the least the gravity of
this decision. Had Russia been in a condition to
exert her strength this year, we might now be in
a position to impose fair and rational terms of
peace. By her retirement she threatens Hohen-
zollernism and weakens the forces of democracy.
Her action will not lead, as she imagines, to uni-
versal peace. It will simply prolong the agony
of the world, and it will inevitably put her in
bondage to the military dominance of Prussia.
But if Russia persists in her present policy, then
the withdrawal from the Eastern flank of the en-
emy of forces which have hitherto absorbed over
a third of his strength must release hundreds of
thousands of his troops and masses of material
to attack Britain, France, and Italy. It is a seri-
ous addition to our task, which Avas already for-
midable enough. It would be folly to underrate
the danger. It would be equally folly, on the other
hand, to exaggerate it. The greatest folly of all
would be not to face it.
M2 THE GREAT CRUSADE
America.
If the Russian democracy have decided to aban-
don the struggle against military autocracy, the
American democracy are taking it up. This is the
most momentous fact of the year. It has trans-
posed the whole situation. The Russians are a
great-hearted people, and valiantly have they
fought in this war, but they have always been —
certainly throughout this war — the worst organ-
ised State in Europe, and Britain, with but a third
of the population of Russia, has been, for the last
two years, a more formidable military obstacle to
Germany. Had you asked Germany, not now, but
even a year ago, which country she would prefer
to see out of the war, I do not think that there
would have been any doubt about her answer. But
what about America? There is no more powerful
country in the world than the United States of
America, with their gigantic resources and their
indomitable people. And if Russia is out, Amer-
ica is coming in with both arms. If this is the
worst moment, it is because Russia has stepped
out and America is only preparing to come in.
Her army is not ready. Her equipment is not
complete, her tonnage has not been built. Every
hour that passes, the gap formed by the retire-
ment of the Russians will be filled by the valiant
sons of the great American Republic. Soon it will
be more than filled. Germany knows it. Austria
knows it. Hence the desperate efforts which they
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE" 243
are making to force the issue before America is
ready. They will not succeed.
Greater Efforts and Greater Sacrifices.
All the same, these two unfortunate circum-
stances — the collapse of Russia and the tempo-
rary defeat of Italy — undoubtedly cast on us a
heavier share of the burden until the strength of
Ajnerica is ready to come underneath to share it.
We must, therefore, be prepared for greater ef-
forts, for greater sacrifices. It is not the time to
cower, to falter, or to hesitate. It is the time for
the nation to plant its feet more firmly than ever
on the ground and to square its shoulders to bear
the increased weight cast on it by events.
When I talk of the nation I do not mean the
nation in the abstract, but the millions of individ-
uals who constitute the nation. If we are to win
the security which it is the common purpose of all
sections to attain, every man and every woman
must be prepared for greater endeavours and
greater sacrifices. A friend of mine, speaking the
other day, said that there was not the enthusiasm
observable which characterised the early days of
the war. That may be so. If a man undertakes
a long, arduous and perilous journey you do not
expect him in the fatiguing hours of the afternoon
to exhibit the same ardour as when he started in
the freshness of the morning. But although he
may not display the same keenness in his demean-
our, if he is a man of any purpose, his ardour may
244 THE GREAT CRUSADE
be less, but his resolution is greater. There is a
hot zeal and a cold zeal, and the greatest things
of the world have been accomplished by the lat-
ter. The will of Britain is as tempered steel.
There is no sign of a break in it, and, although
the pressure may increase and will increase, I
have never doubted that it will bear it all right
to the end.
Man-Power and Tonnage.
We shall have to call on the nation for further
effort, for further sacrifice, but we shall only do
so because it is absolutely necessary now. Pre-
mature sacrifice is waste of moral. There must
be a further drain on our man-power to sustain,
until the American Army arrives, the additional
hurden cast on us by the defection of Russia and
the reverses in Italy. We must have enough men
to defend the lines which we have held against
fierce onsets for three years, and to defend them
against all comers from any quarter of the enemy
front. We must also have an army of manoeuvre
which will enable us to appear with the least delay
at any point of emergency in any part of the colos-
sal battlefield. There is no ground for panic.
Even now, after we have sent troops to the assist-
ance of Italy, the Allies have a marked superior-
ity of numbers in France and Flanders, and we
have considerable reserves at home. Much greater
progress has been made in man-power, especially
during the last few months, than either friends or
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE" 245
foes realise, but it is not enough to enable us to
face new contingencies without anxiety unless we
take further steps to increase our reserves of
trained men.
Before I leave this branch of the subject I must,
however, add another important consideration.
While the Cabinet are prepared with recommen-
dations for raising more men, they are conduct-
ing a searching investigation, with the assistance
of our military advisers, into the best methods of
husbanding the man-power already existing in
our Armies, so as to reduce the terrible wastage
of war.
But the problem of man-power does not end
with the provision of men for the Armies. It is
not even the most urgent part of the problem.
We need more men, not merely for the battle line
across the seas, but for the battle line in this coun-
try. We especially need men to help us to solve
the problems associated with tonnage. You can
increase tonnage in two ways — by building ton-
nage and by saving tonnage. Victory is now a
question of tonnage, and tonnage is victory. Noth-
ing else can defeat us now but shortage of ton-
nage. The advent of the United States into the
war has increased the demand enormously. Ton-
nage must be provided for the transportation of
that gigantic new army with its equipment across
thousands of miles of sea. It is no use raising
ten million men and equipping them unless you
get them somewhere in the vicinity of the foe.
Germany has gambled on America's failure to
M6 THE GREAT CRUSADE
transport lier army to Europe, and that is why
she is still laughing at the colossal figures of sol-
diers in training and aeroplanes in course of con-
struction. We know that the Prussian war lords
have promised their own people, have promised
their allies that these formidable masses will never
find their way into the battle line, and that Presi-
dent Wilson's speeches, M. Clemenceau's speeches,
and my speeches will thus be added to the vast
collection of unredeemed rhetoric with which, ac-
cording to them, democracies have always deluded
themselves.
The Prussian claim is that autocracy alone can
do things, and that democracies can only talk of
doing things. The honour of democracy is at
stake. I have no doubt that here, as in many other
respects, those who trust the Prussian will be dis-
illusioned; but both America and ourselves will
have to strain our resources to the utmost to in-
crease tlie tonnage available. The fact that Amer-
ican tonnage will be absorbed in the transport of
their own armies makes it necessary that we
should increase our responsibilities in the matter
of assisting our French and our Italian Allies to
transport essential commodities to their shores.
We must, therefore, increase our tonnage. In spite
of the fact that we have had less labour available
in this, the fourth, year of the war than we have
ever had before, we have increased the shipbuild-
ing of war and merchant vessels beyond the rec-
ord of any other war years ; and, as Sir Eric Ged-
des stated in the House of Commons, we are now
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE" 247
turning out ships at a rate which is above that of
the record year of shipbuilding in the days of
peace.
But we must do more. As the whole future of
this country and of the world depends on the ef-
forts Britain and America make this next year to
increase the output of ships, we are resolved that
it must, and shall, be done. But we must have
men ; and to have men we must interfere, even to
a greater extent than we have done already, with
the industries which are not absolutely essential
for the prosecution of the war or to the mainte-
nance of the life of the nation. And, however
great the hardships that may be inflicted by this
interference on the particular trades involved, we
must ask the nation to support us. And I feel cer-
tain that the trades themselves will show that pa-
triotism which has characterised every section of
the community in this great national endeavour.
I would only add one further word about ship-
ping". As I have already pointed out, you can in-
crease tonnage in two ways — by building tonnage
and by saving tonnage. I have dealt with the first.
I will say a word about the second. You save ton-
nage by economising — economising in food, econo-
mising in dress. You save tonnage by increasing
the production in this country of material for-
merly imported from abroad — food, timber, min-
erals. All this involves additional labour. As to
food, this year we increased the home production
by two or three million tons. We are the only
belligerents who have succeeded in increasing our
248 THE GREAT CRUSADE
food output during the war, and great credit is due
to those who by a superb feat of organisation and
inspiration, have achieved this result. But it is
essential that we should still further increase the
home supplies. We must save another three mil-
lion tons in our food imports next year. This
means that all those who have land, either as own-
ers or cultivators, must help us, must without de-
lay show their readiness to fall in with plans for
increasing the produce of the land. "We shall do
our best to provide the necessary labour and ma-
chinery, and I am confident that we shall succeed.
But all prejudices, all predilections, must be swept
aside. The nation must be saved. Victory must
come first. Two or three million tons more food
raised in this country means two or three million
tons of shipping made available for strengthening
the armies in the field. Every ton of food which
you produce or save in this country is an increased
weight hurled against the Pnissian barrier.
"Carry It Through."
The nation can help by giving up the things
which are not essential to victory. We must strip
even barer for the fight. The nation can help
in another way — by discouraging ''grousers."
''Grousing" undermines morale and when it is a
question of holding out, the national moral is vital.
You cannot expect things to go on smoothly in war
as they do in peace. You can realise how much
the ordinary life of the nation has been disturbed
"NO HALFWAY HOUSE" 249
by the simple transposition of the figures of our
War Budget into terms of the amount of national
energy which its huge sums are intended to pur-
chase. You cannot take millions of men away from
the tasks of supplying the peace needs of the
community without seriously interfering with the
comforts and amenities of the life of that com-
munity. The wonder is that the disturbance has
not been greater, and I feel that we owe much
gratitude to the experienced and able business
men who, in various directions, have undertaken
to organise the resources of the State for war, for
the services which they have rendered not merely
in increasing our efficiency for war, but in mini-
mising the evils and inconveniences of war.
It is a remarkable fact that, although our im-
ports have enormously diminished, there is less
hunger in the land to-day than in August, 1914.
