Lloyd George can be the unfettered poet or the lion unleashed. Shut your
eyes as you listen and you can almost hear the music of mountain streams
or the roar of rushing cataracts. In his great moments his eloquence is
little short of enthralling, for it is filled with an inspired imagery.
No living man surpasses him in splendour of oratorical expression. His
speeches form a literature all their own.
When, for example, yielding to that persistent Call of Empire for his
service he interpreted England's cause in the war at Queen's Hall in
London, in September, 1914, in what was in many respects his noblest
speech, he said in referring to Belgium and Servia:
"God has chosen little nations as the vessels by which He carries His
choicest wines to the lips of humanity, to rejoice their hearts, to
exalt their vision, to stimulate and strengthen their faith; and if we
had stood by when two little nations were being crushed and broken by
the brutal hands of barbarism, our shame would have rung down the
everlasting ages."
In closing this speech which he gave the characteristic Lloyd George
title of "Through Terror to Triumph," he uttered a peroration full of
meaning and significance to United States in its present hour of pride
and prosperity. He said:
"We have been living in a sheltered valley for generations. We have
been too comfortable and too indulgent, many, perhaps, too
selfish, and the stern hand of fate has scourged us to an elevation
where we can see the everlasting things that matter for a
nation--the great peaks we had forgotten, of Honour, Duty,
Patriotism, and, clad in glittering white, the towering pinacle of
Sacrifice pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven.
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