We shall not sheathe the sword, which we have not lightly drawn, until
Belgium recovers in full measure all and more than all that she has
sacrificed, until France is secured from the menace of aggression,
until the rights of the smaller nationalities of Europe are placed
upon an unassailable foundation, until the military domination of
Prussia is fully and finally destroyed. That is a great task worthy
of a great nation.
Such were the magnificent phrases in which Mr Asquith, at the Guildhall
on November 9, 1914, expressed, as I hope, once and for all, the
determined resolve of the British people.
We know to-day even more fully than we did before that there can be no
peace in the world until "the military domination of Prussia" is fully
and finally destroyed.
I think, however, the British people and their Allies would make one
change in Mr Asquith's glowing speech. They would substitute "Germany"
for "Prussia." For the blood-guilt of Prussia has infected the entire
German nation as with a species of moral leprosy. The German nation as
a whole, and not merely the Prussian portion of it, has steeped itself
in the vileness of which Prussia, admittedly, was the first and greatest
exemplar.
Gone for ever is the theory that we are at war merely with
"Prussianism." Our one aim and object to-day must be the utter
destruction of the military power of the German Empire as a whole, and
the squaring of civilisation's long account with the Germanic peoples.
Assuredly until they are brought to see that the courses upon which they
have willingly embarked are vile and cruel and wrong--and they can be
taught this only by the stern argument of force--the peace of Europe
cannot long be preserved. If we falter now, if we and our Allies are
content with anything less than overwhelming and decisive victory, it is
as certain as the rising of to-morrow's sun that Germany will at once
set herself to prepare for a further war of aggression. Nothing but the
most decisive humiliation will convince her that the world has no use
for men who aim at world-domination. Nothing less will bring home to
the minds of her people the clear truth that the megalomaniac dreams of
their Emperor have been the sole source of the immeasurable disasters
which this War has inflicted upon them.
It is impossible to emphasise too strongly the undeniable truth that for
the British Empire this War is and must be decisive. If, in the face of
all perils and sacrifices, we persevere to the noble end which Mr
Asquith has sketched for us, we can surely see rising in the not very
distant future visions of an Empire more glorious even than that of
to-day.
In the madness of his dream of world-dominion, the Kaiser fondly
believed that one of the first results of the War would be the
destruction of the British Empire; he thought that its component parts
would fly apart as if by centrifugal force. Never in this world has a
rapacious and domineering ruler made a more fatal mistake. The
influence of the War upon the constituent elements of the British Empire
has been centripetal rather than centrifugal; instead of flying off at a
tangent as the Kaiser hoped, our scattered Dominions have drawn in
closer and closer still to the tiny island set in the North Sea which,
to Britons all the world over, is ever and always "home." War has truly
forged new links between us and our brothers overseas, and we may rest
content that nothing has contributed more powerfully to the shattering
of the Kaiser's dreams than the glorious story of the Anzacs in
Gallipoli, the heroism of the Canadians at Ypres, and the devotion with
which the dusky sons of India have flung themselves into the world-fray
in the cause of the British Raj. Not disruption but unity has sprung
from the War. If we preserve that glorious unity to the end,
persevering undismayed through the long days that are yet to come of
peril and darkness, we shall bequeath to our children and our children's
children a heritage which will grow brighter and fairer with the passing
of the changing years.
But there must be no faltering in our great resolve, no surrender to
weariness or pain, no looking back until our task is done. For us, very
literally, _now_ is the appointed time. If we fail now, if we put off
our harness with our task unfulfilled, if, having set our hand to the
plough, we become faint and weak, it needs no strong imagination to see
stretching out before us the downward path which must lead the British
Empire to disruption and decay.
No matter what the cost, no matter what the sacrifice, we must win this
War, and win it so decisively that the menace of Teuton aggression and
arrogance, of the immoral doctrine that brute force is the only right,
shall be ever removed from civilisation.
Great and glorious are the rewards of success; terrible indeed are the
penalties which must await on failure. I implore every single one of my
readers to do whatever in him lies to help in the great task of arousing
this nation to the fullest possible realisation of the fact that we must
either win this War or take our places, humbled and broken, among the
nations that no longer count in the councils of the world. For us, at
any rate, there is no middle course.