I ask you to help these men and not to ''rattle"
them. The strain on them is enormous. Make
their task easier. There are some people engaged
in a constant and systematic grumble. The peace
propaganda is fed with grumbles. These people
are anxious to break down the national nerve and
then to rush us into a premature and disastrous
peace. Let us beware of playing their game. We
bave challenged a sinister power which is menac-
ing the world with enslavement. It would have
been better never to have issued the challenge un-
less we meant to carry it through. A challenged
power which is not overthrown always becomes
stronger for the challenge. The people who think
250 THE GREAT CRUSADE
that they can begin a new era of peace while the
Prussian militaiy power is unbeaten are labour-
ing under a strange delusion. We have all been
dreaming of a new world to appear when the del-
uge of war has subsided. Unless we achieve vic-
tory for the great cause for which we entered this
war the new world will simply be the old world
with the heart out of it.
The old world, at least, believed in ideals. It
believed that justice, fair play, liberty, righteous-
ness must triumph in the end; that is, however
you interpret the phrase, the old world believed in
God, and it staked its existence on that belief.
Millions of gallant young men volunteered to die
for that divine faith. But if wrong emerged tri-
umphant out of this conflict, the new world would
feel in its soul that brute force alone counted in
the government of man; and the hopelessness of
the dark ages would once more fall on the earth
like a cloud. To redeem Britain, to redeem Eu-
rope, to redeem the world from this doom must be
the settled purpose of every man and woman who
places duty above ease. This is the fateful hour
of mankind. If we are worthy of the destiny with
which it is charged, untold generations of men will
thank God for the strength which He gave us to
endure to the end.
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES.
SPEECH DELIVERED TO DELEGATES OF TIIE TRADES UNIONS,
AT THE CENTR.UJ HALL, WESTMINSTER, JANUARY 5tH, 1918.
When the Govemment invite organised Labour
in this country to assist them to maintain the
might of their armies in the field, its representa-
tives are entitled to ask that any misgivings and
doubts which any of them may have about the pur-
pose to which this precious strength is to be ap-
plied should be definitely cleared, and what is true
of organised labour is equally true of all citizens
in this country without regard to grade or avo-
cation.
When men by the million are being called upon
to suffer and die and vast populations are being
subjected to the sufferings and privations of war
on a scale unprecedented in the history of the
world, they are entitled to know for what cause or
causes they are making the sacrifice. It is only
the clearest, greatest, and justest of causes that
can justify the continuance even for one day of
this unspeakable agony of the nations. And we
ought to be able to state clearly and definitely not
only the principles for which we are fighting, but
also their definite and concrete application to the
war map of the world.
We have arrived at the most critical hour in this
251
252 THE GREAT CRUSADE
terrible conflict, and before any Government takes
the fateful decision as to the conditions under
which it ought either to terminate or continue the
struggle, it ought to be satisfied that the con-
science of the nation is behind these conditions,
for nothing else can sustain the effort which is
necessary to achieve a righteous end to this war.
I have therefore during the last few days taken
special pains to ascertain the view and the attitude
of representative men of all sections of thought
and opinion in the country. Last week I had the
privilege not merely of perusing the declared war
aims of the Labour Party, but also of discussing
in detail with the Labour leaders the meaning and
intention of that declaration. I have also had an
opportunity of discussing this same momentous
question with Mr. Asquith and Viscount Grey.
Had it not been that the Nationalist leaders are in
Ireland enga^ged in endeavouring to solve the
tangled problem of Irish self-government, I should
have been happy to exchange views with them, but
Mr. Redmond, speaking on their behalf, has, with
his usual lucidity and force, in many of his
speeches, made clear what his ideas are as to the
object and purpose of the war. I have also had
the opportunity of consulting certain representa-
tives of the great Dominions overseas.
I am glad to be able to say as a result of all
these discussions that although the Government
are alone responsible for the actual language I
propose using, there is national agreement as to
the character and purpose of our war aims and
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES i253
peace conditions, and in what I say to you to-day,
and through you to the world, I can venture to
claim that I am speaking not merely the mind of
the Government, but of the nation and of the Em-
pire as a whole.
What We Are Not Fighting For.
We may begin by clearing away some misunder-
standings and stating what we are not fighting
for. We are not fighting a war of aggression
against the German people. Their leaders have
persuaded them that they are fighting a war of
self-defence against a league of rival nations bent
on the destruction of Germany. That is not so. The
destmction or disruption of Germany or the Ger-
man people has never been a war aim with us from
the first day of this war to this da.v. Most reluc-
tantly, and, indeed, quite unprepared for the
dreadful ordeal, we were forced to join in this
war in self-defence, in defence of the violated pub-
lic law of Europe, and in vindication of the most
solemn treaty obligations on which the public sys-
tem of Europe rested, and on which Germany had
ruthlessly trampled in her invasion of Belgium.
We had to join in the struggle or stand aside and
see Europe go under and brute force triumph over
public right and international justice. It was only
the realisation of that dreadful alternative that
forced the British people into the war. And from
that original attitude they have never swerved.
They have never aimed at the break-up of the
254. THE GREAT CRUSADE
German peoples or tlie disintegration of their
State or country. Germany has occupied a great
position in the world. It is not our wish or inten-
tion to question or destroy that position for the fu-
ture, but rather to turn her aside from hopes and
schemes of military domination and to see her de-
vote all her strength to the great beneficent tasks
of the world. Nor are we fighting to destroy
Austria-Hungary or to deprive Turkey of its capi-
tal, or of the rich and renowned lands of Asia Mi-
nor and Thrace, which are predominantly Turkish
in race.
Nor did we enter this war merely to alter or
destroy the Imperial Constitution of Germany,
much as we consider that military autocratic Con-
stitution a dangerous anachronism in the twentieth
century. Our point of view is that the adoption of
a really democratic Constitution by Germany
would be the most convincing evidence that in her
the old spirit of military domination had indeed
died in this war, and would make it much easier
for us to conclude a broad democratic peace with
her. But, after all, that is a question for the Ger-
man people to decide.
The Enemy's War Aims Pronouncements.
It is now more than a year since the President
of the United States, then neutral, addressed to
the belligerents a suggestion that each side should
state clearly the aims for which they were fight-
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES 255
ing. Wc and our Allies responded by the Note of
January 10, 1917.
To the President's appeal the Central Empires
made no reply, and in spite of many adjurations,
both from their opponents and from neutrals, they
have maintained a complete silence as to the ob-
jects for which they are fighting. Even on so
crucial a matter as their intention with regard to
Belgium they have uniformly declined to give any
trustworthy indication.
On December 25 last, however, Count Czemin,
speaking on behalf of Austria-Hungary and her
allies, did make a pronouncement of a kind. It is
indeed deplorably vague. We are told that ''it is
not the intention" of the Central Powers "to ap-
propriate forcibly" any occupied territories or
*'to rob of its independence" any nation which has
lost its ''political independence" during the war.
It is obvious that almost any scheme of conquest
and annexation could be perpetrated within the
literal interpretation of such a pledge.
Does it mean that Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro,
and Rumania will be as independent and as free
to direct their own destinies as the Oermans or
any other nation ? Or does it mean that all man-
ner of interferences and restrictions, political and
economic, incompatible with the status and dignity
of a freed self-respecting people, are to be im-
posed? If this is the intention, then there will be
one kind of independence for a great nation and
an inferior kind of independence for a small naton.
"VVe must know what is meant, for equality of right
256 THE GREAT CRUSADE
amongst nations, small as well as great, is one of
the fundamental issues this country and her Allies
are fighting to establish in this war. Reparation
for the wanton damage inflicted on Belgian towns
and villages and their inhabitants is emphatically
repudiated. The rest of the so-called ''offer" of
the Central Powers is almost entirely a refusal
of all concessions. All suggestions about the au-
tonomy of subject nationalities are ruled out of
the peace terms altogether. The question w^hether
any form of self-government is to be given to
Arabs, Armenians, or Syrians is declared to be
entirely a matter for the Sublime Porte. A pious
wish for the protection of minorities ''in so far as
it is practically realisable" is the nearest ap-
proach to liberty which the Central statesmen ven-
ture to make.
Government hy Consent.
On one point only are they perfectly clear and
definite. Under no circumstances will the "Ger-
man demand" for the restoration of the whole of
Germany's colonies be departed from. All prin-
ciples of self-determination, or, as our earlier
phrase goes, government by consent of the gov-
erned, here vanish into thin air.
It is impossible to believe that any edifice of
permanent peace could be erected on such a foun-
dation as this. Mere lip service to the formula of
no annexations and no indemnities or the right of
self-determination is useless. Before any negotia-
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES 257
tions can ever be begun, the Central Powers must
realise the essential facts of the situation.
The days of the Treaty of Vienna are long past.
We can no longer submit the future of European
civilisation to the arbitrary decisions of a few ne-
gotiators striving to secure by chicanery or per-
suasion the interests of this or that dynasty or na-
tion. The settlement of the new Europe must be
based on such gi'ounds of reason and justice as
will give some promise of stability. Therefore it
is that we feel that government with the consent
of the governed must be the basis of any terri-
torial settlement in this war. For that reason
also, unless treaties be upheld, unless every na-
tion is prepared at whatever sacrifice to honour
the national signature, it is obvious that no Treaty
of Peace can be worth the paper on which it is
written.
Bestoration and Reparation.
The first requirement, therefore, always put for-
ward by the British Government and their Allies,
has been the complete restoration, political, terri-
torial, and economic, of the independence of Bel-
gium and such reparation as can be made for the
devastation of its towns and provinces. This is no
demand for war indemnity, such as that imposed
on France by Germany in 1871. It is not an at-
tempt to shift the cost of warlike operations from
one belligerent to another, which may or may not
be defensible. It is no more and no less than an
258 THE GREAT CRUSADE
insistence that, before there can be any hope for a
stable peace, this great breach of the public law
of Europe must be repudiated and, so far as pos-
sible, repaired. Reparation means recognition.
Unless international right is recognised by insist-
ence on payment for injury done in defiance of
its canons it can never be a reality. Next comes
the restoration of Serbia, Montenegro, and the oc-
cupied parts of France, Italy, and Rumania. The
completcy withdrawal of the alien armies and the
reparation for injustice done is a fundamental
condition of permanent peace.
