Why do I dwell upon these things? It is to say this, that great
indeed is the responsibility of those who allow their country--as we
have done--to be drawn into such a welter; but there is one thing much
worse than to take such a responsibility, and that is, upon a fitting
occasion, to shirk it. [Cheers.] Our record in the matter is clear. We
strove up to the last moment for peace [cheers] and only when we were
satisfied that the price of peace was the betrayal of other countries
and the dishonor and degradation of our own we took up the sword.
[Prolonged cheers.] I should like, if I might for a moment, beyond this
inquiry into causes and motives, to ask your attention and that of my
fellow-countrymen to the end which in this war we ought to keep in view.
Forty-four years ago, at the time of the war of 1870, Mr. Gladstone used
these words. He said: "The greatest triumph of our time will be the
enthronement of the idea of public right as the governing idea of
European politics." Nearly fifty years have passed. Little progress, it
seems, has yet been made toward that good and beneficent change, but it
seems to me to be now at this moment as good a definition as we can have
of our European policy. The idea of public right; what does it mean when
translated into concrete terms? It means, first and foremost, the
clearing of the ground by the definite repudiation of militarism as the
governing factor in the relation of States, and of the future molding of
the European world.
Pages:
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359