We have to remember that this War will never be settled decisively
unless the Allies are able to invade Germany and to inflict a crushing
defeat upon the armed force of the enemy. It may be that Germany, faced
with certain economic ruin, will sooner or later sue for peace, hoping
at least to protect her home territory, to keep her internal resources
untouched to be ready for the economic war which will follow the
declaration of peace, and to "cut her losses" rather than risk worse
things.
Such a peace would be a disaster as great as the War itself, and much
greater than the losses involved in its continuance to a decisive
ending. It would leave Germany proud in the consciousness that she had
faced, not altogether unsuccessfully, an alliance of powerful enemies,
and she would simply set to work upon fresh designs of conquest and of
preparation for a renewal of the struggle as soon as things looked
sufficiently hopeful. And we may be quite sure that Britain, which has
had so large a share in the checking of Germany's over-ambitious
designs, would be the principal enemy to be aimed at.
Never again could we hope to face Germany upon such favourable terms,
and with such powerful Allies. We do not fear the issue of a conflict
with Germany single-handed so long as we are warned in time to make our
preparations for attack, but we do not want to see the wealth of our
Empire and of the other nations wasted in the future in that mad
competition of armaments which Germany has forced on the world. Rather
would we see the years that are to come years of peace, when the nations
shall enjoy a well-earned rest from the burden of militarism which
German designs have imposed upon civilisation.
Of all the perils by which we are now threatened, perhaps the very
gravest is the conclusion of a premature peace which, in the very nature
of things, could be nothing more than a thinly veiled truce to prepare
for a new and even more titanic conflict. That is the game which the
Germans are playing to-day, and its dangers to us were admirably pointed
out by Lord Rosebery in a recent speech. He said:
There is only one thing which I sometimes fear. It is that when
successes begin there may be some weak-minded cry in this country for
a premature peace. A premature peace means a short peace, and a war
that will be even worse than this to follow. Therefore let all of us
unite in the resolve that while no exertion shall be wanting on our
part to bring the War to a triumphant conclusion and the Prussian
bloodthirsty tyrants to their knees, yet, on the other hand, not a
finger will be raised to accelerate peace before it is justly due.
To that grave and noble warning perhaps I may add the testimony of an
officer who is now serving at the front. He writes:
At the present moment there are millions of French, Belgian, Russian,
and Serbian peasants wandering about homeless, and there are thousands
besides who have died as the result of this wandering about, or who
have been actually killed by the Germans as though they had been
soldiers in uniform.
Now look at Germany--Germany who will soon be ready for peace! She
has hardly had her territory touched; her people do not know what it
means to have war waged in their own country.
What I say is that this War must not be finished until it has been
carried right into the heart of Germany, so that the German people may
know and understand what France, Belgium, Serbia, and Russia have gone
through during the last fifteen months.
It is a frightful nightmare to all of us out here that we shall
suddenly be told one morning that peace is declared while we are still
sitting on this present line of trenches through Belgium and France.
No one wants peace more than we do out here, but I--and I know most
soldiers are the same--would rather die than see a peace made before
we have shown them in Germany what the peasants of the Allies have
suffered.
It's no good being soft-hearted with the Germans. I don't think there
is any danger of the other Allies being carried away by the premature
peace talk; it's only England, who does not know what war means, who
may be.
Over and over again the Germans have attempted, with barefaced
effrontery, to buy off our Allies, to attempt to induce them to forsake
the common cause, to acquiesce, in short, in the betrayal of Britain.
That to-day is the keystone of the game of chicanery and fraud which
passes in Berlin for diplomacy. There can be no doubt that to France,
to Italy, and to Russia splendid gains are freely open as the price of a
dishonourable peace; there is to-day hardly any concession which Germany
would not willingly make to either of the Allies to secure their
withdrawal from the contest.