We mean to stand by the French democracy to
the death in the demand they make for a recon-
sideration of the great wrong of 1871, when, with-
out any regard to the wishes of the population,
two French provinces were torn from the side of
France and incorporated in the German Empire.
This sore has poisoned the peace of Europe for
half a century, and until it is cured healthy con-
ditions will not have been restored. There can
be no better illustration of the folly and wicked-
ness of using a transient military success to vio-
late national right.
Russia.
I will not attempt to deal with the question of
the Russian territories now in German occupation.
The Russian policy since the Revolution has
passed so rapidly through so many phases that it
is difficult to speak without some suspension of
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES 259
judgment as to what the situation will be when the
final terms of European peace con^e to be dis-
cussed. Eussia accepted war with all its horrors
because, true to her traditional guardianship of
the weaker communities of her race, she stepped
in to protect Serbia from a plot against her in-
dependence. It is this honourable sacrifice which
brought not merely Russia into the war, but
France as well. France, true to the conditions of
her treaty with Russia, stood by her Ally in a
quarrel which was not her own. Her chivalrous
respect for her treaty led to the wanton invasion
of Belgium; and the treaty obligations of Great
Britain to that little land brought us into the war.
The present rulers of Russia are now engaged,
without any reference to the countries whom Rus-
sia brought into the war, in separate negotiations
with their common enemy. I am indulging in no
reproaches ; I am merely stating facts with a view
to making it clear why Britain cannot be held ac-
countable for decisions taken in her absence, and
concerning which she has not been consulted or
her aid invoked. No one who knows Prussia and
her designs upon Russia can for a moment doubt
her ultimate intention. Whatever phrases she
may use to delude Russia, she does not mean to
surrender one of the fair provinces or cities of
Russia now occupied by her forces. Under one
name or another — and the name hardly matters —
those Russian provinces will henceforth be in real-
ity part of the dominions of Prussia. They will
be ruled by the Prussian sword in the interests of
260 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Prussian autocracy, and the rest of the people of
Russia will be partly enticed by specious phrases
and partly bullied by the threat of continued war
against an impotent army into a condition of com-
plete economic and ultimate political enslavement
to Germany. We all deplore the prospect. The
democracy of this country mean to stand to the
last by the democracies of France and Italy and
all our other Allies. We shall be proud to fight
to the end side by side by the new democracy of
Russia; so will America and so will France and
Italy. But if the present rulers of Russia take
action which is independent of their Allies we have
no means of intervening to arrest the catastrophe
which is assuredly befalling their country. Rus-
sia can only be saved by her own people.
We believe, however, that an independent Po-
land, comprising all those genuinely Polish ele-
ments who desire to form part of it, is an urgent
necessity for the stability of Western Europe.
Austria-Hungari/.
Similarly, though we agree with President Wil-
son that the break-up of Austria-Hungary is no
part of our war aims, we feel that, unless genuine
self-government on true democratic principles is
granted to those Austro-Hungarian nationalities
who have long desired it, it is impossible to hope
for the removal of those causes of unrest in that
part of Europe which have so long threatened its
general peace.
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES 261
On the same grounds we regard as vital the sat-
isfaction of the legitimate claims of the Italians
for union with those of their own race and tongue.
"We also mean to press that justice be done to men
of Rumanian blood and speech in their legitimate
aspirations. If these conditions are fulfilled, Aus-
tria-Hungaiy would become a Power whose
strength would conduce to the permanent peace
and freedom of Europe, instead of being merely
an instrument to the pernicious military autocracy
of Prussia that uses the resources of its allies for
the furtherance of its own sinister purposes.
Turkey.
Outside Europe we believe that the same prin-
ciples should be applied. While we do not chal-
lenge the maintenance of the Turkish Empire in
the homelands of the Turkish race with its capital
at Constantinople — the passage between the Medi-
terranean and the Black Sea being international-
ised and neutralised — Arabia, Armenia, Mesopo-
tamia, Syria, and Palestine are in our judgment
entitled to a recognition of their separate national
conditions.
What the exact form of that recognition in each
particular case should be need not here be dis-
cussed, beyond stating that it would be impossible
to restore to their former sovereignty the terri-
tories to which I have already referred.
Much has been said about the arrangements we
have entered into with our Allies on this and on
262 THE GREAT CRUSADE
other subjects. I can only say that as new cir-
cumstances, like the Russian collapse and the sepa-
rate Russian negotiations, have changed the con-
ditions under which those arrangements were
made, we are, and always have been, perfectly
ready to discuss them with our Allies.
The German Colonies.
With regard to the German colonies, I have re-
peatedly declared that they are held at the dis-
posal of a Conference whose decision must have
primary regard to the wishes and interests of the
native inhabitants of such colonies. None of those
territories are inhabited by Europeans. The gov-
erning consideration, therefore, in all these cases
must be that the inhabitants should be placed
under the control of an administration acceptable
to themselves, one of whose main purposes will be
to prevent their exploitation for the benefit of Eu-
ropean capitalists or Governments. The natives
live in their various tribal organisations under
chiefs and councils who are competent to consult
and speak for their tribes and members, and thus
to represent their wishes and interests in regard
to their disposal.
The general principle of national self-determi-
nation is therefore as applicable in their cases as
in those of occupied European territories. The
German declaration, that the natives of the Ger-
man colonies have, through their military fidelity
in the war, shown their attachment c.nd resolve
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES 263
under all circnmstances to remain with Germany,
is applicable not to the Gennan col6nies generally,
but only to one of them, and in that case (German
East Africa) the German authorities secured the
attachment, not of the native population as a
whole, which is and remains profoundly anti-Ger-
man, but only of a small warlike class from whom
their Askaris, or soldiers, were selected. These
they attached to themselves by conferring on them
a highly privileged position as against the bulk
of the native population, which enabled these As-
karis to assume a lordly and oppressive superi-
ority over the rest of the natives. By this and
other means they secured the attachment of a very
small and insignificant minority whose interests
were directly opposed to those of the rest of the
population, and for whom they have no right to
speak. The German treatment of their native
populations in their colonies has been such as am-
ply to justify their fear of submitting the future
of those colonies to the wishes of the natives them-
selves.
Violation of Internatio')Ml Law.
Finally, there must be reparation for injuries
done in violation of international law. The Peace
Conference must not forget our seamen and the
services they have rendered to, and the outrages
they have suffered for, the common cause of free-
dom.
264 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Creaiicn of mv International Organisation.
One omission we notice in the proposal of the
Central Powers which seems to us especially re-
grettable. It is desirable, and indeed essential,
that the settlement after this war shall be one
which does not in itself bear the seeji of future
war. But that is not enough. However wisely
and well we may make territorial and other ar-
rangements, there will still be many subjects of
international controversy. Some, indeed, are in-
evitable.
The economic conditions at the end of the war
will be in the highest degree difficult. Owing to
tbe diversion of human effort to warlike pursuits,
there must follow a world-shortage of raw ma-
terials, which will increase the longer the war
lasts, and it is inevitable that those countries
which have control of the raw materials mil desire
to help themselves and their friends first.
Apart from this, whatever settlement is made
will be suitable only to the circumstances under
which, it is made, and as those circumstances
change, changes in the settlement will be called
for.
So long as the possibility of dispute between na-
tions continues, that is to say, so long as men and
women are dominated by passioned ambition and
war is the only means of settling a dispute, all
nations must live under the burden not only of
having from time to time to engage in it, but of
being compelled to prepare for its possible out-
THE WAR AIMS OF THE ALLIES 265
break. The crushing weight of modem arma-
ments, the increasing evil of comjjulsory military
service, the vast waste of wealth and effort in-
volved in warlike preparation, these are blots on
our civilisation of which every thinking individual
must be ashamed.
For these and other similar reasons, we are con-
fident that a great attempt must be made to es-
tablish by some international organisation an al-
ternative to war as a means of settling interna-
tional disputes. After all, war is a relic of bar-
barism, and just as law has succeeded violence as
the means of settling disputes between individ-
uals, so we believe that it is destined ultimately
to take the place of war in the settlement of con-
troversies between nations.
*'A Just and Lasiing Peace."
If, then, we are asked what we are fighting for,
we reply — as we have often replied — We are fight-
ing for a just and a lasting peace, and we believe
that before permanent peace can be hoped for
three conditions must be fulfilled.
First, the sanctity of treaties must be re-estab-
lished; secondly, a territorial settlement must be
secured based on the right of self-determination
or the consent of the governed; and, lastly, we
must seek by the creation of some international
organisation to limit the burden of armaments and
diminish the probability of war.
266 THE GREAT CRUSADE
On these conditions the British Empire would
welcome peace, to secure these conditions its peo-
ples are prepared to make even greater sacrifices
than those they have yet endured.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
containing extracts from a previous volume op speeches,
"through terror to triumph !"
I.
EXTRACT FROM PREFACE TO "THROUGH TERROR TO TRIUMPH !"
After twelve months of war my conviction is stronger
than ever that this country could not have kept out of it
without imperilling its security and impairing its honour.
We could not have looked on cynically with folded arms
whilst the country we had given our word to protect was
being ravaged and trodden by one of our own co-trustees.
If British women and children were being brutally de-
stroyed on the high seas by German submarines, this
nation would have insisted on calling the infanticide
Empire to a stern reckoning. Everything that has hap-
pened since the declaration of war has demonstrated
clearly that a military system so regardless of good
faith, of honourable obligations, and of the elementary
impulses of humanity, constituted a menace to civilisa-
tion of the most sinister character ; and despite the terri-
ble cost of suppressing it, the well-being of humanity
demands that such a system should be challenged and
destroyed. The fact that events have also shown that the
might of this military clique has exceeded the gloomiest
prognostications provides an additional argument for its
destruction. The greater the might, the darker the
menace.
