Ammanford heard a stirring call to arms sounded on Wednesday night at a great public recruiting meeting held under the auspices of the Carmarthen County and Parliamentary Recruiting Committee at the New Palace Theatre, which was packed with an audience consisting in the main of young men. The occasion was a remarkable one in the annuals of the town; the need for more and still more men in the greatest the country has known.
A clear, pronounced issue was presented to the vast gathering, and, splendidly as has Ammanford done already, the following appeals evidently striking a deep note in the sympathies of the auditors, cannot fail to have tangible results in days to come. The orations – to use “Towyn's phrase – will ring as silver bells in our ears and set as a tonic in our hearts for many a long year.
The speakers were the Right Hon. Ellis Jones Griffiths, Under-Secretary for the Home Office; Messer's. J. A. Grant (Conservative Member of Parliament for Cumberland ), Charles Duncan (Labour M. P. for Barrow-in-Furness), and David Rhys (barrister, Anglesey ).
Lord Dynevor presided, and he was supported on the stage by the leading public men and ladies of the district.
Prior to the commencement of the speeches, the Palace orchestra played martial music, and patriotic slides as well a war film were projected. It should be mentioned that the use of the magnificent hall, the orchestra, and the slides were given entirely free of charge by the lessee, Mr. Oscar Mills, who, however, was prevented from being present owing to an important business engagement.
In the course of a telling opening speech, Lord Dynevor said they were engaged on a most terrible war, the most terrible war the world had ever seen; but it had got to be fought out to a finish. (Hear, hear.)
We were in for a fight for life or death. But the hardest part of the task was in front of us, for at this moment we and our Allies were more or less on the defensive; the time would come – he hoped it was not far off – when we must invade Germany .
There could be no question of making peace until we finally destroyed German militarism (Hear, hear.) we did not want a repetition of this war. We were waging this war against war. How could we best tackle our task?
One way, and one way only, and that is more men. (Hear, hear.) Ammanford when the war broke out, responded extremely well to the call. (Hear, hear.) They honoured those people, and were deeply proud of them, but there were still in Ammanford a certain number of young men of military age who had not yet seen their way to join the colours. To those they were going to appeal to that night.
Let them think of those brave men of ours fighting now in the trenches, some of them had been fighting for three or four months. They wanted a rest. (Hear, hear.) They were calling to the young men of the town; let them send back the message, “We are coming.” (Hear, hear.)
Our kinsmen in the great Dominions over the seas had given of their best, namely themselves. (Hear, hear.) He trusted they would not let our Colonial brethren at the end of the war to be in a position to say that they gave more men in proportion to the population than the Mother Country. (Cheers.)
After that meeting there would be a great responsibility upon them, and he anticipated some of them may say, “Well, what shall I join?” The choice was a large one. They could practically join in any regiment they liked; but he specially hoped they would join the Carmarthenshire Battalion of the Welsh Army Corps. (Cheers.) He proceeded to say they had represented on that platform that night the three parties in the House of Commons; in fact, they were goring to be an extremely happy family. Also Mr. David Rhys, who was not unknown to them, had made a welcome attendance.
In conclusion, he expressed the hope that when all the recruits needed were got they would be able to say that Wales in proportion to her population gave more men than any other part of the Mother Country (Cheers.)
The Rt. Hon. Ellis Jones Griffith was greeted with ringing cheers on rising to speak. The chairman, he said, had already put before the meeting a most important point which he at any rate wished to press upon their consideration. As he had said, they had met in a moment of peril and of danger, and, as he added, we were fortunately met also as a happy family in the sense that there were no divisions between them. All parties and all creeds were united in this country. It was only about four months ago that each of them, probably at any rate on the platform, was pursuing the narrow riven path of domestic difference and sectional strife; that night they stood together on the broad highway where the wandering feet of nations, of civilisations and of mankind were marching for their pre-destined end.
And as they were united in Britain , so the Empire also spoke with one voice, and form all parts of it, across land and sea, the sons of the Empire had heard the call of the Mother Country and were rising to render her allegiance and service.
He had strong hope that Wales would also give a good account of herself. Just as the Welsh people had been claiming to be a nation for many years past, so now was the time for her to justify and vindicate her claim. If she had the rights of a nation she had the duties of a nation too, and, just as individuals, so nations also were tested and tried in the time of peril.
This was a time of peril, and by the response Wales gave to this appeal would she be judged for all time by the sister nations of England , Ireland , and Scotland . The opportunity had come for Wales to prove that whatever may have happened in the last hundred or two years that she had not forgotten her old traditions and her old history.
The Welsh always was fighting race – that ran right through our history down the centuries – always fighting for someone never seeking much of a cause for that fight, but if there was a fight going on, we were in it. (Laughter) And we regard this matter after the war was over.
Times had changed in this respect, but he was not sure there was not a good deal to be said from a patriotic point of view for the old historical trade those of the Welsh people.
There were ten nations at war, seven on one side and three on the other. Amongst the seven there were three, at any rate, small nations – Belgium, Servia and Montenegro – It ought not to be forgotten that the immediate cause of the war was the violation of the neutrality of Belgium, we were vindication in this war the indecencies of a small people, and Belgium, deserved first place in their consideration because she had suffered most.
She had been a victim of out raged justice, her country pillaged, her homes devastated, and her people destroyed. Let them not forget that Belgium might, had she liked, have taken another course. She might have allowed the German troops to come across over her frontier; but he thought, on the whole, she chose the better part. She had suffered greatly; she had gained greatly, and so too she had added imperishable lustre to the annals of her history.
