Page:Great Speeches of the War.djvu/255

Rh after war began and when the whole energies of the country should have been centred on that struggle—the passage after that time of two great and profoundly controversial measures. Now we have passed through eight months of war, and he would be a bold man who would lead you to hope that the struggle will be over within another eight months. The outbreak of the war found our Government and our country unprepared for the great struggle into which they were suddenly thrown, and, even now, we may ask ourselves, each one of us, whether we realize all that is at stake, and how much it is incumbent upon each of us to do his share, be it big or little, in whatever way he can, to serve the nation which gave him birth, which finds a home for him and all that he holds dear. Every now and then some speaker or some writer draws attention to the fact—and it is a fact—that we have done more than we ever professed to be able to do. But that is not the question now.

We are in a struggle which for us, not less than for Belgium, not less than for France, not less than for any other Power engaged, is a struggle of life or death—and unless we carry it to a victorious conclusion, not merely would all our sacrifices have been in vain, not merely would the gallant and precious lives that have been lost have been sacrificed in vain; we ourselves should fall from our great estate; Great Britain would cease to count as a great nation in the counsels of the world. The question that we have to ask ourselves is not merely whether we have done as much as we professed to be able to do, it is whether there is anything more that we could do that is still undone. This is no time for a nice measurement of less or more, for an exact examination of the obligations we may have incurred, or of the means we have to meet them. It is a moment when if we leave anything undone which we might do to strengthen the cause of the Allies and to add to the power of our country, we have failed in our duty to our fathers who begat us, to our children who come after us, and for whom we are trustees, and we have failed in our duty to ourselves and in the execution of the responsibilities which are incumbent upon us. As long as this war lasts, nothing, I say, can be as usual. Everything must give way to military necessity—and from the highest to the lowest, in every rank and walk of life, we must submit ourselves to whatever restrictions, to whatever exertions are called for by the needs of our country and our Allies. [Applause.]