Nor have the untoward incidents of the war weakened
269
270 THE GREAT CRUSADE
my faith in ultimate victoiy — always provided that the
allied nations put forth the whole of their strength ere it
is too late. Anything less must lead to defeat. The
allied countries have an overwhelming preponderance
in the raw material that goes to the making and equip-
ment of armies, whether in men, money, or accessible
metals and machinery. But this material has to be
mobilised and utilised. It would be idle to pretend that
the first twelve months of the war has seen this task ac-
complished satisfactorily. Had the Allies realised in
time the full strength of their redoubtable and resource-
ful foes — nay, what is more, had they realised their own
strength and resources, and taken prompt action to
organise them, to-day we should have witnessed the
triumphant spectacle of their guns pouring out a stream
of shot and shell which would have deluged the German
trenches with fire and scorched the German legions back
across their own frontiers.
What is the actual position? It is thoroughly well
known to the Germans, and anyone in any land, bellig-
erent or neutral, who reads intelligently the military
news, must by now have a comprehension of it. With
the resources of Great Britain, France, Russia — ^yea, of
the whole industrial world — at the disposal of the Allies,
it is obvious that the Central Powers have still an over-
whelming superiority in all the material and equipment
of war. The result of this deplorable fact is exactly
what might have been foreseen. The iron heel of Ger-
many has sunk deeper than ever into French and Bel-
gian soil. Poland is entirely German; Lithuania is
rapidly following. Russian fortresses, deemed im-
pregnable, are falling like sand castles before the resist-
less tide of Teutonic invasion. When will that tide re-
cede ? When will it be stemmed ? As soon as the Allies
are supplied with abundance of war material.
APPENDIX 271
That is why I am recalling these unpleasant facts, be-
cause I wish to stir my countrymen to |3ut forth their
strength to amend the situation. To dwell on such
events is the most disagreeable task that can fall to the
lot of a public man. For all that, the public man who
either shirks these facts himself, or does not do his best
to force others to face them until they are redressed, is
guilty of high treason to the State which he has sworn
to serve.
There has been a great awakening in all the Allied
countries, and prodigious efforts are being put forth to
equip the armies in the field. I know what we are doing :
our exertions are undoubtedly immense. But can we do
more cither in men or material? Nothing but our best
and utmost can pull us through. Are we now straining
every nerve to make up for lost time? Are we getting
all the men we shall want to put into the fighting line
next year to enable us even to hold our own ? Does every
man who can help, whether by fighting or by providing
material, understand clearly that ruin awaits remiss-
ness? How many people in this country fully appre-
hend the full significance of the Russian retreat ? For
over twelve months Russia has in spite of deficiencies in
equipment absorbed the energies of half the German and
four-fifths of the Austrian forces. Is it realised that
Russia has for the time being made her contribution —
and what a heroic contribution it is! — to the straggle
for European freedom, and that we cannot for many
months to come expect the same active help from the
Russian armies that we have hitherto received? Who
is to take the Russian place in the fight whilst those
armies are re-equipping? Who is to bear the weight
which has hitherto fallen on Russian shoulders ? France
cannot be expected to sustain much heavier burdens
than those which she now bears with a quiet courage
272 THE GREAT CRUSADE
that has astonished and moved the world. Italy is put-
ting her strength into the fight. What could she do
more ? There is only Britain left. Is Britain prepared
to fill up the great gap that will be created when Russia
has retired to re-arm? Is she fully prepared to cope
with all the possibilities of the next few months — in the
"West, without forgetting the East? Upon the answer
which Government, employers, workmen, financiers,
young men who can bear arms, women who can work in
factories — in fact, the whole people of this great land,
give to this question, will depend the liberties of Europe
for many a generation.
A shrewd and sagacious observer told me the other day
that in his judgment the course pursued by this coun-
try during the next three months would decide the fate
of this war. If we are not allowed to equip our factories
and workshops with adequate labour to supply our ar-
mies, because we must not transgress regulations applica-
ble to normal conditions; if practices are maintained
which restrict the output of essential war material; if
the nation hesitates, when the need is clear, to take the
necessary steps to call forth its manhood to defend hon-
our and existence ; if vital decisions are postponed until
too late; if we neglect to make ready for all probable
eventualities; if, in fact, we give ground for the accu-
sation that we are slouching into disaster as if we were
walking along the ordinary paths of peace without an
enemy in sight ; then I can see no hope : but if we
sacrifice all we own and all we like for our native land ;
if our preparations are characterised by grip, resolu-
tion, and a prompt readiness in every sphere ; then vic-
tory is assured.
II.
"THROUGH TERROR TO TRIUMPH!"
SPEECH ON THE WAR, DELIVERED AT THE QUEEN'S HALL, LONDON,
SEPTEMBER 19tH, 1914.
Why Our National Honour is Involved.
There is no man who has always regarded the prospect
of engaging in a great war with greater reluctance and
with greater repugnance than I have done throughout
the whole of my political life. There is no man more
convinced that we could not have avoided it without na-
tional dishonour. I am fully alive to the fact that every
nation who has ever engaged in any war has always
invoked the sacred name of honour. Many a crime has
been committed in its name ; there are some being com-
mitted now. All the same, national honour is a reality,
and any nation that disregards it is doomed. Why is
our honour as a country involved in this war? Be-
cause, in the first instance, we are bound by honourable
obligations to defend the independence, the liberty, the
integrity, of a small neighbour who has always lived
peaceably. She could not have compelled us; she was
weak; but the man who declines to discharge his duty
because his creditor is too poor to enforce it is a black-
guard. We entered into a treaty — a solemn treaty — two
treaties — to defend Belgium and her integrity. Our
signatures are attached to the documents. Our signa-
tures do not stand alone there ; this country was not the
only country that undertook to defend the integrity of
273
274 THE GREAT CRUSADE
Belgium. Russia, France, Austria, Prussia — they are all
there. Why are Austria and Prussia not performing the
obligations of their bond?
France and Belgium in 1870.
It is suggested that when we quot€ this treaty it is
purely an excuse on our part — it is our low craft and
cunning to cloak our jealousy of a superior civilisation
that we are attempting to destroy. Our answer is the
action we took in 1870. "What was that ? Mr. Gladstone
was then Prime Minister. Lord Granville, I think, was
then Foreign Secretary. I have never heard it laid to
their charge that they were ever Jingoes. That treaty
bound us then. We called upon the belligerent Powers
to respect it. We called upon France, and we called
upon Germany. At that time, bear in mind, the great-
est danger to Belgium came from France and not from
Germany. We intervened to protect Belgium against
France, exactly as we are doing now to protect her
against Germany. We proceeded in exactly the same
way. We invited both the belligerent Powers to state
that they had no intention of violating Belgian terri-
tory. What was the answer given by Bismarck ? He said it
was superfluous to ask Prussia such a question in view
of the treaties in force. France gave a similar answer.
We received at that time the thanks of the Belgian peo-
ple for our intervention in a very remarkable document.
It is a document addressed by the municipality of Brus-
sels to Queen Victoria after that intervention, and it
reads : —
' ' The great and noble people over whose destinies you
preside has just given a further proof of its benevolent
sentiments towards oux country. . . . The voice of the
APPENDIX 275
English nation has been heard above the din of arms,
and it has asserted the principles of justice and ricrht.
Next to the unalterable attachment of the Belgian people
to their independence, the strongest sentiment which fills
their hearts is that of an imperishable gratitude."
That was in 1870. Mark what followed. Three or
four days after that document of thanks, a French army-
was wedged up against the Belgian frontier, every means
of escape shut out by a ring of flame from Prussian
cannon. There was one way of escape. What was that ?
Violating the neutrality of Belgium. "What did they
do? The French on that occasion preferred ruin and
humiliation to the breaking of their bond. The French
Emperor, the French marshals, a hundred thousand gal-
lant Frenchmen in arms, preferred to be carried captive
to the strange land of their enemies, rather than dis-
honour the name of their country. It was the last
French army in the field. Had they violated Belgian
neutrality, the whole history of that war would have
been changed, and yet, when it was the interest of
France to break the treaty then, she did not do it.
''A Scrap of Paper."
It is the interest of Prussia to-day to break the treaty,
and she has done it. She avows it with cynical contempt
for every principle of justice. She says : ' ' Treaties only
bind you when it is your interest to keep them. " " What
is a treaty?" says the German Chancellor. *'A scrap
of paper," Have you any £5 notes about you? I am
not calling for them. Have you any of those neat little
Treasury £1 notes? If you have, burn them; they are
only scraps of paper. What are they made of? Rags.
What are they worth ? The whole credit of the British
Empire. Scraps of paper! I have been dealing with
276 THE GREAT CRUSADE
scraps of paper within the last month. One suddenly
found the commerce of the world coming to a standstill.
The machine had stopped. Why? I will tell you. We
discovered — many of us for the first time, for I do not
pretend that I do not know much more about the ma-
chinery of commerce to-day than I did six weeks ago,
and there are many others like me — we discovered that
the machinery of commerce was moved by bills of ex-
change. I have seen some of them, wretched, crinkled,
scrawled over, blotched, frowsy, and yet those wretched
little scraps of paper move great ships laden with thou-
sands of tons of precious cargo from one end of the world
to the other. What is the motive power behind them?
The honour of commercial men.
Treaties are the currency of international statesman-
ship. Let us be fair: German merchants, German trad-
ers, have the reputation of being as upright and straight-
forward as any traders in the world, but if the currency
of German commerce is to be debased to the level of
that of her statesmanship, no trader from Shanghai to
Valparaiso will ever look at a German signature again.
This doctrine of the scrap of paper, this doctrine which
is proclaimed by Bernhardi, that treaties only bind a
nation as long as it is to its interest, goes under the root
of all public law. It is the straight road to barbarism.
It is as if you were to revoke the Magnetic Pole because
it was in the way of a German cruiser. The whole navi-
gation of the seas would become dangerous, difficult and
impossible ; and the whole machinery of civilisation will
break down if this doctrine wins in this war. We are
fighting against barbarism, and there is only one way of
putting it right. If there are nations that say they will
only respect treaties when it is to their interest to do so,
we must make it to their interest to do so for the future.
APPENDIX 277
Germany's Perjury.
What is their defence? Consider the ihterview which
took place between our Ambassador and the great Ger-
man officials. When their attention was called to this
treaty to which they were parties, they said: "We can-
not help that. Kapidity of action is the great German
asset." There is a greater asset for a nation than
rapidity of action, and that is honest dealing. What
are Germany's excuses? She says Belgium was plot-
ting against her; Belgium was engaged in a great con-
spiracj^ with Britain and with France to attack her.
