Many of them are
untrue, and always are in a war. War is a grim, ghastly business at best
or at worst, ["Hear, hear!"] and I am not going to say that all that has
been said in the way of outrages must necessarily be true. I will go
beyond that, and I will say that if you turn two millions of
men--forced, conscript, compelled, driven--into the field, you will
always get among them a certain number who will do things that the
nation to which they belong would be ashamed of. I am not depending on
these tales. It is enough for me to have the story which Germans
themselves avow, admit, defend and proclaim--the burning and massacring,
the shooting down of harmless people. Why? Because, according to the
Germans, these people fired on German soldiers. What business had German
soldiers there at all? ["Hear, hear!" and applause.] Belgium was acting
in pursuance of the most sacred right, the right to defend its homes.
But they were not in uniform when they fired! If a burglar broke into
the Kaiser's Palace at Potsdam, destroyed his furniture, killed his
servants, ruined his art treasures--especially those he had made
himself, [laughter and applause], and burned the precious manuscripts of
his speeches, do you think he would wait until he got into uniform
before he shot him down? [Laughter.
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