i feel greatly honoured that you should have invited me to enter
the united states
senate chamber and address the representatives of both branches of congress
the fact that
my american forebears have for so many generations played their part in the life
of the united states and
that here i am an englishman welcomed in your midst makes this experience
one of the
most moving and thrilling in my life which is already long and has not been entirely uneventful i wish indeed that my mother whose memory i cherish across the vale of years could have been here to see by the way i cannot help reflecting that if my father had been american and my mother british instead of the other way round i might have got here on my own in that case this would not have been the first time you would have heard my voice in that case i should not have needed any invitation but if i had it is hardly likely it
would have been
unanimous so perhaps things are better as they are i may confess however that
i do not
feel quite like a fish out of water in a legislative assembly where english is spoken i am a child
of the house of commons
i was brought up in my father's house to believe in democracy trust the people that was his message i used to see him cheered at meetings and in the streets by crowds of working men way back in those aristocratic victorian days when as disraeli said the world was for the few and for the very few therefore
i have been
in full harmony all my life with the tides which have flowed on both side of the atlantic against privilege and monopoly and i have steered confidently towards the gettysburg ideal of government of the people by the people for the people i owe my advance entirely
to the house of commons
whose servant i am in my country as in yours public men are proud to be the servants of the state and would be ashamed to be its masters on any day if they thought the people wanted it
the house of commons
could by a simple vote remove me from my office but
i am not
worrying about it at all as a matter of fact
i am sure
they will approve very highly of my journey here for which i obtained the king's permission
in order to
meet
the president of the united states and
to arrange with him all that mapping out of our military plans and for all those intimate meetings of the high officers of the armed services of both countries which are indispensable to the successful prosecution
of the war i should like to
say first of all how much
i have been
impressed and encouraged by the breadth of view and sense of proportion which i have found in all quarters over here to which i have had access anyone who did not understand the size and solidarity of the foundations
of the united states
might easily have expected to find an excited disturbed self centred atmosphere with all minds fixed upon the novel startling and painful episodes of sudden war as they hit america after all
the united states
have been attacked and set upon by three most powerfully armed dictator states the greatest military power in europe the greatest military power in asia germany and japan italy too have all declared and are making war upon you and a quarrel is opened which can only end in their overthrow or yours but here in washington in these memorable days i have found an olympian fortitude which far from being based upon complacency is only the mask of an inflexible purpose and the proof of a sure and well grounded confidence in the final outcome we in britain had the same feeling in our darkest days we too were sure in the end all would be well you do not i am certain underrate the severity of the ordeal to which you and we have still to be subjected the forces ranged against us are enormous they are bitter they are ruthless the wicked men and their factions who have launched their peoples on the path of war and conquest know that they will be called to terrible account if they cannot beat down by force of arms the peoples they have assailed they will stop at nothing they have a vast accumulation of war weapons of all kinds they have highly trained disciplined armies navies and air services they have plans and designs which have long been tried and matured they will stop at nothing that violence or treachery can suggest
it is quite true that
on our side our resources in man power and materials are far greater than theirs but only a portion of your resources is as yet mobilised and developed and we both of us have much to learn in the cruel art of war we have therefore without doubt a time of tribulation before us in this time some ground will be lost which
it will be
hard and costly to regain many disappointments and unpleasant surprises await us many of them will afflict us before the full marshalling of our latent and total power can be accomplished for the best part of twenty years the youth of britain and america have been taught that war is evil which is true and that it would never come again which has been proved false for the best part of twenty years the youth of germany japan and italy have been taught that aggressive war is the noblest duty of the citizen and that it should be begun as soon as the necessary weapons and organisation had been made we have performed the duties and tasks of peace they have plotted and planned for war this naturally has placed us in britain and now places you
in the united states
at a disadvantage which only time courage and strenuous untiring exertions can correct we have indeed to be thankful that so much time has been granted to us if germany had tried to invade the british isles after the french collapse in june 1940, and if japan had declared war on
the british empire and the united states
at about the same date no one could say what disasters and agonies might not have been our lot but now
