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Good evening everybody.
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In this critical hour of our own and
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the world's history, I feel that I should
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abuse my privilege of addressing you if I
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were to speak of matters affecting myself
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personally.
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For that reason, and that reason only, I
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say no more of a certain recent
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experience that I have had than this,
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that it has taught me as nothing else
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could have done how quick to kindness the
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people of this country can be, and how
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easily political and other differences
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are extinguished by sympathy and
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goodwill.
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Tonight I feel that I can say to
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all of you with a sense of certainty
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that I have never quite felt before,
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thank you friends for your kindness that
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you have so generously shown to me.
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To my colleagues who have so loyally in
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these anxious times carried on the work
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of government in my absence, performing
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without complaint my tasks as well as
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theirs, I express my sincere gratitude
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and I concur wholeheartedly in every
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decision they have made for the safety
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and well-being of the state.
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It is not my purpose tonight to state
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at length the issues involved in the
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conflict that has now begun, but I should
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like to tell you in a few sentences
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just how I see them.
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The war on which we are entering may be a long one
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demanding from us heavy and
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continuous sacrifice.
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It is essential that we realize from the
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beginning that our cause is worth the
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sacrifice.
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I believe in all sincerity that it is.
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None of us has any hatred of the
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German people.
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For the old culture of the Germans, their
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songs, their poetry and their music, we
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have nothing but admiration and
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affection.
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We believe that there are many millions
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of German people who want to live in
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peace and quietness as we do, threatening
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no one and seeking to dominate no one.
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But we know, alas, that such a way
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of life is despised and rejected by the
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men who have seized and hold power in
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Germany.
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We know that those who have done and
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are doing incalculable harm to the true
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interests of their country, and that they
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are wasting and destroying the
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intellectual, artistic, moral and
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spiritual resources that their people
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have built up throughout the centuries.
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In doing this, they have, for the time
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being, cowed the spirit of a vast number
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of their best people.
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This work of destruction they have
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already carried into other countries and,
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despite denial, now intend to carry into
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Poland.
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If they succeed there, they will next
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attempt the overthrow of France and
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Britain.
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Let us make no mistake about that.
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Of course they repudiate any such
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intention, but fortunately for the world
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we know now what it has taken us
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a long time to learn, that their promises
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are worthless, are made only to gain an
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advantage for the time being, and are
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broken as soon as that advantage has been
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secured.
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Not a moment too soon have Britain and
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France taken up arms against so faceless
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and unscrupulous an adversary.
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The fight on which we are now engaged
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is one whose issue concerns all nations
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of the world, whether as yet they realize
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it or not.
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We are fighting a doctrine that springs
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from a contempt of human nature, a
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doctrine that government is the affair
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only of a self-selected elite who,
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without consulting the people, may
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irrevocably determine what the people
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shall do and shall not do.
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The masses are to be used as instruments
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of power in the hands of their masters.
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They are to be given slogans and directed
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towards this or that objective approved
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by their masters, but never are they to
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be treated as free men, as individual and
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responsible souls.
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The individual man is submerged and
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forgotten, the intrinsic worthiness of
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his personality contemptuously ignored.
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Freedom of action and expression is
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denied to him.
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Dissent or criticism is brutally
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repressed.
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These are a few of the incidents of
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the Nazi philosophy that is seeking to
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thrust itself everywhere over Europe
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today and the rest of the world tomorrow.
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Nazism is militant and insatiable
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paganism.
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In short but terrible history, it has
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caused incalculable suffering.
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If permitted to continue, it will spread
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misery and desolation throughout the
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world.
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It cannot be appeased or conciliated.
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Either it or civilization must disappear.
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To destroy it, but not the great nation
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which it has so cruelly cheated, is the
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task of those who have taken up arms
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against Nazism.
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May God prosper those arms.
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I am satisfied that nowhere will the
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issue be more clearly understood than in
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New Zealand, where for almost a century,
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behind the sure shield of Britain, we
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have enjoyed and cherished freedom and
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self-government.
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Both with gratitude for the past and with
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confidence in the future, we arrange
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ourselves without fear beside Britain.
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Where she goes, we go.
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Where she stands, we stand.
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We are only a small and young nation,
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but we are one and all a band
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of brothers, and we march forward with a
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union of hearts and wills to a common
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destiny.
