MR CHURCHILL’S PERORATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 May 1938, Page 9

MR CHURCHILL’S PERORATION

BRITISH EMPIRE'S FUTURE “I watch this famous island descending recklessly the stairway to a dark gulf,” said Mr Winston Church in concluding a speech in the House of Commons. “It is a fine, broad stairway at the beginning, but after a bit the carpet ends. A little further on there are flagstones, and a little further on they break beneath our feet. If mortal catastrophe overtook the British nation and the British Empire, a thousand years hence historians would still be baffled. They would never understand how it was that a victorious nation, with everything in hand, suffered itself to be brought low and cast away all it had gained by measureless sacrifice and absolute victory. Gone with the wind and now the victors are vanquished, and those who appealed for armistice in the open field are striding toward world mastery. That is the terrible transformation which has taken place bit by bit. I rejoice to hear from the Prime Minister that a further supreme effort is to be made to place us in a position of security. Now perhaps it is the last time it can be roused with any chance of preventing war or with a chance of coming through to victory if our efforts to prevent war fail. We should lay aside every hindrance and endeavour, by uniting the whole forces and spirit of our people, to raise again the great British nation, standing up before all the world, for such a nation rising in its ancient vigour could even at this hour save civilisation.”