at the end of
december 1941, our transformation from easy going peace to total war efficiency has made very great progress the broad flow of munitions in great britain has already begun immense strides have been made in the conversion of american industry to military purposes and now that
the united states
are at war it is possible for orders to be given every day which a year or eighteen months hence will produce results in war power beyond anything that has yet been seen or foreseen in the dictator states provided that every effort is made that nothing is kept back that the whole man power brain power virility valour and civic virtue
of the english speaking
world with all its galaxy of loyal friendly associated communities and states provided all that is bent unremittingly to the simple and supreme task
i think it would be
reasonable to hope that
the end of
1942 will see us quite definitely in a better position than we are now and that the year 1943 will enable us to assume the initiative upon an ample scale some people may be startled or momentarily depressed when like your president i speak of a long and hard war but our peoples would rather know the truth sombre though it be and after all when we are doing the noblest work
in the world
not only defending our hearths and homes but the cause of freedom in other lands
the question of
whether deliverance comes in 1942, 1943 or 1944 falls into its proper place in the grand proportions of human history sure i am that this day now we are the masters of our fate that the task which has been set us is not above our strength that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance as long as we have faith in our cause and an unconquerable will power salvation
will not be
denied us in the words of the psalmist he shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixed trusting in the lord not all the tidings will be evil on the contrary mighty strokes of war have already been dealt against the enemy the glorious defence of their native soil by the russian armies and people have inflicted wounds upon the nazi tyranny and system which have bitten deep and will fester and inflame not only in the nazi body but in the nazi mind the boastful mussolini has crumbled already he is now but a lackey and serf the merest utensil of his master's will he has inflicted great suffering and wrong upon his own industrious people he has been stripped of his african empire abyssinia has been liberated our armies in the east which so weak and ill equipped at the moment of french desertion now control all the regions from teheran to benghazi and from aleppo and cyprus to the sources of the nile for many months we devoted ourselves to preparing to take the offensive in libya the very considerable battle which has been proceeding for the last six weeks in the desert has been fiercely fought on both sides owing to the difficulties of supply on the desert flanks we were never able to bring numerically equal forces to bear upon the enemy therefore we had to rely upon a superiority in the numbers and quality of tanks and aircraft british and american aided by these for the first time we have fought the enemy with equal weapons for the first time we have made the hun feel the sharp edge of those tools with which he had enslaved europe the armed forces of enemy in cyrenaica amounted to about 150,000, of whom about one third were germans general auchinleck set out to destroy totally that armed force i have every reason to believe that his aim will be fully accomplished i am glad to
be able to
place before you members of the senate and
of the house of
representatives at this moment when you are entering the war proof that with proper weapons and proper organisation we are able to beat the life
out of the
savage nazi what hitler is engaging in libya is only a sample and foretaste of what we must give him and his accomplices wherever this war shall lead us in every quarter of the globe there are good tidings also from blue water the life line of supplies which joins our two nations across the ocean without which all might fail is flowing steadily and freely
in spite of
all enemy can do it is a fact that
the british empire
which they thought eighteen months ago was broken and ruined is now incomparably stronger and is growing stronger with every month lastly if you will forgive me for saying it to me the best tidings of all is that
the united states
united as never before have drawn the sword for freedom and cast away the scabbard all these tremendous facts have led the subjugated peoples of europe to lift up their heads again in hope they have put aside for ever the shameful temptation of resigning themselves to the conqueror's will hope has returned to the hearts of scores of millions of men and women and with that hope there burns the flame of anger against the brutal corrupt invader and still more fiercely burn the fires of hatred and contempt for the squalid quislings whom he has suborned in a dozen famous ancient states now prostrate under the nazi yoke the masses of the people of all classes and creeds await the hour of liberation when they too will be able once again to play their part and strike their blows like men that hour will strike and its solemn peal will proclaim that the night is past and that the dawn has come the onslaught upon us so long and so secretly planned by japan has presented both our countries with grievous problems for which we could not be fully prepared if people ask me as they have a right to ask me in england why is it that you have not got ample equipment of modern aircraft and army weapons of all kinds in malaya and in the east indies i can only point to the victories general auchinleck has gained in the libyan campaign had we diverted and dispersed our gradually growing resources between libya and malaya we should have been found wanting in both theatres if