Our pity for her was great, but our pride in her was still greater; and be felt sure that no Welshman would be willing to see this war come to an end unless be was assured that the Belgian people should be restored to Belgian soil to follow their great traditions. (Hear, hear.) It never served any useful purpose to depreciate the strength of the enemy. The cause of this war went back more than a generation.
It was the result of a long course of policy and the end of a long course of preparation; it began in 1914, but it had been looked forward to by the German people for a considerable number of years. Ever since 1870 the Germans had been taught and trained to look forward to the founding of a great Empire. There was one thing which stood in their way, and that was the British Empire . (Hear, hear.)
They wanted some out let for their trade, for their surplus population; they could not get that without sea power; they could not get the effective sea power without sea supremacy, and they could not get that sea supremacy without issuing victorious in a war against Great Britain .
That was the position, and he did not think anyone could read the papers nowadays without being struck by the fact that all through Germany aimed at Britain . And he could not help observing that if the Germans could commit so many atrocities in Belgium , what would the Germans soldiery do in a country which they hated so much as this country? (Hear, hear.)
There was no price too high for our soldiers and sailors; it was due to the soldiers who were marching and fighting for us in France , it was due to our sailors who were kept watching and waiting and vigilant in the long silent stretches of the North Sea ; and so our hearts went out to them in gratitude. Our best gratitude would be to help them.
We must listen to the voice from the trenches, and the voice from the trenches called upon the youth of England to come to their assistance. He did hope they would avail themselves of the opportunity. It was the only great opportunity for more than a generation when the youth of the country had been able to save the country.
As yet they not tried the doctrine of compulsion. The voluntary principle was on its trial. By what it was now it would be judged for all time. He thought the man who went willingly to fight was a better soldier than the man who went unwillingly. The excellent fighting qualities of the British Army was to be attributed a great deal to that fact.
He went on to say that he liked this local rivalry in recruiting, between one nation and another, between one country and another, and between one town and village and another; and already he hoped to see the day coming when every town and village throughout the land would take the means of commemorating for ever the names of their men who responded to this call - (Hear, hear.) - so that they and those to whom they belong shall be held in greater honour for all time because of the service they had rendered their country at this particular juncture.
Not only should the young men listen to the voice from the trenches, but to the voice of their own consciences as well, and he was perfectly prepared to let the matter rest there. He need not say anything of the magnitude of the task before them, as they knew they were fighting against the best equipped, best organised, and best prepared military power in the world.
Many battles had been fought for insignificant causes. In this care we were fighting for our very existence, and for the mothers and the wives and the daughters of England; we were fighting in this war for all those great possessions which the country holds dear – for the cause of liberty, for the cause of freedom, for the right of the people to manage their own affairs, for democracy – (Hear, hear.) – the right of the people to govern themselves, to make mistakes if they may, but that the responsibility be on their own shoulders. (Cheers.) They should awaken each other, he urged, to a stern sense of duty and responsibility in the crisis, and it was a consolation to find that they could best revere the memory of those who had fallen and best emulate those who are fighting by doing all they could in carrying to victory the banner under which they fight. (Loud applause.)
Mr. J. A. Grant, M. P., followed with a powerful speech. He said the time for argument had passed, and now it behoved every man in this country to d his utmost to serve his country. He impressed upon his hearers that the Germans were yet far from being beaten, and were even now confident of success. Therefore the task before them was a formidable one; as the war would not be finished in Belgium nor in Poland , nor in the high seas, but in Berlin and in Vienna .
It was true that all young men could not go, but he trusted there would be an excellent response to the present appeal, and that this part of Wales would do its duty, as he was sure it would do as he was sure it would do in taking a foremost part in our country's need (Cheers).
Mr. Charles Duncan, M. P., in the course of a forcible speech, mentioned that one of the South African deportees, who was a Dutchman, had been over to Germany since that the mobilisation orders issued were dated 1912.
This war, which was a war of aggression on the part of Germany , was evidently two years behind date. (Laughter). He ridiculed the justification offered by the German Chancellor for the violation of the neutrality of Belgium in the statement that necessity new no law. Any thief on God's earth could use that argument. (Laughter).
Mr. David Rhys, Barrister, stated that certain parts of Wales had done exceedingly well, but they ought to ask why is it that in some districts, particularly in the agricultural districts, Wales lags behind? Surely it was not because Wales had lost that martial ardour, it was not because she had degenerated into a race of cowards. Ten thousand times, No!
He hoped the first reason was that they had not yet realised the seriousness of the position. (Hear, hear). Then the parents were keeping back their boys, he strongly urged fathers and mothers not to place obstacles in the way of their sons enlisting, and, in ringing tones, recited a verse of “Gogerddan” of the Welsh mother urging her son, “Gwell marw's ddewr na byw yn fachgen llwfr.”
There were loud shouts for “Towyn,” before the latter rose to propose a hearty vote of thanks to the chairman and the speakers for their presence and for their rousing and inspiring recruiting speeches.
“Towyn” highly delighted the gathering with his short and happy English-Welsh speech.
Mr. Mervyn Peel, J. P., who on the stage rubbed shoulders with his quondam political opponent, seconded the vote of thanks, which was carried with acclamation.
Mr. Ellis Jones Griffith briefly responded. During the evening songs were ……. (word) by the “turns” at the Palace, and the singing of the National Anthem brought a memorable meeting to a close.
The arrangements for the meeting was in the hands of Mr. John Lewis of Brynrhug. The success with which it was attended is the best tribute Mr. Lewis could hope for.