The one aim of Germany to-day is to detach Britain's Allies, because
Germany thinks that with Britain as her sole antagonist she would be
sure of ultimate victory. And with her warped code of national honour,
with her cynical disregard of the plighted word, she simply cannot
understand why the baits she is ready to offer are rejected on all hands
with loathing and scorn. She cannot understand the obligations of
national honour; she cannot understand that a nation may be too proud to
stoop to betrayal for the reward of a bribe. Happily, the bonds which
unite the Allies hold firm; and if the Germans cannot see and understand
the meaning of the solemn renewal of the Allies' pledge to Belgium, so
much the worse for them. Probably they think it is all a piece of
bluff, and that we are as ready as they themselves are for peace.
The German gauges every man by his own low standard. He believes that
every man has his price; nevertheless, in this belief he exempts the
English.
I have before me as I write a copy of recent instructions and advice
issued from the German Intelligence Department to its spies. This
document is a long and most illuminating one. Here are some quotations
from it:
The officer who has prepared himself by an exhaustive course of
technical study cannot fail to acquit himself in intelligence work,
_which is more fruitful of distinction than most of the duties of his
profession_.
It is rarely advisable to try to conceal one's nationality, but at the
same time it is often desirable to assume, especially when in Russia
or England, the character and accent of a South German, and to allow
it to be understood that he is a member of the Roman Catholic faith.
In England it is well to avoid making any approaches to either a
military or naval officer. _They may be regarded as incorruptible_.
The latter sentence of this secret document shows what Germany thinks of
our British officers. It shows also to our Allies what our enemies
think of us.
The Invisible Hand is ever at work, no doubt. But even the German
Intelligence Department, with all its brains and all its cunning, is
compelled to admit that we Britons are incorruptible. They have, of
course, established the canker-worm in the heart of Great Britain, and
we have with us the horde of so-called "naturalised" Germans, so many of
whom are impatiently awaiting the downfall of the country to which they
have with their traitorous oaths sworn allegiance. But this they have
also done in the territory of our Allies, and we may be sure that the
scheme which is working tortuously to split the Allies will be
persevered in until its futility becomes obvious even to the German
mind. It is this plot which explains the peace talk which is beginning
to issue so cleverly from Berlin. The design, quite obviously, is
either to weaken the solidarity of the Entente or to represent Germany
to the neutral nations as the benevolent victor who is ready with the
magnanimous offer of the olive-branch as soon as her beaten foes come to
their senses.
Such talk may deceive Germans; it may even have some effect upon the
very numerous peace body in America with its ludicrous Ford expedition
(to whom it is perhaps principally addressed); but it surely can deceive
no one else. It does not deceive "the man in the street." We have
plenty of evidence that the vast mass of people in the neutral nations
realise fully the futility of the German aims, and they are not in the
least degree likely to be tempted into proffering peace proposals which
would assuredly be instantly rejected by the Allied Powers.
Keen observers among the neutral nations are fully conscious of the fact
that Britain's determination to win the War is hardening into that stern
and immutable resolve which in all ages has been the dominant
characteristic of our people when once their dogged temper was fully
aroused. And of the determination of our Allies there is happily not
the slightest doubt. They are one and all determined to end once and
for all the German menace to the peace of the world.
I believe most firmly that we can win this War if we will. _We have
alike the power and the will to win_.
The combined resources of the Allies in men and money are, in the long
run, vastly superior to those of Germany and her miserable vassals--for
the countries she has dragged into the War with her are, and can be,
nothing more. The Central Powers are fighting to-day on four great main
fronts, and the drain on their resources is appalling. Germany, in the
words of a keen American observer, is being "bled white," and to-day she
is striving to secure some vestiges of success to hearten her people,
who are beginning to entertain some uneasy doubts as to the reality of
the "victories" of which they have heard so much. And her perils are
rapidly increasing. Her Turkish Ally has been so badly shaken that we
may well look forward to the swift progress of that demoralisation which
seems to have already commenced; if Turkey falls by the way, nothing
will keep the swelled-headed Bulgarians in the field, and probably
nothing would keep the Rumanians and Greeks out of it.
We have to remember that the South-Eastern front is the last chance
Germany has of breaking through the iron ring which is ever being drawn
tighter and tighter round her throat. Her dreams of expansion eastwards
are indeed already shattered, and with the Turkish failure in Armenia
probably goes the last hope Germany entertained of being able to call
the fight a draw. In the language of the New York _Tribune_, "Germany
is now approaching what will be her last great bid for success. But it
will not be made on the battlefield; it will be made in conferences, in
peace negotiations, and in operations through neutrals." Against that
danger it is more than ever necessary for us to be on our guard.
