" That is why we are at war. [Cheers.] Germany hurried her
preparations, made ready for war. She made a quarrel with the same cool
calculation as she had made a new gun. She hurled her warriors across
the frontier. Why? Because she wanted to attack somebody, a country that
could not defend herself. It was the purest piece of brigandage in
history. [Cheers.] All the same there remains the fact that Russia was
taken at a disadvantage, and is, therefore, unable to utilize beyond a
fraction the enormous resources which she possesses to protect her soil
against the invader. France was not expecting war, and she, therefore,
was taken unawares.
What about Britain? We never contemplated any war of aggression against
any of our neighbors, and therefore we never raised an army adequate to
such sinister purposes. During the last thirty years the two great
political parties in the State have been responsible for the policy of
this country at home and abroad. For about the same period we have each
been governing this country. For about fifteen years neither one party
nor the other ever proposed to raise an army in this country that would
enable us to confront on land a great Continental power.
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