Not merely is it not true, but Germany knows it is not
true. What is her other excuse? That France meant
to invade Germany through Belgium. That is abso-
lutely untrue. France offered Belgium five army corps
to defend her if she were attacked. Belgium said : " I
do not require them ; I have the word of the Kaiser.
Shall Cassar send a lie?" All these tales about con-
spiracy have been vamped up since. A great nation
ought to be ashamed to behave like a fraudulent bank-
rupt, perjuring its way through its obligations. What
she says is not true. She has deliberately broken this
treaty, and we were in honour bound to stand by it.
Belgium's ''Crime."
Belgium has been treated brutally. How brutally we
shall not yet know. We already know too much. But
what had she done ? Had she sent an ultimatum to Ger-
many? Had she challenged Germany? Was she pre-
paring to make war on Germany ? Had she inflicted any
wrong upon Germany which the Kaiser was bound to
redress? She was one of the most unoffending little
countries in Europe. There she was — peaceable, indus-
278 THE GREAT CRUSADE
trious, thrifty, hard-working, giving offence to no one.
And her cornfields have been trampled, her villages
have been burnt, her art treasures have been destroyed,
her men have been slaughtered — yea, and her women
and children too. Hundreds and thousands of her peo-
ple, their neat, comfortable little homes burnt to the
dust, are wandering homeless in their own land. What
was their crime? Their crime was that they trusted to
the word of a Prussian King. I do not know what the
Kaiser hopes to achieve by this war. I have a shrewd
idea what he will get ; but one thing he has made certain,
and that is that no nation will ever commit that crime
again.
"The Right to Defend Its Homes."
I am not going to enter into details of outrages. War
is a grim, ghastly business at best or worst, and I am
not going to say that all that has been said in the way
of outrages must necessarily be true. I will go beyond
that, and I will say that if you turn two million men —
forced, conscript, compelled, driven — into the fi^eld, you
will always get amongst them a certain number who
will do things that the nation to which they belong
would be ashamed of. I am not depending on these
tales. It is enough for me to have the story which
Germans themselves avow, admit, defend and proclaim
— the burning and massacring, the shooting down of
harmless people. Why ? Because, according to the Ger-
mans, these people fired on German soldiers. What
business had German soldiers there at all? Belgium
was acting in pursuance of the most sacred right, the
right to defend its homes. But they were not in uni-
form when they fired ! If a burglar broke into the
Kaiser's Palace at Potsdam, destroyed his furniture,
killed his servants, ruined his art treasures — especially
APPENDIX 279
those he has made himself — and burned the precious
manuscripts of his speeches, do you think he would
wait until he got into uniform before he shot him down ?
The Belgians were dealing with tliose who had broken
into their household.
But the perfidy of the Germans has already failed.
They entered Belgium to save time. The time has gone.
They have not gained time, but they have lost their
good name.
The Case of Serbia.
But Belgium is not the only little nation that has been
attacked in this war, and I make no excuse for referring
to the case of the other little nation, the case of Serbia.
The history of Serbia is not unblotted. Whose history,
in the category of nations, is unblotted? The first na-
tion that is without sin, let her cast a stone at Serbia.
She was a nation trained in a horrible school, but she
won her freedom with a tenacious valour, and she has
maintained it by the same courage. If any Serbians
were mixed up in the assassination of the Grand Duke,
they ought to be punished. Serbia admits that. The
Serbian Government had nothing to do with it. Not
even Austria claims that. The Serbian Prime Minister
is one of the most capable and honoured men in Europe.
Serbia was willing to punish any one of her subjects who
had been proved to have any complicity in that assassina-
tion. What more could you expect?
What were the Austrian demands? Serbia sympa-
thised with her fellow-countrymen in Bosnia — that was
one of her crimes. She must do so no more. Her news-
papers were saying nasty things about Austria; they
must do so no longer. That is the German spirit; you
had it in Zabern. How dare you criticise a Prussian
official? And if you laugh, it is a capital offence — the
280 THE GREAT CRUSADE
colonel in Zabem threatened to shoot if it was repeated.
In the same way the Serbian newspapers must not criti-
cise Austria. I wonder what would have happened if
we had taken the same line about German newspapers !
Serbia said: "Very well, we will give orders to the
newspapers that they must in future criticise neither
Austria, nor Hungary, nor anything that is theirs."
"Who can doubt the valour of Serbia, when she undertook
to tackle her newspaper editors? She promised not to
sympathise with Bosnia ; she promised to write no criti-
cal articles about Austria; she would have no public
meetings in which anything unkind was said about
Austria.
"Serbia Faced the Situation with Dignity."
But that was not enough. She must dismiss from her
army the officers whom Austria should subsequently
name — those officers who had just emerged from a war
where they had added lustre to the Serbian arms. They
were gallant, brave and efficient. I wonder whether it
was their guilt or their efficiency that prompted Aus-
tria's action! But, mark you, the officers were not
named; Serbia was to undertake in advance to dismiss
them from the army, the names to be sent in subse-
quently. Can you name a country in the world that
would have stood that ? Supposing Austria or Germany
had issued an ultimatum of that kind to this country,
saying, "You must dismiss from your Army — and from
your Navy — all those officers whom we shall subsequent-
ly name. ' ' Well, I think I could name them now. Lord
Kitchener would go. Sir John French would be sent
away; General Smith-Dorrien would go, and I am sure
that Sir John Jellicoe would have to go. And there is
another gallant old warrior who would go — ^Lord Rob-
APPENDIX 281
erts. It was a difficult situation for a small country.
Here was a demand made upon her by a great military
Power that could have put half-a-dozen men in the field
for every one of Serbia's men, and that Power was sup-
ported by the greatest military Power in the world. How
did Serbia behave? It is not what happens to you in
life that matters; it is the way in which you face it —
and Serbia faced the situation with dignity. She said
to Austria: "If any officers of mine have been guilty,
and are proved to be guilty, I will dismiss them." Aus-
tria said: "That is not good enough for me." It was
not guilt she was after, but capacity.
Russia's Turn.
Then came Russia's turn. Russia has a special re-
gard for Serbia; she has a special interest in Serbia.
Russians have shed their blood for Serbian independence
many a time, for Serbia is a member of Russia's fam-
ily, and she cannot see Serbia maltreated. Austria
knew that. Germany knew it, and she turned round to
Russia and said: "I insist that you shall stand by with
your arms folded whilst Austria is strangling your lit-
tle brother to death." What answer did the Russian
Slav give? He gave the only answer that becomes a
man. He turned to Austria and said: "You lay hands
on that little fellow, and I will tear your ramshackle
Empire limb from limb." And he will do it!
The Little Nations.
That is the story of two little nations. The world
owes much to little nations — and to little men! This
theory of bigness, this theory that you must have a big
Empire, and a big nation, and a big man — well, long legs
282 THE GREAT CRUSADE
have their advantage in a retreat. Frederick the First
chose his warriors for their height, and that tradition
has become a policy in Germany. Germany applies that
ideal to nations, and will only allow six-foot-two nations
to stand in the ranks. But ah ! the world owes much to
the little five-foot-five nations. The greatest art in the
world was the work of little nations; the most endur-
ing literature of the world came from little nations;
the greatest literature of England came when she was a
nation of the size of Belgium fighting a great Empire.
The heroic deeds that thrill humanity through genera-
tions were the deeds of little nations fighting for their
freedom. Yes, and the salvation of mankind came
through a little nation, God has chosen little nations
as the vessels by which He carries His choicest wines
to the lips of humanity, to rejoice their hearts, to exalt
their vision, to stimulate and strengthen their faith:
and if we had stood by when two little nations were
being crushed and broken by the brutal hands of barbar-
ism, our shame would have rung down the everlasting
ages.
''The Test of Our Faith."
But Germany insists that this is an attack by a lower
civilisation upon a higher one. As a matter of fact, the
attack was begun by the civilisation which calls itself
the higher one. I am no apologist for Russia: she has
perpetrated deeds of which I have no doubt her best
sons are ashamed. What Empire has not? But Ger-
many is the last Empire to point the finger of reproach
at Russia. Russia has made sacrifices for freedom —
great sacrifices. Do you remember the cry of Bulgaria
when she was torn by the most insensate tyranny that
Europe has ever seen ? Who listened to that cry ? The
only answer of the higher civilisation was that the liberty
APPENDIX 283
of the Bulgarian peasants was not worth the life of a
single Pomeranian soldier. But the rude barbarians of
the North sent their sons by the thousand to die for
Bulgarian freedom. What about England? Go to
Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France — in all
those lands I could point out places where the sons of
Britain have died for the freedom of those peoples.
France has made sacrifices for the freedom of other
lands than her own. Can you name a single country in
the world for the freedom of which modern Prussia has
ever sacrified a single life? By the test of our faith,
the highest standard of civilisation is the readiness to
sacrifice for others.
German "Civilisation."
I will not say a single word in disparagement of the
German people. They are a great people, and have great
qualities of head and hand and heart. I believe, in spite
of recent events, that there is as great a store of kindli-
ness in the German peasant as in any peasant in the
world ; but he has been drilled into a false idea of civilisa-
tion. It is efficient, it is capable ; but it is a hard civilisa-
tion; it is a selfish civilisation; it is a material civilisa-
tion. They cannot comprehend the action of Britain at
the present moment; they say so. They say, "France
we can understand ; she is out for vengeance ; she is out
for territory — Alsace and Lorraine." They say they
can understand Russia; she is fighting for mastery —
she wants Galicia. They can understand you fighting
for masterv' — they can understand you fighting for
greed of territory; but they cannot understand a gi'eat
Empire pledging its resources, pledging its might,
pledging the lives of its children, pledging its very ex-
istence, to protect a little nation that seeks to defend
2S4 THE GREAT CRUSADE
herself. God made man in HLs own image, high of
purpose, in the region of the spirit : German civilisation
would re-create him in the image of a Diesel machine —
precise, accurate, powerful, but with no room for soul
to operate.
