The Eloquence of Brutal Facts.
I have not spoken to you much about the justice of our cause, because it
has been most eloquently set out by the Prime Minister, [cheers,] and
Sir Edward Grey, [cheers,] and by Mr. Bonar Law, [cheers,] and other
leaders of the Opposition; and much more eloquently than by any speakers
in this or any other country the justice of our cause has been set out
by the brutal facts which have occurred and which have marched upon us
from day to day. [Cheers.] Some thought there would be a German war,
some did not; but no one supposed that a great military nation would
exhibit all the vices of military organization without those redeeming
virtues which, God knows, are needed to redeem warlike operations from
the taint of shame. We have been confronted with an exhibition of
ruthlessness and outrage enforced upon the weak, enforced upon women and
children. We have been confronted with repeated breaches of the law of
enlightened warfare, practices analogous to those which in private life
are regarded as cheating, and which deprive persons or country adopting
them, or condoning them, of the credit and respect due to honorable
soldiers.
We have been confronted with all this. Let us not imitate it.
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