Canada in Flanders, Volume I

by Baron Max Aitken Beaverbrook

We have nothing to fear as the outcome of this war. We do not and dare not doubt the success of the cause for which the British Empire and the Allied nations are fighting to-day. It is impossible to believe that the democracies of the British Empire, even though unprepared on so tremendous a scale as our opponents for such a war as this, will not prove their efficiency in this day of peril. They have proved it, and I think they will prove it in the future. In the later days when peace comes to be proclaimed, and after the conclusion of peace, it is beyond question that large matters will come up for consideration by the statesmen of the United Kingdom and the Overseas Dominions. It is not desirable, nor perhaps becoming, that I should dwell upon these considerations to-day. I said what I had to say on the subject with considerable frankness and some emphasis three years ago when I had the pleasure of addressing you. What I said then represents my convictions now. I do not doubt the problems which will be presented, exceedingly difficult and complex as they are, will find a wise and just solution, and in thanking you for the reception which you have accorded me to-day, and for the honour which you have done to the Dominion which I represent as its Prime Minister, let me express the hope and aspiration that in confronting the immense responsibilities which devolve upon those inheriting so great an Empire as ours, and one which must necessarily command so profound an influence on the future of civilisation and the destiny of the world, we shall so bear ourselves, whether in these mother islands or in the Overseas Dominions, that the future shall hold in store no reproach for us for lack of vision, want of courage, or failure of duty.

WORTHY OF THEIR ANCESTORS.

At the Canadian Matinee at the Queen's Theatre,
London, July 15th, 1915.

All Canada is thrilled by the part the Canadians have played, and their achievements have brought to Canada a vivid realisation of the meaning of the war. They are worthy of their traditions and their ancestors.

OVERSEAS DOMINIONS' DESTINY.

At the Guildhall, on being presented with the
Freedom of the City of London, July 19th, 1915.

I appreciate the honour which has been conferred upon me, coming as it does from a city which may be described as a great Imperial City, in a fashion which is perhaps not known elsewhere throughout the world to-day. Through the march of civilisation across the centuries, the progress and development of London have kept time with the march. That it is a great Imperial City to-day is due to the great achievement of our race. While it may not be fitting that one of our kindred should speak of the British people as a great race, I may be permitted to say that it has wrought great things, and that the greatest of all its achievements is the up-building of an Empire bound together by such ties as those which unite ours.

In the beginning, in the founding of the nation within these islands, there was need for orderly government, and that made necessary a strong and autocratic system of government. But, as the years rolled on, there came to the people the right to govern themselves. Orderly government, individual liberty, equal rights before the people—upon these secure foundations the fabric of the national life was erected, and in these later days has come the not less noble ideal of a democracy founded upon equality of opportunity for all the people before the conditions of modern life.

In the Dominions beyond the seas, the same ideals of liberty and of justice have led inevitably to the establishment of self-governing institutions. Their development there has been very much the same as within your own islands, and those short-sighted ones who believed that the right to govern themselves would drive the far-flung nations of our Empire asunder, have found that that very circumstance, and that free development, have united them by ties stronger than would be possible under any system of autocratic government.

I have listened with the deepest possible appreciation to the words which have been spoken of the action of Canada in this war. That action was due to no Government, to no statesman or group of statesmen. It was due to the spirit of the Canadian people, a spirit which will make the cause for which we are contending victorious, and which will pervade the Dominions to the end. I do not need to tell you of the part that Canada has played and the part she proposes to play. But it might not be amiss for a moment to allude to the remarkable circumstance that four great Overseas Dominions, self-governing Dominions of the Empire, have been actuated by a common impulse at this juncture—Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada! Why have all these great free nations sent their men from the remotest corners of the earth to fight side by side with you of this island home in this quarrel? Why in Canada do we see those who are the descendants of those who fought under Wolfe, and of those who fought under Montcalm, standing side by side in the battle-line of the Empire? Why, coming down to later days, do we see the grandson of a Durham, and the grandson of a Papineau, standing shoulder to shoulder beyond the Channel in France or Belgium? When the historian of the future comes to analyse the events which made it possible for the Empire to stand like this, he will see that there must have been some overmastering impulse contributing to this wonderful result.