Philosophy of Blood and Iroi\.
Have you read the Kaiser's speeches? If you have
not a copy I adWse you to buy one; they will soon be
out of print, and you will not have many more of the
same sort. They are full of the glitter and bluster of
German militarism — "mailed fist." and "shining ar-
mour." Poor old mailed fist I Its knuckles are getting
a little bruised. Poor shining armour I The shine is
being knocked out of it. There is the same swagger and
boastfulness running through the whole of the speeches.
The extract which was given in the British Weekly this
week is a very remarkable product as an iLlustration
of the spirit we have to fight. It is the Kaiser's speech
to his soldiers on the way to the front : —
"Remember that the German people are the chosen
of God. On me. the German Emperor, the Spirit of
God has descended. I am His sword, His weapon, and
His vicegerent. TToe to the disobedient, and death t»
cowards and unbelievers."
Lunacy is always distressing, but sometimes it is dan-
gerous : and when you get it manifested in the head of
the State, and it has become the i)olicy of a great Em-
pire, it is about time that it should be ruthlessly put
away. I do not believe he meant all those speeches ;
it was simply the martial straddle he had acquired.
But there were men around him who meant every word
of them. This was their religion. Treaties? Thev
APPENDIX 285
tangle the feet of Germany in her advance. Cut them
with the sword ! Little nations ? They hinder the ad-
vance of Germany. Trample them in the mire under the
German heel! The Russian Slav? He challenges the
supremacy of Gennany and Europe. Hurl your legions
at him and massacre him ! Britain ? She is a constant
menace to the predominancy of Germany in the world.
Wrest the trident out of her hand ! Christianity ? Sick-
ly sentimentalism about sacrifice for others! Poor pap
for German digestion! We will have a new diet. We
will force it upon the world. It will be made in Ger-
many — a diet of blood and iron. What remains ? Trea-
ties have gone. The honour of nations has gone. Lib-
erty has gone. What is left? Germany! Germany is
left !— ' ' Deutschland iiber Alles ! ' '
That is what we are fighting — that claim to predomi-
nancy of a material, hard civilisation, a civilisation
which if it once rules and sways the world, liberty goes,
democracy vanishes. And unless Britain and her sons
come to the rescue it will be a dark day for humanity.
"The Road-Hog of Europe."
We are not fighting the German people. The German
people are under the heel of this military caste, and
it will be a day of rejoicing for the German peasant,
artisan, and trader when the military caste is broken.
You know its pretensions. They give themselves the
airs of demigods. They walk the pavements, and civil-
ians and their wives are swept into the gutter; they
have no right to stand in the way of a great Pnissian
soldier. Men, women, nations — they all have to go. He
thinks aU he has to say is "We are in a hurry." That
is the answer he gave to Belgium — "Rapidity of action
is Germany's greatest asset," which means "I am in a
286 THE GREAT CRUSADE
hurry; clear out of my way." You know the type of
motorist, the terror of the roads, with a 60 horse-power
car, who thinks the roads are made for him, and knocks
down anybody who impedes the action of his car by a
single mile an hour. The Prussian Junker is the road-
hog of Europe. Small nationalities in his way are
hurled to the roadside, bleeding and broken. Women
and children are crushed under the wheels of his cruel
car, and Britain is ordered out of his road. All I can
say is this: if the old British spirit is alive in British
hearts, that bully will be torn from his seat. Were he
to win, it would be the greatest catastrophe that has
befallen democracy since the day of the Holy Alliance
and its ascendancy.
"Through Terror to Triumph."
They think we cannot beat them. It will not be easy.
It will be a long job; it will be a teri'ible war; but in
the end we shall march through terror to triumph. We
shall need all our qualities — every quality that Britain
and its people possess — prudence in counsel, daring in
action, tenacity in purpose, courage in defeat, modera-
tion in victory ; in all things faith !
It has pleased them to believe and to preach the belief
that we are a decadent and degenerate people. They
proclaim to the world through their professors that we
are a non-heroic nation skulking behind our mahogany
counters, whilst we egg on more gallant races to their
destruction. This is the description given of us in Ger-
many — "a timorous, craven nation, trusting to its
Fleet." I think they are beginning to find their mis-
take out already — and there are half a million young
men of Britain who have already registered a vow to
their King that they will cross the seas and hurl that
APPENDIX 287
insult to British courage against its perpetrators on the
battlefields of France and Germany. We want half a
million more; and we shall get them.
''A Welsh Army in the Field"
Wales must continue doing her duty. I should like
to see a Welsh army in the field. I should like to see
the race that faced the Norman for hundreds of years in
■a struggle for freedom, the race that helped to win
Crecy, the race that fought for a generation under Glen-
dower against the greatest captain in Europe — I should
like to see that race give a good taste of its quality in
this struggle in Europe ; and they are going to do it.
The Sacrifice.
I envy you young people your opportunity. They
have put up the age limit for the Army, but I am sorry
to say I have marched a good many years even beyond
that. It is a great opportunity, an opportunity that
only comes once in many centuries to the children of
men. For most generations sacrifice comes in drab and
weariness of spirit. It comes to you to-day, and it
comes to-day to us all, in the form of the glow and thrill
of a great movement for liberty, that impels millions
throughout Europe to the same noble end. It is a great
war for the emancipation of Europe from the thraldom
of a military caste which has thrown its shadows upon
two generations of men, and is now plunging the world
into a welter of bloodshed and death. Some have al-
ready given their lives. There are some who have given
more than their own lives ; they have given the lives
of those who are dear to them. I honour their cour-
age, and may God be their comfort and their strength.
288 THE GREAT CRUSADE
But their reward is at hand ; those who have fallen have
died consecrated deaths. They have taken their part in
the making of a new Europe — a new world. I can see
signs of its coming in the glare of the battlefield.
The "New Patriotism:'
The people will gain more by this struggle in all lands
than they comprehend at the present moment. It is true
they will be free of the greatest menace to their free-
dom. That is not all. There is something infinitely
greater and more enduring which is emerging already
out of this great conflict — a new patriotism, richer,
nobler, and more exalted than the old. I see amongst
all classes, high and low, shedding themselves of selfish-
ness, a new recognition that the honour of the country
does not depend merely on the maintenance of its glory
in the stricken field, but also in protecting its homes
from distress. It is bringing a new outlook for all
classes. The great flood of luxury and sloth which had
submerged the land is receding, and a new Britain is
appearing. We can see for the first time the fundamen-
tal things that matter in life, and that have been ob-
scured from our vision by the tropical growth of pros-
perity.
"The Vision:'
May I tell you in a simple parable what I think this
war is doing for us? I know a valley in North Wales,
between the mountains and the sea. It is a beautiful
valley, snug, comfortable, sheltered by the mountains
from all the bitter blasts. But it is very enervating,
and I remember how the boys were in the habit of climb-
ing the hill above the village to have a glimpse of the
great mountains in the distance, and to be stimulated
APPENDIX 289
and freshened by the breezes which came from the hill-
tops, and by the spectacle of their grandeur. We have
been living in a sheltered valley for generations. We
have been too comfortable and too indulgent, many,
perhaps, too selfish, and the stem hand of fate has
scourged us to an elevation where we can see the ever-
lasting things that matter for a nation — the great peaks
we had forgotten, of Honour, Duty, Patriotism, and,
clad in glittering white, the towering pinnacle of Sacri-
fice pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven. We shall
descend into the valleys again; but as long as the men
and women of this generation last, they will carry in
their hearts the image of those mighty peaks whose foun-
dations are not shaken, though Europe rock and sway
in the convulsions of a great war.
m.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF OUR CAUSE.
BXTEACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE CITY TEMPLE,
NOVEMBER IOtH, 1914.
« * * * «
Britain Not Responsible for the War.
When this war broke out, we were on better terms
with Germany than we had been for fifteen years.
There was not a man in the Cabinet who thought that
war with Germany was a possibility under present con-
ditions. Our relations had improved. There was not a
diplomatic cloud over the German Ocean. We har-
boured no designs against Germany: we meditated no
quarrel with Germany: as the Lord liveth, we had en-
gaged in no conspiracy against Germany. We were not
envying her her territories; we sought not a yard of
her colonies. We are in this war from motives of purest
chivalry to defend the weak.
France and Russia Not Responsible
Britain is not responsible for this war, and thank
God for that. Who is responsible ? Not France. There
had been a General Election in France just a few
months before this war broke out, and the pacifist party
gained one of the most conspicuous triumphs ever
achieved in any country against the most powerful poli-
tical combination that had ever federated against it.
290
APPENDIX 291
The Government of France was essentially a pacifist
Government. The French people abhorred the idea of
war, and the Government shared to the full that abhor-
rence. Not France ! Not Russia ! Why, it is an essen-
tial part of the German case that Russia would not be
ready for war for three years. That is their boast.
That is why they attacked her. Then Russia could not
have provoked war.
You can read, and read again, the despatches of our
Ambassador at Vienna. The quarrel was ostensibly be-
tween Austria and Russia. Sir Edward Grey laboured
anxiously for peace ; no man could have worked harder
than he did for peace ; and if there is blood shed, there
is not a stain upon Sir Edward Grey. He suggested a
European Conference to discuss these matters. Ger-
many said: "Do you not think it would be better for
Austria and Russia to talk the matter over amongst
themselves? We are only suggesting the best way of
settling the dispute. ' ' Sir Edward Grey said : ' ' Yes ; that
seems a very sensible idea." Russia and Austria met.
They were actually discussing matters amongst them-
selves, and getting on admirably' — so admirably that
Germany got alarmed, declared war on Russia, and al-
though the dispute was ostensibly between Russia and
Austria, it was only five days afterwards that you had
war between Russia and Austria, and that was because
Germany had already started.
The Origin of the War.
Not Russia! Belgium? Or Serbia? Does the poor
victim of a bird of prey really commence the hostilities ?
