a nation's liberty was menaced by an aggressor a
man took from the chimney corner his bow and arrow or his spear, or a
sword which had been left to him by an ancestry of warriors, went to the
gathering ground of his tribe, and the nation was fully equipped for
war. That is not the case now. Now you fight with complicated, highly
finished weapons, apart altogether from the huge artillery. Every rifle
which a man handles is a complicated and ingenious piece of mechanism,
and it takes time. The German arsenals were full of the machinery of
horror and destruction. The Russian arsenals were not, and that is the
reason for the war. Had Russia projected war, she also would have filled
her arsenals, but she desired above everything peace. ["Hear, hear!"] I
am not sure that Russia has ever been responsible for a war of
aggression against any of her European neighbors. Certainly this is not
one of them. She wanted peace, she needed peace, she meant peace, and
she would have had peace had she been left alone. She was at the
beginning of a great industrial development, and she wanted peace in
order to bring it to its full fructification. She had repeatedly stood
insolences at the hands of Germany up to the point of humiliation, all
for peace, and anything for peace.

Whatever any one may say about her internal Government, Russia was
essentially a peaceable nation. The men at the head of her affairs were
imbued with the spirit of peace. The head of her army, the Grand Duke
Nicholas, [cheers,] is about the best friend of peace in Europe. Never
was a nation so bent on preserving peace as Russia was. It is true
Germany six or seven years ago had threatened to march her legions
across the Vistula and trample down Russia in the mud, and Russia,
fearing a repetition of the same threat, was putting herself in a
position of defense. But she was not preparing for any aggression, and
Germany said, "This won't do. We don't like people who can defend
themselves. We are fully prepared. Russia is not. This is the time to
plant our dagger of tempered steel in her heart before her breastplates
are forged." That is why we are at war. [Cheers.] Germany hurried her
preparations, made ready for war. She made a quarrel with the same cool
calculation as she had made a new gun. She hurled her warriors across
the frontier. Why? Because she wanted to attack somebody, a country that
could not defend herself. It was the purest piece of brigandage in
history.