10.8.1940 neither by material damage nor by slaughter will the people of the british empire be turned from their solemn and inexorable purpose. it is the practice and in some cases the duty of many of my colleagues and many members of the House to visit the scenes of destruction as promptly as possible, and i go myself from time to time. in all my life, i have never been treated with so much kindness as by the people who have suffered most. one would think one had brought some great benefit to them, instead of the blood and tears, the toil and sweat which is all i have ever promised. on every side, there is the cry, 'we can take it,' but with it, there is also the cry, 'give it 'em back'...
meanwhile, what has happened to the invasion which we have been promised every month and almost every week since the beginning of july? do not let us be lured into supposing that the danger is past. on the contrary, unwearying vigilance and the swift and steady strengthening of our force by land, sea and air which is in progress must be at all costs maintained. now that we are in october, however, the weather becomes very uncertain and there are not many lucid intervals of 2 or 3 days together in which river barges can cross the narrow seas and land upon our beaches. still, those intervals may occur. fogs may aid the foe, our armies, which are growing continually in numbers, equipment, mobility and training, must be maintained all through the winter, not only along the beaches but in reserve, as the majority are, like leopards crouching to spring at the invader's throat. the enemy has certainly got prepared enough shipping and barges to throw half a million men in a single night on to salt water - or into it. the Home Guard, which now amounts to 1,700,000 men, must nurse their weapons and sharpen their bayonets...(note: did God send churchill to counter hitler..the inevitable victory of truth and life to counter the inevitability of destruction and death, God's heart for mankind opposed to satan's?)
because we feel easier in ourselves and see our way more clearly through our difficulties and dangers than we did some months ago, because foreign countries, friends or foes, recognise the giant, enduring, resilient strength of britain and the british empire, do not let us dull for one moment the sense of the awful hazards in which we stand. do not let us lose the conviction that it is only by supreme and superb exertions, unwearing and indominable, that we shall save our souls alive. no one can predict, no one can even imagine, how this terrible war against german and nazi aggression will run its course or how far it will spread or how long it will last. long, dark months of trials and tribulations lie before us. not only great dangers, but many more misfortunes, many shortcomings, many mistakes, many disappointments will surely be our lot. death and sorrow will be the companions of our journey; hardship our garment;constancy and valour our only shield. we must be united, we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible. our qualities and deeds must burn and glow through the gloom of europe until they become the veritable beacon of its salvation.
6.16.1941 ..'the destiny of mankind is not decided by material computation. when great causes are on the move in the world, stirring all men's souls, drawing them from their firesides, casting aside comfort, wealth and the pursuit of happiness in response to impulses at once awe-striking and irresistible, we learn that we are spirits, not animals, and that something is going on in space and time and beyond space and time, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.
a wonderful story is unfolding before our eyes. how it will end we are not allowed to know. but on both sides of the atlantic we all feel, i repeat, all, that we are a part of it, that our future and that of many generations is at stake. we are sure that the character of human society will be shaped by the resolves we take and the deeds we do. we need not bewail the fact that we have been called upon to face such solemn responsibilities. we may be proud and even rejoice amid our tribulations, that we have been born at this cardinal time for so great an age and so splendid an opportunity of service here below. \
wickedness, enormous, panoplied, embattled, seemingly triumphant, casts its shadow over europe and asia. laws, customs and traditions are broken up. justice is cast from her seat. the rights of the weak are trampled down. the grand freedoms of which the president of the united states has spoken so movingly are spurned and chained. the whole stature of man, his genius, his initiative and his nobility, is ground down under systems of mechanical barbarism and of organised and scheduled terror.
for more than a year we british have stood alone, uplifted by your (united states') sympathy and respect and sustained by our own unconquerable will-power and by the increasing growth and hopes of your massive aid. in these british islands that look so small upon the map we stand, the faithful guardians of the rights and dearest hopes of a dozen states and nations now gripped and tormented in a base and cruel servitude. whatever happens we shall endure to the end.
but what is the explanation of the enslavement of europe by the german nazi regime? how did they do it? it is but a few years ago since one united gesture by the peoples, great and small, who are now broken in the dust, would have warded off from mankind the fearful ordeal it has had to undergo. but there was no unity. there was no vision. the nations were pulled down one by one while the others gaped and chattered. one by one, each in his turn, they let themselves be caught. one after another they were felled by brutal violence or poisoned from within by subtle intrigue.
and now the old lion with her lion cubs at her side stands alone against hunters who are armed with deadly weapons and impelled by desperate and destructive rage. is the tragedy to repeat itself once more? ah no! this is not the end of the tale. the stars in their courses proclaim the deliverance of mankind. not so easily shall the onward progress of the peoples be barred. not so easily shall the lights of freedom die.
but time is short. every month that passes adds to the length and to the perils of the journey that will have to be made. united we stand. divided we fall. divided, the dark age returns. united, we can save and guide the world.