Now, looking back, you can see what happened. You
can see Austria hovering like a hawk over the Balkan
fields, and, if you are country bred, you know what that
292 THE GREAT CRUSADE
means. You know it will not be long before it swoops
down and some poor helpless creature will be quivering
in its talons. The vulture has been hanging over Bel-
gium for some time. We know that now. It has made
a mistake. It soared so high that even the most discern-
ing falcon might have made a mistake. It thought it
was pouncing on a rabbit, and it fell on a hedgehog,
and has been bleeding and sore ever since. We know
now what it would have been malevolent to suspect be-
fore, that the counsellors of Germany, while professing
peace and pretending good will, in cold blood, with
malice aforethought, had intended, planned, organized,
wholesale murder of peaceable neighbours, and had even
arranged the date to suit themselves, a date when they
thought their neighbours would be caught unprepared
to defend their lives and their homes. If this wanton
deed of premeditated treachery against humanity is to
pass unchallenged by the nations of the world, then let
us admit that civilisation is a failure, that the sceptre
of right is broken, and that force — brute force — is once
more enthroned amongst the nations.
Our Part in the War to he Justified.
It may be said it is not enough to prove that Germany
is in the wrong. We have to justify Great Britain in
embarking on a gigantic war which will tax to the ut-
most her resources of material, money, men, and leave
her impoverished at the end of the struggle.
We all knew the consequences would be tremendous.
For the moment the consequences are incalculable ; so
much so that we had no right to go into this war without
the most overwhelming reasons. The sacrifice of human
life is appalling. The suffering it is impossible to esti-
mate. The waste is so prodigious that, viewing it even
APPENDIX 293
as I do from day to day, and have done for over three
months, it has not ceased to shock. The wealth har-
vested by years of peace and hard and anxious toil is
thrown into the flames of war, to intensify their con-
suming fury. If anyone says we ought not to have
entered into this war without the most overpowering
reasons, I am entirely with him.
The Doctrine of Extreme Pacifists.
There are men who maintain that war is not justifi-
able under any conditions. There are men who main-
tain that even if your house is attacked, if your country
is invaded and threatened with oppression, if you had
a second William the Conqueror landing -in this island,
destroying the Constitution, imposing his own language,
his own laws, and his own rule upon this country, ravag-
ing and destroying as he has done in Belgium — there are
men who carry their doctrine so far as to say that, even
under those conditions, you ought not to use a deadly
weapon to defend yourself or your homes or your coun-
try. I have great respect for them ; but I am afraid that
I shall never be able to attain in this world to that alti-
tude of idealism.
But may I just say one or two words about that?
It was not the creed of the Puritan Fathers. I main-
tain it is not the principle of the Christian Faith. That
deprecates revenge. It deprecates retaliation. But I
never heard a saying of the Master's which would con-
demn men for striking a blow for right, justice, or the
protection of the weak.
"To Precipitate Ideals is to Retard Their Advent."
And may I also say that to carry those principles too
far is just the way to destroy the possibility of their
294 THE GREAT CRUSADE
ever becoming realised? To precipitate ideals is to re-
tard their advent.
We are all looking forward to the time when swords
shall be beaten into ploughshares and spears into prun-
ing hooks, and nation shall not rise up against nation,
and there shall be no more war. But as long as there
are nations and empires that beat ploughshares into
swords and pruning hooks into spears in order to prey
upon nations of ploughers and pruners living alongside
them, to disarm would be to delay the period that we are
all praying for.
The surest method of establishing the reign of peace
on earth is by making the way of the transgressor of
the peace of nations too hard for the rulers of men to
tread.
Defending a Neighbour From a Bully.
Most men — every real man — would defend his own
home, his own life and liberty, and the life, liberty, and
the honour of those who have been committed to his care.
Yes ; but supposing that man saw a poor little neighbour,
a neighbour he had sworn to protect, and whose home
was broken into by a hulking bully, who robbed him of
his goods, attacked him, his wife and his children,
burnt, murdered, and maimed — I ask you what manner
of man would he be who looked on calmly without rush-
ing in to help him with any weapon at his hand? It
would be a piece of heartless poltroonery. Britain has
never been guilty of that.
Germany's Demand on Belgium.
"Why was Belgium so maltreated? What is her of-
fence? She had refused to allow Germany to march
through her territories to attack a good neighbour of
APPENDIX 295
Belgium's. France and Belgium were very good neigh-
bours. They are kinsmen in race and religion, and to
a large extent in language ; and France was fully
shielded and protected on every frontier except that
which faced Belgium. Germany 's demand was a demand
put forward in defiance of a treaty obligation with Bel-
gium, to give facilities to Germany to drive a dagger
into the heart of her good neighbour France through
her unprotected side. A meaner, shabbier, more cow-
ardly request was never addressed to anyone.
Belgium was to be nominally neutral. But Belgian
roads, Belgian rivers and railways, were to take sides;
and in modern warfare railways are more formidable
weapons than rifles. That was the demand. It is as if
a man came to you and said : "I want to kill your next-
door neighbour, but it is very difficult to get in at his
front door, and his back door is barred and bolted, or
rather the back door is bolted, and there is a very for-
midable policeman patrolling the front door. It would
take us too long to beat down those bars and bolts, and
we want to get at him before he is ready to defend him-
self. I have been making ready to attack; he has not
been making ready to defend ; I want to take advantage
of that, and you must help me. It is a small request.
Surely you will see it is reasonable ! All I want is that
you should allow me to get at him through your garden.
I will see all the damage is repaired. I will restore the
garden to you exactly as I found it. I will compensate
you for any injury done to the flower beds, and if any
of your children happen to be killed or injured in the
scuffle, well, I will pay you a handsome compensation
for that."
296 THE GREAT CRUSADE
The Agony of Belgium.
Belgium has refused to bring that dishonour on her
national reputation. She has preferred to face the pros-
pect of national annihilation ; and every decent man and
woman throughout the civilised world will applaud the
nobility of her action. We know what she is enduring
at this present moment. It is too pitiful a story to re-
late. We are witnessing the agony of a brave little peo-
ple suffering for the right. Their cities and their vil-
lages are destroyed, their population scattered.
A Belgian statesman told me that there were three
times as many old people, women, and children destroyed
in Belgium as there were soldiers fallen in her gallant
army. They have paid ransom to Germany. They have
given their goods to Germany; but that has not saved
them.
You will remember when Alaric the Goth went to
Rome, and when he was about to take it, a deputation of
the besieged citizens visited him. He put his demands
very high, and they said to him, ' ' If such, King, are
your demands, what do you intend to leave us?" The
haughty barbarian replied, "Your lives." He was a
better man than his cultured successor. Three times as
many helpless people slaughtered by this great cultured
empire ! They have robbed them of their food to main-
tain their armies. They are now sending begging to
America, saying, ' ' You feed them. ' ' It was not America
that devastated their lands !
There are multitudes dying of hunger there, under the
banner of this great proud empire. I wish this were all.
I cannot repeat all the authenticated stories that are
told of German rule in Belgium. I wish they were not
true for the honour of civilisation, for the honour of
humanity.
APPENDIX 297
The Judgment of Cromwell.
Cromwell once said: "There is some contentment in
the hand by which a man falls. It is some satisfaction,
if a Commonwealth must fall, that it perish by men,
and not by the hand of persons differing little from
beasts." That is Cromwell's judgment on the devasta-
tion of Belgium, and on this savagery perpetrated on a
harmless little country by its big neighbour, who had
solemnly passed her word to protect it. There must be
a revised version of one passage of the Scriptures in
Belgium. It must be revised for Belgian use and read :
"Who is thy neighbour? Thy neighbour is he who
falls on thee like a thief, strips thee and wounds thee,
and leaves thee half dead." That is Germany's version
of duty to a neighbour. If Britain, after passing her
word, had left that little country bleeding on the road-
side, without attempting to rescue her, the infamy of
Germany would have been shared by the British Empire.
.... "After That the Judgment."
I hope that within the next few days there will be a
call for another large contingent of men. I should like
to see each county called upon for its quota — that every
town, every city, and every area should know what is
expected of it. All our rights and our liberties have
been won by men who counted their lives as nothing so
long as their country and their faith were free. In the
days when we were winning the battles of religious free-
dom in this country, there were shirkers, but their cow-
ardice did not save them from the tomb. It is appointed
that men should die once, and after that the judgment.
Brave men die, but they need not fear the judgment.
THE GREAT CRUSADE
I think we are too ready to scoff at creeds which prom-
ise the glories of their paradise to those who die for the
cause or for the country they are devoted to. It is but
a crude expression of a truth which is the foundation
of every great faith, that sacrifice is ever the surest
road to redemption.
It is appointed that cowards shall die, but after that
the judgment. They fall into the unhonoured grave of
the men who have never given up anything which is
precious to them, to their country, their religion or their
kind. After that the judgment!
Justice the Greatest Asset.
The fundamental error of the German calculations is
becoming more and more manifest every day. They are
beginning to realise that justice is the greatest of all
military assets. The wrongful invasion of Belgium —
they admitted it was wrong — the trampling on the
rights of a small nationality, has become a military
weakness to them. That is manifest now, and it is be-
coming more manifest day by day.
In a long struggle it is the heart that tells, and injus-
tice weakens the heart of nations. They cannot endure ;
and this country has demonstrated — and the war will
be waged in vain if it does not demonstrate it even more
clearly — that the justice of a nation's cause is in itself
a military equipment of the first magnitude and im-
portance.
Sometimes when I read the reports I feel perplexed
and baffled. I see accounts of advances here and re-
tirements there — of victories in this spot and mishaps
in another. But through it all, I think I can see the
APPENDIX 299
hand of justice gradually, slowly, but certainly grasp-
ing the victory.
* ' Watchman, what of the night ? " It is dark, and the
cries of rage and anguish rend the air, but the golden
morrow is at hand, when the valiant youth of Britain
will return from the stricken fields of Europe, where
their heroism has proclaimed to the world that justice
is the best sustenance for valour, and that their valour
has won a lasting triumph for justice.
IV.
A HOLY WAR.
kxtracts from a speech delivered at bangor^ february
28th, 1915.
If Germany Were to Win.