the united states
have been found at a disadvantage at various points in the pacific ocean we know well that it is to no small extent because of the aid you have been giving us in munitions for the defence
of the british
isles and for the libyan campaign and above all because of your help in the battle of the atlantic upon which all depends and which has in consequence been successfully and prosperously maintained of course it
would have been
much better i freely admit if we had enough resources of all kinds to be at full strength at all threatened points but considering how slowly an reluctantly we brought ourselves to large scale preparations and how long such preparations take we had no right to expect to be in such a fortunate position the choice of how to dispose of our hitherto limited resources had to be made by britain in time of war and by
the united states
in time of peace and i believe that history will pronounce that upon the whole and it is upon the whole that these matters must be judged the choice made was right now that we are together now that we are linked in a righteous comradeship of arms now that our two considerable nations each in perfect unity have joined all their life energies in a common resolve a new scene opens upon which a steady light will glow and brighten many people have been astonished that japan should in a single day have plunged into war against
the united states and the british empire
we all wonder why if this dark design with all its laborious and intricate preparations had been so long filling their secret minds they did not choose our moment of weakness eighteen months ago viewed quite dispassionately
in spite of the
losses we have suffered and the further punishment we shall have to take it certainly appears to be an irrational act it is of course only prudent to assume that they have made very careful calculations and think they see their way through nevertheless there may be another explanation we know that for many years past the policy of japan has been dominated by secret societies of subalterns and junior officers of the army and navy who have enforced their will upon successive japanese cabinets and parliaments by the assassination of any japanese statesman who opposed or who did not sufficiently further their aggressive policy
it may be
that these societies dazzled and dizzy with their own schemes of aggression and the prospect of early victories have forced their country against its better judgment into war they have certainly embarked upon a very considerable undertaking for after the outrages they have committed upon us at pearl harbour in the pacific islands in the philippines in malaya and in the dutch east indies they must now know that the stakes for which they have decided to play are mortal when we consider the resources
of the united states and the british empire
compared to those of japan when we remember those of china which has so long and valiantly withstood invasion and when also we observe the russian menace which hangs over japan it becomes still more difficult to reconcile japanese action with prudence or even with sanity what kind of a people do they think we are is it possible they do not realise
that we shall
never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget members of the senate and members
of the house of
representatives i turn for one moment more from the turmoil and convulsions of the present to the broader basis of the future here we are together facing a group of mighty foes who seek our ruin here we are together defending all that to free men is dear twice in a single generation the catastrophe of world war has fallen upon us twice in our lifetime has the long arm of fate reached across the ocean to bring
the united states
into the forefront of the battle if we had kept together after the last war if we had taken common measures for our safety this renewal of the curse need never have fallen upon us do we not owe it to ourselves to our children to mankind tormented to make sure that these catastrophes shall not engulf us for the third time it has been proved that pestilence may break out in the old world which carry their destructive ravages into the new world from which once they are afoot the new world cannot by any means escape duty and prudence alike command first that the germ centres of hatred and revenge should be constantly and vigilantly surveyed and treated in good time and secondly that an adequate organisation should be set up to make sure that the pestilence can be controlled at its earliest beginnings before it spreads and rages throughout the entire earth five or six years ago it
would have been
easy without shedding a drop of blood for
the united states and
great britain to have insisted on fulfilment of the disarmament clauses of the treaties which germany signed after the great war that also
would have been
the opportunity for assuring to germany those raw materials which we declared in the atlantic charter should not be denied to any nation victor or vanquished that chance has passed it is gone prodigious hammer strokes have been needed to bring us together again or if you will allow me to use other language i will say that he must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below of
which we have
the honour to be the faithful servants
it is not
given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future still i avow my hope and faith sure and inviolate that in the days to come
the british and american peoples
will for their own safety and for the good of all walk together side by side in majesty in justice and in peace