[Cheers.] From both
points of view, that of our domestic interests as a kingdom and an
empire, and that of our settled attitude and policy in the counsels of
Europe, a war such as this, which injures the one and frustrates the
other, was and could only be regarded as among the worst of
catastrophes--among the worst of catastrophes, but not the worst.
[Cheers.]
"The Blackest Annals of Barbarism."
Four weeks ago, speaking at the Guildhall, in the City of London, when
the war was still in its early days, I asked my fellow-countrymen with
what countenance, with what conscience, had we basely chose to stand
aloof, we could have watched from day to day the terrible unrolling of
events--public faith shamelessly broken, the freedom of a small people
trodden in the dust, the wanton invasion of Belgium and then of France
by hordes who leave behind them at every stage of their progress a
dismal trail of savagery, of devastation, and of desecration worthy of
the blackest annals in the history of barbarism. [Cheers.] That was four
weeks ago. The war has now lasted for sixty days, and every one of those
days has added to the picture its share of sombre and repulsive traits.
We now see clearly written down in letters of carnage and spoliation the
real aims and methods of this long-prepared and well-organized scheme
Against the liberties of Europe.
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