Our first duty is to understand ; and in order
to do that we must place ourselves in the position of the ordinary decent Frenchman resident in France today. Let me transpose the circumstances. Suppose that in the autumn of 1914 the Germans had in fact broken through to the Channel ports ; that by the employment of some new device or manoeuvre they had sunk the British fleet and reduced us to a condition of impotence ; that they had then landed at Southampton and Dover, occupied London and forced Mr. Asquith's Government to accept terms of abject surrender. Supposing that at the time we had been convinced that Germany's victory was not local merely but universal, and that no other country, after our own collapse, could possibly hold out against the rush of German victory. And supposing that at the supreme moment of our national disaster Lord Roberts had emerged above all politics and parties, determined to save something at least of our honour and inde- pendence, and embodying in his person not merely our pride in our past, but our belief in the essential virtues of our national character. Would not the average decent Briton in such circum- stances have been prepared, when all else had failed him, to place his confidence in this incorruptible veteran? And would not the slogan have passed throughout our towns and villages, " We have been let down by everybody else, but we trust old Bobs to make the best deal he can "? Surely something like that is what would have occurred.
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