We have all suffered greatly, and if you haven”t been to church
yet, I strongly urge you to do so. I also have to add that every
time I hear “God Bless America,” I cry. But as resilient as our
nation will be as a people, we need to continue to pray for what
is to come. And when it comes to the issue of leadership in the
history of mankind, there is no better role model than Winston
Churchill.
Brian Trumbore
—
Winston Churchill
[May 13, 1940.his first speech before Parliament after his
appointment as Prime Minister.]
“Blood, Sweat and Tears”
On Friday evening last I received from His Majesty the mission
to form a new administration.
It was the evident will of Parliament and the nation that this
should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it
should include all parties.
I have already completed the most important part of this talk. A
war cabinet has been formed of five members, representing, with
the Labor, Opposition and Liberals, the unity of the nation.
It was necessary that this should be done in one single day on the
count of the extreme urgency and rigor of events. Other key
positions were filled yesterday. I am submitting a further list to
the King tonight. I hope to complete the appointment of
principal Ministers during tomorrow.
The appointment of other Ministers usually takes a little longer.
I trust when Parliament meets again this part of my task will be
completed and that the administration will be complete in all
respects.
I considered it in the public interest to suggest to the Speaker that
the House be summoned today. At the end of today”s
proceedings, the adjournment of the House will be proposed until
May 21 with provision for earlier meeting if need be. Business
for that will be notified to M.P.”s at the earliest opportunity.
I now invite the House by a resolution to record its approval of
the steps taken and declare its confidence in the new government.
The resolution:
“That this House welcomes the formation of a government
representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to
prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion.”
To form an administration of this scale and complexity is a
serious undertaking in itself. But we are in the preliminary phase
of one of the greatest battles in history. We are in action at many
other points – in Norway and in Holland – and we have to be
prepared in the Mediterranean. The air battle is continuing, and
many preparations have to be made here at home.
In this crisis I think I may be pardoned if I do not address the
House at any length today, and I hope that any of my friends and
colleagues or former colleagues who are affected by the political
reconstruction will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony
with which it has been necessary to act.
I say to the House as I said to Ministers who have joined this
government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and
sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.
We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.
You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea
and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has
given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never
surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime.
That is our policy.
You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one. It is victory.
Victory at all costs – victory in spite of all terrors – victory,
however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there
is no survival.
Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no
survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival
for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move
forward toward his goal.
I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our
cause will not be suffered to fail among men.
I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all
and to say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our
united strength.”
—
“Their Finest Hour”
[June 18, 1940.After the fall of France, Churchill spoke before
the House of Commons and presented the grim outlook for
Britain. August 8, the Luftwaffe would begin its attacks, “The
Battle of Britain.”]
“.There remains the danger of the bombing attacks, which will
certainly be made very soon upon us by the bomber forces of the
enemy. It is quite true that these forces are superior in number to
ours, but we have a very large bombing force also which we shall
use to strike at the military targets in Germany without
intermission.
I do not at all underrate the severity of the ordeal which lies
before us, but I believe that our countrymen will show
themselves capable of standing up to it and carrying on in spite
of it at least as well as any other people in the world.
It will depend upon themselves, and every man and woman will
have the chance of showing the finest qualities of their race and
of rendering the highest service to their cause.
For all of us, whatever our sphere or station, it will be a help to
remember the famous lines:
He nothing common did, or mean
Upon that memorable scene
.However matters may go in France or with the French
Government, or another French Government, we in this island
and in the British Empire will never lose our sense of
comradeship with the French people.
If we are now called upon to endure what (the French) have
suffered, we shall emulate their courage, and if final victory
rewards our toils they shall share the gain – aye, freedom shall be
restored to all. We abate nothing of our just demands. Czechs,
Poles, Norwegians, Dutch and Belgians, who have joined their
causes with our own, all shall be restored.
What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. The
Battle of Britain is about to begin. On this battle depends the
survival of Christian civilization.
Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of
our institutions and our empire. The whole fury and might of the
enemy must very soon be turned upon us. Hitler knows he will
have to break us in this island or lose the war.
If we can stand up to him all Europe may be freed and the life of
the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands; but if we
fail, the whole world, including the United States and all that we
have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark
age made more sinister and perhaps more prolonged by the lights
of a perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves
that if the British Commonwealth and Empire last for a thousand
years, men will still say “This was their finest hour.”
