Re: Extract from Churchills victory speech
Originally posted by Smirfy
The sense of envelopment, which might at any moment turn to strangulation ... to frolic with the Germans and later with the Japanese representatives to their hearts content.
Well, Churchill's victory speech and many of his quotes and extracts of his History of WWII are included so it's only right that De Valera gets a quote.
This is an extract from a speech he made on May 16th 1945 in reply to Churchill's victory speech:
"That Mr. Churchill should be irritated when our neutrality stood in the way of what he thought he vitally needed, I understand, but that he or any thinking person in Britain or elsewhere should fail to see the reason for our neutrality, I find it hard to conceive.
I would like to put a hypothetical question-it is a question I have put to many Englishmen since the last war. Suppose Germany had won the war, had invaded and occupied England, and that after a long lapse of time and many bitter struggles, she was finally brought to acquiesce in admitting England's right to freedom, and let England go, but not the whole of England, all but, let us say, the six southern counties.
These six southern counties, those, let us suppose, commanding the entrance to the narrow seas, Germany had singled out and insisted on holding herself with a view to weakening England as a whole, and maintaining the securing of her own communications through the Straits of Dover.
Let us suppose further, that after all this had happened, Germany was engaged in a great war in which she could show that she was on the side of freedom of a number of small nations, would Mr. Churchill as an Englishman who believed that his own nation had as good a right to freedom as any other, not freedom for a part merely, but freedom for the whole-would he, whilst Germany still maintained the partition of his country and occupied six counties of it, would he lead this partitioned England to join with Germany in a crusade? I do not think Mr. Churchill would.
Would he think the people of partitioned England an object of shame if they stood neutral in such circumstances? I do not think Mr. Churchill would.
Mr. Churchill is proud of Britain's stand alone, after France had fallen and before America entered the War.
Could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknowledge that there is a small nation that stood alone not for one year or two, but for several hundred years against aggression; that endured spoliation's, famines, massacres in endless succession; that was clubbed many times into insensibility, but that each time on returning consciousness took up the fight anew; a small nation that could never be got to accept defeat and has never surrendered her soul?
Mr. Churchill is justly proud of his nation's perseverance against heavy odds. But we in this island are still prouder of our people's perseverance for freedom through all the centuries. We, of our time, have played our part in the perseverance, and we have pledged our selves to the dead generations who have preserved intact for us this glorious heritage, that we, too, will strive to be faithful to the end, and pass on this tradition unblemished."
A snipit of Dev's life: De Valera fought for Irish indepence in the Easter 1916 rising. He was captured and sentenced to death (but was saved by his US citizenship) but ended up in prison in England. All the other leaders were executed (the people of Dublin especially appreciated the treatment of James Connolly who was wounded so General Maxwell had him tied him to a chair and shot).
How can anyone be surprised that he didn't believe Churchill's offer of a united Ireland after the war?
How can anyone be surprised that he was unwilling to risk the destruction of his country for Great Britain?
