[Loud applause.]
"The Test of Our Faith."
But Germany insists that this is an attack by a lower civilization upon
a higher one. [Derisive cries.] As a matter of fact, the attack was
begun by the civilization which calls itself the higher one. I am no
apologist for Russia; she has perpetrated deeds of which I have no doubt
her best sons are ashamed. What empire has not? But Germany is the last
empire to point the finger of reproach at Russia. ["Hear, hear!"] Russia
has made sacrifices for freedom--great sacrifices. Do you remember the
cry of Bulgaria when she was torn by the most insensate tyranny that
Europe has ever seen? Who listened to that cry? The only answer of the
higher civilization was that the liberty of the Bulgarian peasants was
not worth the life of a single Pomeranian grenadier. But the "rude
barbarians of the North" sent their sons by the thousand to die for
Bulgarian freedom. What about England? Go to Greece, the Netherlands,
Italy, Germany, France--in all those lands I could point out places
where the sons of Britain have died for the freedom of those peoples.
[Loud applause.] France has made sacrifices for the freedom of other
lands than her own. Can you name a single country in the world for the
freedom of which modern Prussia has ever sacrificed a single life?
["No!"] By the test of our faith, the highest standard of civilization
is the readiness to sacrifice for others.
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