“If I state our position now, it is not because I wish to raise a discussion on these questions. So long as the war continues, so long as the soil of Belgium is occupied, so long as the last German has not been kicked out of France, so long is this not the time to discuss these questions. All our attention should be directed to the prosecution of the war and to the bringing about of that final victory which we hope to secure. But when the war is over we shall have to take up these questions again. And the people of Canada will be called upon to decide between the opposing parties. If I mention the questions now it is merely because I wish to indicate the motives of our actions.
“I have given you the reasons which made me take the attitude I took in this war, and though I am free to admit that I preferred to fight rather than support the Government in a case of this kind all other considerations should disappear. To complete my thoughts, so that no one may misunderstand me, I will declare that had I been in power I should have followed the same policy myself, though in details of administration I should have tried to do better. Had we been in power we should not be reproached with faults, errors and the friends which now hang everywhere. But I will not talk of that in this discussion. I did not come here to-night for that reason. It is not the time to discuss these questions; they will be discussed later, do not fear.
“What are the rights and duties of the Liberal party? In my opinion, the party should stand for one thing alone, for public good and general interest; its spirit should be such that it can approve or condemn accordingly as the public good and general interest demand condemnation or approbation.
“We maintained that spirit in power, and we maintain it now. When we lost, we were beaten, but we were not subdued.”
From a speech before the Quadrennial Conference of the Methodist Church of Canada, at Ottawa, Sept. 23, 1914:
“The sword will not be put back in the scabbard,” he said, “until this Imperial bully has been taught that this ‘scrap of paper’ is a solemn obligation, and that solemn obligations between nations, as between individuals must be observed. There can be no peace until heroic Belgium has had her rights and her lands restored, and her wrongs repaired. There can be no peace until the world knows that it is to be governed, not by brute force, but by truth, liberty and justice, for which the British flag stands.”
As for his own record as statesman, British and Canadian, he remarked only a few weeks before his death:
“Well, I think that when all facts are reviewed in their right perspective, history will not deal unkindly with me, I am content to leave my record to the judgment of men’s thoughts, and to future generations of Canadians.”