know you all," he went on. "There is not a man among you whom I do
not know. You--or you--or you." He addressed those near to him by
name. "We sympathise with you and have reasoned with you. But you
proved obdurate. The King's Government must be carried on; the war
must be carried on if our country is to be saved. And those who have
given power to me--the power which you have seen set out upon these
papers, the powers of Martial Law--will exercise them unflinchingly if
there appears to be no other way. But there is another and a better
way. You must obey the laws which Parliament has passed for the
defence of the country and for the provision of munitions. Your rights
are protected under them. After the war is over, your privileges will
be restored. For the present they must be abandoned. Willingly or
unwillingly they must be abandoned. I said just now that it is for you
to choose whether Martial Law shall take effect or not. The moment
those placards are posted in the streets the military authorities
become supreme, but they will not be posted if you have the sense to
see when you are beaten. What I have to ask, to require of you, is
that to-morrow, at the mass meeting of the men which is to be held,
you will advise them to surrender unconditionally, to work hard
themselves, and to allow all others to work hard. There must be no
more holding up of essential parts of guns, no more writing and
talking sedition. Our country needs the whole-hearted service of us
all. If you here and now give me your promise that you will use every
effort--no perfunctory, but real effort--to stop at once all these
threats of a strike, I will let you go now and wish you God-speed. If
you fail, then Martial Law will be proclaimed forthwith. Make this
very clear to the men. Tell them that you have seen the proclamation,
signed by the Field-Marshal himself, and that I, Captain and Chief
Inspector Dawson, will post the placards in the streets with my own
hands. If you will not give me your promise--I do not ask for any
hostages or security, just your promise as loyal, honourable men--I
shall arrest you all here and now, and deport you all just as those
twenty-three have been arrested and will be deported. You will not see
those men for a long time; you know in your hearts that you are well
quit of them. If I arrest you all, I shall not stop my arrests at that
point. There are many others--many who are not workmen from whom has
come money for you