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"In this hour I feel it to be my duty before my own conscience to appeal once more to reason and common sense in Great Britain as much as elsewhere. I consider myself in a position to make this appeal, since I am not the vanquished, begging favors, but the victor speaking in the name of reason. I can see no reason why this war must go on. I am grieved to think of the sacrifices it will claim. . . .
"Possibly Mr. Churchill again will brush aside this statement of mine by saying that it is merely born of fear and of doubt in our final victory. In that case I shall have relieved my conscience in regard to the things to come." But if Hitler did not lay effective groundwork for possible peace negotiations, he had succeeded in putting out some propaganda to undermine British morale (see p. 22) and once more wrapped himself in the mantle of an apostle of righteousness hounded into war.
Conscience, rather than the terrible things to come, was the theme of the official British reply to Herr Hitler's ti rade. Britain's immediate press and radio reactions left no doubt that the Führer's appeal to reason would be laughed into thin air. The question Germany, Italy and the world's innocent bystanders wondered about was not what the British Government would say, but who would say it and how. The task fell to Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, whose solemn, pious, sincere air has won him the nickname "Lord Holy Facts."
As Lord Halifax broadcast Britain's answer to the world, his voice was deep, full of religious feeling, hollow and lonely as an empty church. It was not a voice to inspire fury, but it did instill hope, a sense of justice, a calmness of conscience. Said he:
"Hitler has now made it plain that he is preparing to direct the whole weight of German might against this country. This is why in every part of Britain, in great towns and villages alike, there is only one spirit of indomitable resolution. Nor has anyone any doubt that if Hitler were to succeed it would be the end, for many besides ourselves, of all those things which, as we say, make life worth living. We realize that the struggle may cost us everything, but just because the things we are defending are worth any sacrifice it is a noble privilege to be the defenders of things so precious. . . .
"We shall not stop fighting until freedom, for ourselves and others, is secure.. ..
"Where will God lead us? Not, we may be sure, through easy or pleasant paths. That is not His way. He will not help us to avoid our difficulties. What He will do is to give to those, who humbly ask, the spirit that no dangers can disturb. . . ."