"I have been told that I am a traitor to Liberal principles because I supported Conscription. ... Every great democracy which has been challenged, which has had its liberties menaced, has defended itself by resort to compulsion, from Greece downwards. Washington won independence for America by compulsory measures; they defended it in 1812 by compulsory measures. Lincoln...proclaimed the principle of "Government of the People, by the People, for the People," and he kept it alive by Conscription. In the French Revolution the French people defended their newly-obtained liberties against every effort of the Monarchists by compulsion. ... France is defending her country to-day by Conscription. In Italy the Italian Democracy are seeking to redeem their enthralled brethren by compulsion."
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Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandBritish peersPoliticians from WalesPeople from Manchester
Original Language: English
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Speech in the House of Commons during the Second Reading of the Bill introducing compulsory military service (4 May 1916)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Lloyd_George
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David Lloyd George
1863 – 1945
britischer Politiker
461 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by David Lloyd George →
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