CHURCHILL'S APOLOGUE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 9 November 1917, Page 1

CHURCHILL'S APOLOGUE.

Mr Winston Churchill, Miniate* of Munitions, addressed his constituents at Dundee oir the' eve ■of the -election. \ H» said the task which. : ;been laid him was of the utmost consequence J and urgency. Failure or'neglect wouldJlead to loss of • life among our men and to grave injury of our cause. Having been asked" by the Prime Minister to join his Government and • stand at bis Tside, and to serve as Minister of Munitions, he had decided it -was unquestionably hiß duty to comply. The question -which they had to 'answer was, Had he idone right? It was very natural that .there should be a certain amount of opposition—here and there—(laughter)—amongst some of those who had been his lifelong, political opponents, and he could quite understand that such views should'tSnd public expression.. He had borne in the past very great responsibilities. In the early months of the war, and in the years immediately.preceding it; scarcely anyone, except'Mr Asquith, the honored leader of the Liberal party —(cheers) —or Lord Edward Grey—(cheers)—had a heavier burden to bear. From 1911, when- the Agadir crisis brought him to the Admiralty, until .the day when.. the„declaiation of war found-the'. "Navy ready—(cheers)— and down to the time when the seas were swept clear of the enemy's flag—in all that period a tremendous weight was put oji him. Hardly any public servant, Minister, General, Admiral, or official in this or any other country at war, who had. been exposed in a foremost situation of responsibility to the full brunt' and shock- of this unparalleled convulsion had escaped from the. discharge of Iris .duties without being bruised and wounded by the violence and fury of events. (Cheers.) J The scale on which events were -now proceeding, without intermission, in every quarter of -the globe,' far exceeded" the stature of the men, far exceeded: the power of men to control and direct,; and dominate them. However earnest • the service might have been, everyone could see the gap that existed between what one would have liked to have seen done and what one had been able to accomplish. 'We-were in a period of titanic events, and men must be judged by: th« earnestness and loyalty of their effort*,, and not simply by their power to achieve impossibilities.- (Cheers.) He was nowresponsible for the supply of' munition* to the fighting forces of the country. ;; He had a right not merely to immunity from. factious criticism, but to the whole-hearted service and aid of every loyal and faithful citizen. That was the principle upon which he proposed to proceed.