[Cheers.]
Branded on the Brow.
Louvain, Malines, Termonde--these are names which will henceforward be
branded on the brow of German culture. The ruthless sacking of the
ancient and famous towns of Belgium is fitly supplemented by the story
that reaches us only today from our own headquarters in France of the
proclamation issued less than a week ago by the German authorities, who
were for a moment, and happily for little more than a moment, in
occupation of the venerable city of Rheims.
Mr. Asquith then read the concluding paragraph of the proclamation which
appeared in these columns yesterday.
Do not let it be forgotten that it is from a power whose intellectual
leaders are imbued with the idea that I have described, and whose
Generals in the field sanction and even direct those practices--it is
from that power the claim proceeds to impose its culture, its spirit,
which means its domination, upon the rest of Europe. That is a claim, I
say to you, to all my fellow-countrymen, to every citizen and subject of
the British Empire whose ears and eyes my words can reach--that is a
claim that everything that is great in our past and everything that
promises hope or progress in our future summons us to resist to the end.
Pages:
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346