It is the same war that Sir Edward Grey stopped last year. [Loud
cheers.] Now it has come upon us. If you look back across the long
periods of European history to the original cause, you will, I am sure,
find it in the cruel terms enforced upon France in the year 1870,
["Hear, hear!"] and in the repeated bullyings and attempts to terrorize
France which have been the characteristic of German policy ever since.
[Cheers.] The more you study this question the more you will see that
the use the Germans made of their three aggressive and victorious wars
against Denmark, against Austria, and against France has been such as to
make them the terror and the bully of Europe, the enemy and the menace
of every small State upon their borders, and a perpetual source of
unrest and disquietude to their powerful neighbors. [Cheers.]
Claims of Nationality.
Now the war has come, and when it is over let us be careful not to make
the same mistake or the same sort of mistake as Germany made when she
had France prostrate at her feet in 1870. [Cheers.] Let us, whatever we
do, fight for and work toward great and sound principles for the
European system. And the first of those principles which we should keep
before us is the principle of nationality [cheers]--that is to say, not
the conquest or subjugation of any great community or of any strong race
of men, but the setting free of those races which have been subjugated
and conquered [cheers]; and if doubt arises about disputed areas of
country we should try to settle their ultimate destination in the
reconstruction of Europe which must follow from this war with a fair
regard to the wishes and feelings of the people who live in them.
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