Sir, the Mother Country must set the
example, while she responds with gratitude and affection to those
filial overtures from the outlying members of her family.
Sir, I will say no more. This is not an occasion for controversial
discussion. In all that I have said, I believe I have not gone, either
in the statement of our case or in my general description of the
provision we think it necessary to make, beyond the strict bounds of
truth. It is not my purpose--it is not the purpose of any patriotic
man--to inflame feeling, to indulge in rhetoric, to excite
international animosities. The occasion is far too grave for that. We
have a great duty to perform, we have a great trust to fulfil, and
confidently we believe that Parliament and the country will enable us
to do it.
DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
SEPTEMBER 19, 1914
INTERNATIONAL HONOUR
I have come here this afternoon to talk to my fellow countrymen about
this great war and the part we ought to take in it. I feel my task is
easier after we have been listening to the greatest battle-song in the
world[1].
There is no man in this room who has always regarded the prospects
of engaging in a great war with greater reluctance, with greater
repugnance, than I have done throughout the whole of my political
life. There is no man, either inside or outside of this room,
more convinced that we could not have avoided it without national
dishonour. I am fully alive to the fact that whenever a nation has
been engaged in any war she has always invoked the sacred name of
honour.
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