“If Germany Won-”

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 29, 21 September 1914, Page 5

“If Germany Won-”

CHANCELLOR LLOYD GEORGE IN FIGHTING FORM. “TEARING A RAMSHACKLE EMPIRE LIMB FROM LIMB! 5 ‘‘THE DEITY’S VICE-REGENT WIELDING HIS SWORD!” »-■ii-i,. , mnu.uvi. •■(Received' Mo,a.m.-) London, September 20. Much interest is being taken in Mr Lloyd George s first war speech. In an address to Welshmen in London, he said war was repugnant to no man more than to himself, but none was more convinced that Britain could not have avoided it without national dishonor. Prussia, with cynical contempt, declared that no nation need carry out a treaty unless it suits it. And he continued :

“Treaties are the currency of international statesmanship. The German doctrine that ‘scraps of paper’ are binding only when it suits their interests is the straight road to barbarism. If Germany won, the whole machinery of civilisation would break down. France offered Belgium five army corps against attack, but she refused the otter, declaring that she would rely upon-Germany’s promise. Belgium’s one crime was that she trusted the word of the Prussian King, but the Kaiser had made it certain that no king would repeat Ids crime. If we disregarded the cry of two little nations, Belgium and Servia, our shame would ring down the everlasting ages, the Kaiser had declared he was the Deity’s vice-regent, wielding His sword. When such lunacy was manifested by the head of the State, and became the policy of a great empire, it was time to put that person away. The Prussian Junkers were the road-hogs of Europe, ordering little States out of the way, but Britain would tear the bully out of his seat. If a burglar broke into Potsdam, shot the Kaiser's servant, and ruined bis art treasures, would the Kaiser wait to don his uniform before shooting the burglar? The Czar told Austria: You lay hands on the little fellow, Servia, and I’ll tear your ramshackle empire limb from limb!’ And lies doing it! God created man in his own image, but Germany re-created him in the image of the Diesel engine—accurate and powerful, but soulless. There has been nothing like the Kaiser’s patronage of God since the days of Mahomet. Of the treaties which tangled Germany’s feet, he said he would cut them with his sword, and of the little nations which hampered his advance he said he would trample them in tlie mire.