TERSE, WEIGHTY, & FELICITOUS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 59, 7 September 1914, Page 6

TERSE, WEIGHTY, & FELICITOUS

In the early days of warfare oratory was an invaluable addition to the warrior's equipment. When an army was small enough to be reached all at once by its leader's voice, that voice might serve to make an immense addition to its fighting power. How frequent the practice was may be learned from the ancient historians. Though in the absence of stenographers, newspapers, and official records the speeches that they give us have rarely any claim to authenticity, and. usually represent nothing more than what the historian thinks might have been ' appropriately said, the device is at least conclusive evidence of the frequency of the practice. Though the immense size of the armies of to-day puts them beyond the tange of a leader's voice, the extent to which oratc-Ty was able even a century ago to serve a military purpose was proved by the example of the greatest soldier of all, Napoleon. Now that armies are counted by millions instead of thousands, even Napoleon's limited use of the spoken appeal i& impossible, but the present Avar has shown that there is still an immense power in the spoken word, which, however narrow its original audience, can be spread forthwith among armies and nations by the aid of the telegraph and the press. Lord Kitchener's maiden speech in the House of Lords thrilled not only the whole Army but the whole Empire, and parts of it must have thrilled Belgium and France too. The eloquence of General Joffre's acknowledgment of the obligations of hie army to British valour, though not spoken eloquence, served all the purposes of oratory for both armies and both peoples. With this message we may class the speech in which Mr. Asquith eulogised the splendid heroism of Belgium and pledged his countrymen to undying gratitude. In the came vein the same speaker has covered a wider range in a speech delivered at a meeting in the Guildhall, which is described as one of the most stirring in the history of the city. Never has Mr. Asquith'ts gift of terse, weighty, and felicitous speech been better employed. Tennyson has declared "tho song that fires a nation's heart" — we quote from memory — -to be "in 11eelf a, deed," and as much may surely be said of such speech as that of the British Prime Minister at the Guildhall. It is just because Mr. Asquith has so little of the normal effervescence of the orator about him, because his words are weighed and measured with a precision which sometimes chills an audience, that his utterances are so profoundly impressive at such a time as the pre&ent. They are distinguished by a Roman brevity, a Roman weight and dignity, and a Roman constancy that stands the firmer in the presence of danger. "I would rather eeo Britain blotted from .no page of history than acquiesce in the triumph of force over freo dom in Belgium. We must steel ourselves to the task in tho spirit of our forefathers' struggle against Napoleon's dominion." These Words have the right ring, and we believe that they correctly describe the spirit in which the Empire is .girding ifeelf to its task— a spirit not of Chauvinism or vainglory, but of humanity and justice and a dogged determination to uphold the right at any cost. "It was only," says Mr. A-squith, "when we realised that the choice lay between honour and dishonour, between treachery and good faith, that we decided for war. Does anyone throughout the Empire regret the decision? I believe not." Beyond question the Prime Minister is right. The universal feeling throughout the Empire is that the wax is a just war, and that the independence of the Empire is staked upon it no less than that of Belgium. It is for that reason that the Dominions have rallied to the support of Great Britain "without Colintation," as -Mr. Asquith says, and. "with a spontaneous unanimity unparalleled in' history." It is, as he further says, not as aoi obligation but as a privilege that the Dominions' offer has been made. The generosity of the Mother Country has for some time been treating these rather as partners than as vassals or children, and she hat heT reward in the eagerness with which they are now undertaking the responsibilities of partnership. This unique response surely shows' that if the Empire survives its present ordeal, its strength will -have been renewed by the struggle, and that when permanently reconstituted on the basis of partnership it will be able to withstand a. far more formidable attack than that of the Kaiser and his ally.