And that danger is undoubtedly increased by the mischievous and
traitorous chatter of the peace cranks who in our own country are slowly
recovering their courage, and are beginning to make their noisy voices
heard. These are the people who at the moment are the real enemies of
our country, the real pro-Germans. They are not very numerous, but they
are very noisy; they are not very intelligent, but they are very
persistent; and, like all "martyrs," so-called, they are imbued with the
firm conviction that they alone are right, and that all the rest of our
people are wrong. They are industrious with the industry of the true
fanatic, and they are striving by every means in their power, fair or
foul, to swing the wavering and the faint-hearted to their cause.
Already the croaking voice of the peace crank has been heard even in the
House of Lords itself, and it might have been heard still more loudly if
the public, with a just perception of the mischief these pestilent
people are doing, had not taken more than once rough-and-ready measures
to put a stop to their misguided energies.
I am no advocate of mob law, but if the peace advocates persist in
turning the principle of free speech into a licence for a traitorous
propaganda I confess I cannot sympathise deeply with their shrieks for
sympathy when an indignant public turns upon them in the only way open
to it, and refuses to allow their voices to be heard.
That the heart of the people is sound upon this question of fighting the
War to the only conclusion compatible with our national honour and
safety I am to-day firmly convinced.
Yet there is a very real risk that the cry of "Stop the War!" may make
too many converts among the unthinking sections who, like all of us, are
weary of the War and long to see peace restored. None of us desires to
see the War prolonged, with all its terrible cost in blood and treasure;
but, on the other hand, no Englishman worthy the name can fail to share
the view expressed by Lord Rosebery. It is the business of all loyal
Britons to see that the poisonous propaganda which finds its best
representation in such egregious bodies as the "Union of Democratic
Control" shall be decisively countered. It is the business of the
nation to concentrate all its energies to-day upon the winning of a
clear and unmistakable victory which shall ensure the peace of Europe
for a century to come.
It is a very striking characteristic of Germany that the better things
are going the more loudly she talks of the great things she is going to
do in the immediate future. Every trifling success she wins produces an
outburst of extravagant boasting wholly disproportionate to the
achievement. In the early days of the War, what the Germans call, with
their usual lack of good taste, the "big mouth" (_grosse Schnautze_) was
very much in evidence. It has cooled down very considerably of late,
and its place is being taken by a very much more chastened frame of
mind.
The olive-branch is much in evidence, and the mailed fist is somewhat at
a discount. "Frightfulness" is, in the main, left to the sabre-rattling
Count Reventlow, the puff-ball Captain Persius, and to that portion of
the German Press which takes its leading articles direct from the
Government lie-factory in Berlin. Ananias has his hand heavily over
Germany at the present moment. Otherwise the tone is one of a benignant
willingness to admit that Germany and all the other countries have been
very much to blame, and that it is time this terrible War was ended.
This new species of modesty by compulsion is all a part of the German
dodge to try to make a favourable peace which would leave Germany
weakened indeed--it is realised that that can hardly be avoided--but by
no means whipped. It is our business to stick to our task until the
whipping is obvious not only to the whole world, but to the German
people as well.
The times are full of perils, yet they are not without hope. Already we
see the rifts in the dark clouds which have hung over us for so long.
And if we turn a deaf ear to those who counsel the way of ignominious
ease, if we decide to persevere with all our heart and all our strength
along the path of noble purpose upon which we have embarked, we shall
reach in good time to the long-desired haven of victory and peace and
prosperity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I defined in this hall exactly a year ago the objects without the
attainment of which the Allies will not lay down their arms. They
remain to-day as they were then. We pursue them one and all with
undiminished faith; we believe that we have advanced a long way to their
achievement. Be the journey long or short we shall not falter till we
have secured for the smaller states of Europe their charter of
Independence, and for Europe itself and for the world at large its final
emancipation from the reign of force.--_Mr Asquith, at The Guildhall,
November 9, 1915_.