Joseph Chamberlain Quotes
Let it be our endeavour, let it be our task, to keep alight the torch of imperial patriotism, to hold fast the affection and the confidence of our kinsmen across the seas; so that in every vicissitude of fortune the British Empire may present an unbroken front to all her foes, and may carry on even to distant ages the glorious traditions of the British flag.
Chamberlain, Joseph. Foreign and Colonial Speeches. George Routledge and Sons, 1897, p. 247.
“Fain” in this context means “forced by circumstances.” Emerson was suspicious of the facts behind any issue about which all are being extremely patriotic.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
In 1924 Congress Voted a bonus for all veterans of World War I. However, the President vetoed the bonus with this infamous statement. Congress overrode Coolidge’s veto, and the bonus became law but the administration did not pay it then. Subsequent Congresses did not appropriate the money to pay the bonuses, and that led to the tragedy of the government attack on the Bonus Army in the midst of the Great Depression in 1932. See Quotation 643961.
Joseph Chamberlain was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then, after opposing home rule for Ireland, a Liberal Unionist, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Conservatives. He split both major British parties in the course of his career. He was father, by different marriages, of Austen Chamberlain and of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
