KITCHENER SPEAKS !

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 23, 17 May 1940, Page 2

KITCHENER SPEAKS !

The words that rallied our nation 15. years ago ! We repeat for you to-day this voice from the glorious past! . . . The passing of time has brought many criticisms of Kitchener. His critics have called him a military idol with feet of clay. But he was the soldier who inspired our nation in days that were darker even than these. '/'.j-',; His words have a meaning and a message for us to-day. Because they were, above all, the words of a stern and simple soldier who knew his duty and was ready to die in the service of his country. sjc * The following instructions were issued by Lord Kitchener to soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force on August 19, 1914:— “You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King, to help our French comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to perform a task which will need your courage, your energy, your patience. \ “Remember that the honour of the British Army depends on your individual conduct. “It will be your duty not only to set an example of discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the friendly relations with those. whom you are helping in this struggle. “The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most part, take place in a friendly country. “You can do your own country no better service than in showing yourself in France and Belgium in the true character of the British soldier. “Be invariably courteous, considerate and kind. Y “Never do anything likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting as a disgraceful act. “You are sure to meet with a welcome and to be trusted; your conduct must justify that welcome and that trust. “Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So keep constantly on your guard against any excesses. “In this new experience you may find temptation both in wine and women. You must entirely resist both temptations, and treat all women with perfect courtesy. “DO YOUR DUTY BRAVELY. FEAR GOD, HONOUR THE KING.” , * * * ♦ At the Guildhall Banquet, November 10, 1914: “The British Empire is- now fighting for its existence. I want every citizen to understand this cardinal fact, for only

from a clear conception of the vast importance of the issue at slake can come the great national, moral impulse without which Governments, War Ministers and even navies and armies can do but little. “We have enormous advantages in our resources of men and material, and in that wonderful spirit of ours which has never understood the meaning of defeat. “All these are great assets, but they must be used judiciously and effectively. “It is well to remember that the enemy will have to reckon with the forces of the Dominions.” H 4 In a recruiting speech at the Guildhall, July 10, 1915:— “Be sure that hereafter, when you look back upon to-day and its, call to duty, you do not have cause—bitter cause—to confess to your conscience that you shirked your duty to your country and sheltered yourself under a mere excuse. “It has been'well said that in every man’s life there is one supreme hour towards which all earlier experience moves, and from which all future results may be reckoned. “For every individual Briton—as well as for our national existence—that solemn hour is now striking. “Let us take heed to the great opportunity which offers and which most assuredly we must grasp now and at once—or never. “Let each man of us see that we spare nothing, shirk nothing, shrink from nothing, if only we may lend our full weight to the impetus which shall carry to victory the cause of our honour and of our freedom.”