10.5.1946 (from 'the iron curtain has descended' speech) ..'we oppose the establishment of a socialist state, controlling the means of production, distribution and exchange..our conservative aim is to build a property-owning democracy, both independent and interdependent...include profit sharing schemes in suitable industries and intimate consultations between employers and wage earners...
1.31.1947 (the 'palestine: blood and shame' speech) ..'the idea that general reprisals upon the civil population and vicarious examples would be consonant with our whole outlook upon the world and with our name, reputation and principles, is, of course, one which should never be accepted in any way. we have, therefore, very great difficulties in conducting squalid warfare with terrorists. that is why i would venture to submit to the house that every effort should be made - i exclude no reasonable proposal - to bring it to an end.
it is quite certain that what is going on now in palestine is doing us a great deal of harm in every way. whatever view is taken by the partisans of the jews or the partisans of the arabs it is doing us harm in our reputation all over the world. i deplore very much this struggle that we have got into. i do not think we ought to have got into it. i think it could have been avoided. it could have been avoided if promises had not been made by hon. Members (of the House) opposite at the election, on a very wide scale and if those promises had not been woefully disappointed. i must say that. all my hon. friends on this side of the House do not agree with the views which i have held for so many years about the zionist cause. but promises were made far beyond those to which responsible governments should have committed themselves. what has been the performance? the performance has been a vacuum, a gaping void, a senseless, dumb abyss - nothing.
i remember so well nine or ten months ago my right hon, friend (mr oliver stanley), now sitting beside me here, talking to all of us in our councils and saying that whatever happens this delay and vacillation shall not go on. but certainly a year has gone by and we have not advanced one single step. we have not advanced on single step either in making good our pledges to those to whom we have given them, or in reaching some broader solution, or in disembarrassing ourselves of burdens and obligations - burdens which we cannot bear, and obligations which we have shown ourselves unable or unwilling to discharge.
my right hon. friend dealt particularly with one aspect and one aspect only. this is a conflict with the terrorists and no country in the world is less fit for a conflict with terrorists than great britain. that is not because of her weakness or cowardice; it is because of her restraint and virtues and the way of life which we have lived so long in this sheltered island. but, sir, if you should be thrown into a quarrel, you should bear yourself so that the opponent may be aware of it. i deprecate this quarrel and i will deal a little further with its costs. i deprecate this quarrel very much indeed and i do not consider it was necessary. great responsibilities rest on those who have fallen short of their opportunities. once you are thrown into a quarrel, then in these matters pugnacity and willpower cannot be dispensed with.
this is a lamentable situation. however we may differ, it is one of the most unhappy , unpleasant situations into which we have got. even in these troublous years. here, we are expending hard-earned money at an enormous rate in palestine. everyone knows what our financial difficulties are - how heavy the weight of taxation. we are spending a vast sum of money on this business. for 18 months we have been pouring out our wealth on this unhappy, unfortunate and discreditable business. then there is the manpower of at least 100,000 men in palestine, who might well be at home strengthening our defeated industry. what are they doing there? what good are we getting out of it?
we are told that there are a handful of terrorists on one side and 100,000 british troops on the other...in my view we should definitely give notice that, unless the united states come in with us shoulder to shoulder on a 50-50 basis on an agreed policy, to take a half and half share of the bloodshed, odium, trouble, expense and worry, we will lay our mandate at the feet of UNO. whereas, six months ago, i suggested that we should do that in 12 months i suggest now that the period should be shortened to six months. one is more and more worried and one's anxiety deepens and grows as hopes are falsified and the difficulties of the aftermath of war, which i do not underrate, lie still heavily upon us in a divided nation, cutting deeply across our lives and feelings, in these conditions we really cannot go on,k in all directions, taking on burdens which use up and drain out the remaining strength of britain and which are beyond any duty we have undertaken in the international field. i earnestly trust that the government will, if they have to fight this squalid war, make perfectly certain that the willpower of the british state is not conquered by brigands and bandits and that unless we are to have the aid of the united states, they will at the earliest possible moment, give due notice to divest us of a responsibility which we are failing to discharge and which in the process is covering us with blood and shame.
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