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November, 1914 Meanwhile the British ministry are acquainting the British people with the and of cause progress the war in speeches that recall the impassioned eloquence of Edmund Burke and vividly reveal the wonderful resource- fulness of the English language the expression of thought. Asquith, the premier, said: for Mr. "But let me ask you, and through you the world outside, what would have been our condition as a nation today if we had been base enough, through timidity or through a per- verted calculation of self-interest, or through a paralysis of the sense of honor and duty, to be false to our word and faithless to our friends? Our eyes would have been turned at this moment with those of the whole civilized world to Belgium--a_ small state which has lived for more than 70 years under a special and collective guarantee, to which we, in common with Prussia and Austria, were parties --and we should have seen, at the in- stance and by the action of two of these guaranteeing powers, her neu- trality violated, her independence strangled, her territory made use of as affording the easiest and most con- venient road to a war of unprovoked ag- gression against France. We, the British people, should at this moment have been standing by with folded arms and with such countenance as we could command, while this small and unpro- tected state, in defence of her vital liberties, made a heroic stand against overweening and overwhelming force. We should have been watching as de- tached spectators the siege of Liege, the steady and manful resistance of a small army, the occupation of the capital, with its splendid traditions and memo- ries, the gradual forcing back of the ° patriotic defenders of their native land to the ramparts of Antwerp, countless outrages suffered by, and buccaneering levies exacted from, the unoffending civil population, and finally the greatest crime committed against civilization and culture since the Thirty Years' War-- the sack of Louvain. With its build- ings, its pictures, its unique library, its unrivalled associations, a shameless holocaust of irreparable treasures lit up by blind barbarian vengeance. "What account should we, the govern- ment and the people of this country, have been able to render to the tribunal of our national conscience and sense of honor in defiance of our plighted and solemn obligations we had not done our best to prevent, yes,and to avenge, these intolerable wrongs? "For my part, I say that sooner than be a silent witness, which means in effect a willing accomplice of this tragic triumph of force over law and THE MARINE REVIEW of brutality over freedom, I would see this country of ours blotted out of the page of history. "That is only a phase, a lurid and illuminating phase, in the contest into which we have been called by the man- date of duty and of honor to bear our part. The cynical violation: of the neutrality of Belgium was after all but a step, the first step, in a deliberate policy of which, if not the immediate, the ultimate and not far distant aim was to crush the independence and_ the autonomy of the free states of Europe. First Belgium, then Holland and Swit- zerland--countries like our own imbued and sustained with the spirit of liberty --we were one after the other to be bent to the yoke, and these ambitions were fed and fostered by a body of new doctrines and new _ philosophy preached by professors and _ learned men. The free and full self-develop- ment which to these small states, to ourselves, to our great and. growing dominions over the seas, to our kins- men across the Atlantic, is the well- spring and life-breath of national existence; that free self-development is the one capital offence in the code of those who have made force their su- preme divinity and upon its altars are prepared to sacrifice both the gathered fruits and potential germs of the un- fettered human spirit. I use this lan- guage advisedly. This is not merely a material, it is also a spiritual conflict. Upon this issue everything that con- tains the promise and hope that leads to emancipation and fuller liberty for the millions who make up the masses of mankind will be found sooner or later to depend. "Of the actual progress of the war I will say nothing except that in my judgment, in whatever direction we look, there is abundant ground for pride and comfort. I say nothing more, 'because I think we should bear in mind, all of us, that we are at present watch- ing the fluctuations of fortune only in the early stages of what is going to be a protracted struggle. We must learn to take long views and to cultivate above all other faculties those of patience, endurance, and _ stedfastness. Mean- while, let us go, each of us, to do his or her appropriate part in the great common task. Never had a people,- as you have most truly said, my Lord Mayor, more or richer sources of en- couragement and inspiration. Let us realize, first of all, that we are fighting as a united empire m a Cause worthy of the highest traditions of our race. Let us keep in mind the patient and in- domitable seamen who never relax for a moment, night or day, their stern vigil on the lonely seas. Let us keep in mind our gallant troops who, today, - progresses the chances 427 after continuous fighting under condi- tions which would try the mettle of the best army that ever took the field, maintain not only an undefeated, but an unbroken, front. "And, finally, let us recall the mem- ories of the great men and the great deeds of the past, commemorated, some of them, as you-have reminded us, in the monuments which we see around us on these walls, not forgetting the dying message of the younger Pitt, his last public utterance made at the table of your predecessor, my Lord Mayor, in this very hall:--'England has saved her- self by her exertions and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example.' England in those days gave a_ noble answer to his appeal, and did not sheathe the sword until, after nearly 20 years of fighting, the freedom of Europe was secured. Let us go and do likewise." * * Mr. Winston Churchill, first lord of the admiralty, said: "T have made careful inquiries as to the condition of our sailors in the fleet under the strain put upon them, and this continued watching and _ constant attention to their duty under war con- -- ditions, and I am glad to say that it is reported to me that the health of the fleet has. been much = better since the declaration of war than it was in time of peace, both as to the percent- age of sickness and the character of the sickness, and that there is no rea- son why we should not keep up the © same process of naval control and have the same exercises of sea power, on which we have lived and are living, for what is almost an indefinite period. "By one of those dispensations of Providence, which appeals so strongly to the German Emperor the nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe with comfort with- out letting go. We have been success- ful in maintaining naval control thus far in the struggle, and there are also sound reasons for believing that as it in our favor will not diminish but increase. In the next 12 months the number of. great ships that will be completed for this country is more than double the num- ber which will be completed for Ger- many, and the number of cruisers three or four times as great. Therefore I think I am on solid ground when i come here tonight and say that you may count upon the naval supremacy of this country being effectively main- tained as against the German power for as long as you wish. "Some thought there would be a Ger- man war, some did not; but no one supposed that a great military nation