"There are men in the House of Commons, who profess in a special sense to be the representatives of Labour, who would not allow me, who represent a great working-class constituency...to claim to represent you. In order to do so I must be a man who did some work 30 years ago and never did any since. (Loud laughter.) It is these men who are at the present time blackening the characters of those who are upholding the British dominion and British honour throughout the world... They have no ear of sympathy for the men who suffered for the Imperial cause. The other day some officers, British soldiers, were murdered with savage brutality for no reason or provocation. They had no sympathy with those officers or the families that they left behind them, their only idea was to shield the assassins from the proper penalty of their crime. ("Traitors.")... But one thing I will say, and I say it in your name; these men at any rate do not represent the working classes of England (loud cheering), and never yet in our history or in the history of the British race has a great democracy been unpatriotic. (Hear, hear.)"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomLiberal Party (UK) politiciansUnitariansFellows of the Royal SocietyPeople from London
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in Birmingham (9 July 1906), quoted in The Times (10 July 1906), p. 11
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Chamberlain
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Conservatives. He split both major British parties in the course of his career. He was the father, by different marriages, of Nobel Peace Prize winner Austen Chamberlain and of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
123 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Joseph Chamberlain →
Related Quotes
"[Chamberlain delivered] two remarkable speeches in [1885], that at Glasgow on September 15, and that at Inverness thr…"
"The collapse of employment in the great "staple" industries after 1920 provided protection with its historic opportun…"
"Throughout his career, as it seems to me, there were two principles which were at the basis of his political action..…"
"Mr. Chamberlain is unquestionably the future leader of the people... He is a Radical and doesn't care who knows it as…"
"Chamberlain...specifically advocated tariff reform as an employment policy: "Tariff reform means jobs for all." As a …"
"The other model was the Australian one: a system of industrial relations dependent upon compulsory arbitration and ju…"
"I recognise that Mr. Chamberlain's historic agitation has rendered one outstanding service to the cause of the masses…"
"Our children will tell their sons of the statesman who in the evening of his days, crowned with years and honour, beh…"
"He never filled the post for which his great qualities seem specially to have destined him. He never was Prime Minist…"
"From his boyhood up, Joseph Chamberlain has been consumed with a passionate longing to benefit the lot of the common …"