COPY OF TELEGRAM FROM KING ALBERT TO KING GEORGE AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE (_September 13, 1914_) His Majesty the King, London I desire to congratulate you most heartily on the splendid action of the British troops in the Battle of the Marne. In the name of the whole Belgian nation I express to you our deepest admiration for the stubborn courage of the officers and soldiers of your Army. God will surely help our Armies to avenge the atrocities committed on peaceful citizens and against a country whose only crime has been that she refused to be false to her engagements. ALBERT INDIA TO ENGLAND O England! in thine hour of need, When Faith's reward and Valour's meed Is death or glory, When Faith indites with biting brand, Clasped in each warrior's stiffening hand, A nation's story; Though weak our hands, which fain would clasp The warrior's sword with warrior's grasp On victory's field; Yet turn, O mighty Mother! turn Unto the million hearts that burn To be thy shield. Thine equal justice, mercy, grace, Have made a distant alien race A part of thee. 'Twas thine to bid their souls rejoice When first they heard the living voice Of Liberty. Unmindful of their ancient name, And lost to honour--glory--fame, And sunk in strife, Thou foundst them, whom thy touch hath made Men, and to whom thy breath conveyed A nobler life. They, whom thy love hath guarded long; They, whom thy care hath rendered strong In love and faith, Whose heartstrings round thy heart entwine. They are, they ever will be, thine In life--in death. NIZAMAT JUNG (_Native Judge of the High Court of Hyderabad_) "A SCRAP OF PAPER" (_At the Queen's Hall, London, September 19, 1914_) There is no man in this room who has always regarded the prospect of our being engaged in a great war with greater reluctance, with greater repugnance, than I have done throughout the whole of my political life. There is no man more convinced that we could not have avoided this war without national dishonour. I am fully alive to the fact that every nation which has ever engaged in any war has always invoked the sacred name of honour. Many a crime has been committed in its name. There are some crimes being committed now. All the same, national honour is a reality, and any nation that disregards it is doomed. Why is our honour as a country involved in this war? It is because we are bound by honourable obligations to defend the independence, the liberty, the integrity of a small neighbour. She could not have compelled us. She was weak. But the man who declines to discharge his duty because his creditor is too poor to enforce it is a blackguard. . . . . . . . . . .