RT. HON. A. BONAR LAW
[Speech at a great patriotic meeting of the Citizens of London held in the Guildhall on September 4, 1914. The Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Bonar Law, the leader of the Opposition, were the principal speakers.]
My Lord Mayor:— It would indeed be impossible for me to add anything to the force of the appeal which has just been addressed by the Prime Minister to our people, but I am glad to be here as representing one of our great political parties in order to show clearly that in this supreme struggle, in everything connected with it until it is brought to a triumphant close [cheers], the head of our Government must speak, not as the leader of a party, but as the mouthpiece of the nation. [Cheers.] We are a peace-loving people [cheers], but never, I believe, in our history has the whole nation been so convinced as it is to-day that the cause for which we are fighting is righteous and just. We strove for peace by all means to the last moment, but when, in spite of our efforts, war came we could not stand aside. The honour and the interest of Great Britain—and, believe me, they go together—alike forbade it. It was inevitable that we must be drawn into this world-struggle, and the only question was whether we should enter it honourably or be dragged into it with dishonour. [Cheers.]
This war is a great crime, one of the greatest in history, but it is a crime in which, as a nation, we have no share. Now, as always for nearly a generation, the key of peace or war was in Berlin. The head of the German Government had but to whisper the word "peace" and there would have been no war. He did not speak that word; he has drawn the sword, and may the accursed system for which he stands perish by the sword. [Loud cheers.] War has come. We are fight-
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