(_At the Guildhall, London, September 4, 1914_)
The issue has passed out of the domain of argument into another field.
But let me ask you, and through you the world outside, what would
have been our condition to-day, if through timidity, or through a
perverted calculation of self-interest, or through a paralysis of the
sense of honour and duty, we had been base enough to be false to our
word and faithless to our friends? Our eyes would have been turned
at this moment, with those of the whole civilized world, to Belgium,
a small State which has lived for more than seventy years under a
several and collective guarantee to which we, in common with Prussia
and Austria, were parties. We should have seen, at the instance and
by the action of two of those guaranteeing Powers, her neutrality
violated, her independence strangled, her territory made use of as
affording the easiest and most convenient road to a war of unprovoked
aggression against France. We, the British people, should at this
moment be standing by, with folded arms and with such countenance as
we could command, while this small and unprotected State, in defence
of her vital liberties, made a heroic stand against overweening and
overwhelming force. We should have been admiring as detached spectators
the siege of Liège, the steady and manful resistance of a small
army, the occupation of Brussels with all its splendid traditions
and memories, the gradual forcing back of the patriotic defenders
of their fatherland to the ramparts of Antwerp, countless outrages
suffered by them, buccaneering levies exacted from the unoffending
civil population, and, finally, the greatest crime committed against
civilization and culture since the Thirty Years' War, the sack of
Louvain, with its buildings, its pictures, its unique library,
its unrivalled associations, a shameless holocaust of irreparable
treasures, lit up by blind barbarian vengeance. What account could we,
the Government and the people of this country, have been able to render
to the tribunal of our national conscience and sense of honour, if, in
defiance of our plighted and solemn obligations, we had endured, and
had not done our best to prevent, yes, to avenge, these intolerable
wrongs? For my part, I say that sooner than be a silent witness, which
means in effect a willing accomplice, to this tragic triumph of force
over law, and of brutality over freedom, I would see this country of
ours blotted out of the pages of history.
. . . . . . . . . .
Is there any one in this hall, or in this United Kingdom, or in the
vast Empire of which we here stand in the capital and centre, who
blames us or repents our decision? If not, as I believe there is not,
we must steel ourselves to the task, and, in the spirit which animated
our forefathers in their struggle against the dominion of Napoleon, we
must, and we shall, persevere to the end.
It would be a criminal mistake to underestimate either the magnitude,
the fighting quality, or the staying power of the forces which are
arrayed against us; but it would be equally foolish and equally
indefensible to belittle our own resources whether for resistance or
for attack. Belgium has shown us by memorable and glorious example what
can be done by a relatively small State when its citizens are animated
and fired by the spirit of patriotism.
. . . . . . . . . .
Our self-governing Dominions throughout the Empire, without any
solicitation on our part, demonstrated with a spontaneousness and
unanimity unparalleled in history their determination to affirm their
brotherhood with us, and to make our cause their own.
From Canada, from Australia, from New Zealand, from South Africa,
and from Newfoundland, the children of the Empire assert, not as an
obligation, but as a privilege, their right and their willingness to
contribute money, material, and, what is better than all, the strength
and sinews, the fortunes and lives of their best manhood.
India, too, with not less alacrity, has claimed her share in the common
task. Every class and creed, British and native, princes and people,
Hindus and Mohammedans, vie with one another in a noble and emulous
rivalry. Two divisions of our magnificent Indian Army are already on
their way. We welcome with appreciation and affection their proffered
aid, and, in an Empire which knows no distinction of race or class,
where all alike, as subjects of the King-Emperor, are joint and equal
custodians of our common interest and fortunes, we here hail with
profound and heartfelt gratitude their association side by side and
shoulder to shoulder with our home and Dominion troops, under the flag
which is a symbol to all of a unity that the world in arms cannot
dissever or dissolve.
. . . . . . . . . .
Never had a people more or richer sources of encouragement and
inspiration. Let us realize, first of all, that we are fighting as a
United Empire, in a cause worthy of the highest traditions of our race.
Let us keep in mind the patient and indomitable seamen who never relax
for a moment, night or day, their stern vigil on the lonely sea. Let
us keep in mind our gallant troops, who to-day, after a fortnight's
continuous fighting under conditions which would try the mettle of the
best army that ever took the field, maintain not only an undefeated but
an unbroken front.
Finally, let us recall the memories of the great men and the great
deeds of the past, commemorated, some of them, in the monuments which
we see around us on these walls, not forgetting the dying message of
the younger Pitt--his last public utterance, made at the table of your
predecessor, my Lord Mayor, in this very hall: "England has saved
herself by her exertions and will, as I trust, save Europe by her
example." The England of those days gave a noble answer to his appeal
and did not sheathe the sword until, after nearly twenty years of
fighting, the freedom of Europe was secured. Let us go and do likewise.