What does it mean were Germany to win ? It means
world-power for the worst elements in Germany, not for
Germany. The. Germans are an intelligent race, they
are undoubtedly a cultivated race, they are a race of
men who have been responsible for great ideas in this
world. But this would mean the dominance of the worst
elements amongst them. If you think I am exaggerat-
ing, just read for the moment extracts from the articles
in the newspapers which are in the ascendancy now in
Germany about the settlement which they expect after
this war. I am sorry to say I am stating nothing but
the bare brutal truth. I do not say that the Kaiser will
sit on the Throne of England if he should win. I do
not say that he will impose his laws and his language
on this country as did William the Conqueror. I do
not say that you will hear the noisy tramp of the goose
step in the cities of the Empire. I do not say that
Death's Head Hussars will be patrolling our highways.
I do not say that a visitor, let us say, to Aberdaron will
have to ask a Pomeranian policeman the best way to
Hell's Mouth. That is not what I mean. What I mean
300
APPENDIX 301
is that if Germany were triumphant in this war she
would practically be the dictator of the international
policy of the world. Her spirit would be in the ascen-
dant. Her doctrines would be in the ascendant; by the
sheer power of her will she would bend the minds of men
in her own fashion. Germanism in its later and worst
form would be the inspiriting thought and philosophy
of the hour.
France after 1870,
Do you remember what happened to France after
1870 ? The German armies left France, but all the same
for years after that, and while France was building up
her army, she stood in cowering terror of this monster.
Even after her great army was built France was op-
pressed with a constant anxiety as to what might hap-
pen. Germany dismissed her ministers. Had it not been
for the intervention of Queen Victoria in 1874, the
French army would never have been allowed to be re-
constructed, and France would simply have been the
humble slave of Germany to this hour. What a condi-
tion for a country ! And now France is fighting, not
so much to recover her lost provinces; she is fighting to
recover her self-respect and her national independence ;
she is fighting to shake off this nightmare that has been
on her soul for over a generation — a France with Ger-
many constantly meddling, bullying, and interfering.
And that is what would happen if Russia were trampled
upon, France broken, Britain disarmed. We should be
left without any means to defend ourselves. We might
have a navy that would enable us, perhaps, to resent an
insult from Nicaragua, we might have just enough
troops, perhaps, to confront the Mad Mullah — I mean
the African specimen.
Where would the chivalrous country be to step in to
302 THE GREAT CRUSADE
protect us as we protected France in 1874? America?
If countries like Russia and France, with their huge
armies, and the most powerful navy in the world could
not face this terrible military machine, how can America
step in? It would be more than America could do to
defend her own interests on her own continent if Ger-
many is triumphant. Ah ! but what manner of Germany
would we be subordinate to? There has been a struggle
going on in Germany for over thirty years between its
best and its worst elements. It is like that great strug-
gle which is depicted in one of Wagner's great operas
between the good and the evil spirit for the possession
of the man's soul. That great struggle has been going
on in Germany for thirty or forty years. At each suc-
cessive General Election the better elements seemed to
be getting the upper hand, and I do not mind saying I
was one of those who believed they were going to win.
I thought they were going to snatch the soul of Ger-
many : it is worth saving ; it is a great, powerful soul,
and I thought they were going to save it. Then a dead
military caste said, "We will have none of this," and
they plunged Europe into seas of blood. Hope was
again shattered.
"Harnessed to the Chariot of Destruction."
Those worst elements will emerge triumphant out of
this war if Germany wins. We shall be vassals, not to
the best Germany, not to the Germany of sweet songs
and inspiring, noble thought — not to the Gennany of
science consecrated to the service of man, not to the Ger-
many of a virile philosophy that helped to break the
shackles of superstition in Europe — ^not to that Ger-
many, but to a Germany that talked through the rau-
cous voice of Krupp's artillery, a Germany that has
APPENDIX 303
harnessed science to the chariot of destruction and of
death, the Germany of a philosophy of force, violence,
and bnitality, a Germany that would quench every
spark of freedom either in its own land or any other in
rivera of blood. I make no apology on a day conse-
crated to the greatest sacrifice for coming here to preach
a holy war against that.
War is a time of sacrifice and of service. Some can
render one service, some another, some here and some
there. Some can render great assistance, others but
little. There is not one who cannot help in some meas-
ure, even if it be only by enduring cheerfully his share
of the discomfort.
In ilie old Welsh legends there is a story of a man
who was given a series of what appeared to be impos-
sible tasks to perform ere he could reach the desires of
his heart. Amongst other things he had to do was to
recover every grain of seed that had been sown in a
large field and* bring it all in without one missing by
sunset. He came to an anthill and won all the hearts and
enlisted the sympathies of the industrious little people.
They spread over the field, and before sundown the seed
was all in except one grain, and as the sun was setting
over the western skies a lame ant hobbled along with
that grain also. Some of us have youth and vigour and
suppleness of limb ; some of us are crippled with years
or infirmities, and we are at best but lame ants. But
we can all limp along with some share of our country's
burden, and thus help her in this terrible hour to win
the desire of her heart.
V.
"FIGHT ON!"
BPEBCH DELIVERED AT BANGOE, AT THE MEETING OF THE ROYAL
NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD, AUGUST 5tH, 1915.
No Eisteddfod was ever before held under such, a
cloud. It is indeed a terrible time. I am frankly glad
that you are holding the Eisteddfod this year. I did
not relish the idea of the Welsh Muse being placed in an
internment camp with barbed wire to keep her from
getting out till the end of the war. She is not an alien
enemy, but a native of the hills. She is not a Germ.an
spy, but a bonny lass from the Welsh glens, and I am
delighted that you have set her free once more. I have
come here from the work of war in order to hear the
harp of the bards above the shriek of shells.
"Is It Peace?"
I observe that you have omitted to ask the old-estab-
lished question, "Is it peace?" Everywhere sounds of
war trumpets rend the air. From sea to sea the land
of Britain trembles with the myriads preparing for war.
East and West and North and South, you hear the ring
of the hammers and the whistle of the steel lathes fash-
ioning weapons of war. On quiet nights from my cot-
tage in Surrey I can hear the sound of the cannon fired
in anger on the ruddied fields of death in France. I
know with horror the work that is going on, and as I
304
APPENDIX 805
hear the old praj'er of the Gorsedd comes to my lips,
"0 lesu, nad ganwith" — "O Jesu, prevent wrong!"
"Is it peace ? " No ! Why not ? Because an unclean
spirit has possessed the rulers of a great nation. Now
and again in the history of the world its peoples have
had to fight in order to win — sometimes in order to
retain those elementary rights which lift men above
beasts of the field — Justice, Liberty, Righteousness. If
Right is worsted in this conflict, civilisation will be put
back for generations. If Right triumphs, mankind takes
a long leap onward on the road to progress. This is one
of those periods.
"When Justice is Menaced."
I am proud to know Wales has flang its whole
strength into the struggle for humanity. We have a
great army already in the battlefield. We have a still
greater army ready and eager to support their comrades
in the field. There was a time when it seemed as if the
military spirit of Wales had vanished into the mists of
the past. Some of us thought that the religious revivals
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had broken
the fighting spirit of our race. No real religion has ever
yet broken a nation's spirit. It disciplines its strength,
it elevates its purpose. Such a nation does not dissipate
its power in envious anger and rage against its neigh-
bours, but when justice is menaced that nation becomes
more formidable than ever.
"Welsh Martial Spirit Not Dead."
There was a time in the last 200 years when we could
hardly summon the material for three regiments to the
flag. To-day you have 100,000 men who have rallied
806 THE GREAT CRUSADE
to the flag from the hills and valleys of their native
land. "We have a greater army from Wales alone than
Wellington commanded at Waterloo, and they are just
as good men every one of them. And they have not
ceased coming yet. More and more men are still gath-
ering in the camping ground. As they learn in the re-
motest hovels that liberty is in danger, they come along
to defend her against the violence of the oppressor. Our
Welsh martial spirit was not dead — it was not even
slumbering — it was simply hiding in its caves among
the hills until the call came from above. War after
war swept past it without rousing its old energies. At
last it has come forth fully armed for battle and might-
ier than ever.
Wales and a New Charter of Liberty.
Welsh courage has manifested itself in this war as
never before in the history of Wales. When Magna
Charta was wrested from a tyrannical king, there was
a Welsh contingent among the forces that achieved that
victory for English freedom, and there are Welsh names
among the signatories of the potent document. When
the charter of European liberty is drawn up after this
war — the charter that will settle the fate of mankind
on many continents for ages to come — it will be a source
of pride to us that our little country contributed such
a large and efficient contingent to the army that estab-
lished a new charter for human liberty.
The UnshacTding of Russia.
I have no doubt that, however long victory may tarry,
it will ultimately come. We may have to wait for the
dawn. The eastern sky is dark and lowering ; the stars
APPENDIX 307
have been clouded over. I regard that stormy horizon
with emxiety, but with no dread. To-day I can see the
colour of a new hope beginning to empurple the sky.
The enemy in their victorious march know not what
they are doing. Let them beware, for they are un-
shackling Russia. "With their monster artillery they are
shattering the rusty bars that fettered the strength of
the people of Russia. You can see them shaking their
powerful limbs free from the stifling debris, and pre-
paring for the conflict with a new spirit. I repeat, the
enemy know not what they are achieving for their ap-
parent victim. Austria and Prussia are doing for Rus-
sia to-day what their military ancestors effected just as
unwittingly for France. They are hammering a sword
that will destroy them, and are freeing a great nation
to wield it with a more potent stroke and a inightier
sweep than it ever yet commanded.
"Fight On!"
For us, we must fight on or for ever sink as a people
into impotent obscurity. Britain has another task. It
is becoming clearer and our own share of it is becoming
greater as the months roll past. It is to see that the
suffering and the loss shall not be in vain. The fields
of Europe are being rent by the ploughshares of war.
The verdure of the old civilisation is vanishing in the
desolating upheaval of the conflict. Let us see to It that
wheat and not tares are sown in the bleeding soil, and
*'in due season we shall reap if we faint not."
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