Page:Great Speeches of the War.djvu/128

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102
Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd George

warriors in Europe of their day. [Applause.] We will be none the worse soldiers in Wales because the military spirit has not been fostered and encouraged and whetted from childhood upwards as it is in Germany, where they feed their children on gunpowder. [Laughter.] The nation whose spirit is roused by the call to its magnanimity and manly quality will go into action with all the greater heart because for centuries its soul has been cleansed from the mere lust of killing—[cheers]—and I wonder how much Welshmen realize what depends on their action in this hour? In the heat of this great struggle the stamp will be impressed on the Welsh character that will remain for generations and centuries, and the value of the coin which comes from the Welsh hills will be known on every counter by the stamp we put on it to-day. [Cheers.]

It is a colossal struggle. We are called upon to light, not merely for a noble cause, but in Wales we shall be fighting for the good name and the fair fame of our native hills. [Cheers.] If we fail at this juncture in the history of this great empire—this juncture in the history of human progress in Europe—if we fail through timidity, through ignorance, through indolence—it will take generations before Welshmen will be able to live down the evil repute of faint-heartedness at such an hour. It is an hour of immeasurable destiny. I can see symptoms that the old spirit is still alive in the Welsh hearts. [Cheers.] I have been looking at the list. Twenty thousand, I believe, from Glamorgan. [Lord Pontypridd: "Twenty-four thousand.]

Mr. Lloyd George: That is better by 4,000, and a great deal more. Is it 8,000 from Monmouthshire? [Sir Ivor Herbert: "Twelve thousand."]

Mr. Lloyd George : There you are—12,000 and 24,000! Who said Welshmen were faint-hearted? [Voices: "No!" and a cry, "Are we downhearted?"]

Mr. Lloyd George: Glamorgan and Monmouth, at any rate, are ready to answer. We have almost got one army corps! We might start another to-day. Thirty-six thousand men in two months rallied to the flag! [Applause.] It is a great story. I want to see Wales at the top of the list. [Loud applause.] Believe me, I would not be here to-day unless I knew what it means, not merely in the great causes which are involved, but what it means to Wales itself; for, if she comes out, stands manfully by the flag of freedom, fairplay, honest dealing, progress of Europe—if she stands manfully by, then