May 8, 2015

Finest Hour 111, Summer 2001

Page 32

Winston Churchill Edits the Bible!

On 19 May 1940 Churchill ended his first broadcast as Prime Minister with a majestic coda: “Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: ‘Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.'”

We have somehow imagined for years that these words were taken from the Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth! In fact, as we finally learned recently, when the source was requested over Listserv Winston (our online discussion group) they came from the Bible—with a certain editing by Churchill.

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The reference is 1 Maccabees 3:5860. Maccabees? Barbara Langworth, researching the matter on Internet Bible sites, offered the following:

“The Books of the Maccabees, also spelled ‘Machabbes,’ number four, none of which is in the Hebrew Bible but all of which appear in some manuscripts of the Septuagint. The first two books are part of canonical scripture in the Septuagint and the Vulgate (hence are canonical to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) and are included in the Protestant Apocrypha.”

Churchill used the King James Bible, which contains the Apocrypha. But either his capacious memory deserted him on this occasion, or he took his red pen in hand to edit the Biblical injunction. Having now read both, we think Churchill made a notable improvement! The King James version:

[58] And Judas said, arm yourselves, and be valiant men, and see that ye be in readiness against the morning, that ye may fight with these nations, that are assembled together against us to destroy us and our sanctuary:

[59] For it is better for us to die in battle, than to behold the calamities of our people and our sanctuary.

[60] Nevertheless, as the will of God is in heaven, so let him do.

Russia’s Misfortunes

Joy West ([email protected]) wrote: “I am trying to find out who Winston Churchill was referring to when he said, that the Russian peoples’ ‘worst misfortune was his birth: their next worst—his death.’ I am undecided between Stalin and Lenin. Any help is much appreciated.”

Not quite so famous as Churchill’s remark about the Germans sending him into Russia like “a phial containing a culture of typhoid or cholera to be poured into the water supply,” this was a description of Nikolai Lenin, from The Aftermath (London and New York: 1929). It is also quoted in Halle, Irrepressible Churchill, just republished as a trade paperback, available from the CC New Book Service:

“He alone could have led Russia into the enchanted quagmire; he alone could have found the way back to the causeway. He saw; he turned; he perished. The strong illuminant that guided him was cut off at the moment when he had turned resolutely for home. The Russian people were left floundering in the bog. Their worst misfortune was his birth: their next worst—his death.”

Irish Encounters

Terry McGarry, a gent of Irish heritage helping to organize the 2001 International Churchill Conference in San Diego, was preparing a news release for an ethnic Irish newspaper, and asked us for a brief summary of Churchill’s involvement with Irish affairs. We replied with a comment—perhaps inadvertent—of Clementine Churchill’s, which belongs here.

The main point to make on behalf of our man is that Churchill negotiated the Irish Treaty with some pretty distrustful Irishmen, and got it through the House of Commons; and that one of the Irish negotiators, Michael Collins, said just before he died, “Tell Winston we could have done nothing without him.” Dr. Paul Cantor’s piece in the new edition of Churchill Proceedings 1996-1997 is superb, and fairly represents what Churchill thought the Treaty would do, and where his thinking was off. WSC did want to see peace in Ireland, and he thought the Ulster counties would eventually join the South. Sir Martin Gilbert believes his efforts on the 1921 Treaty should be more widely recognized, since they did keep the peace for nearly 50 years. Of course, his role on the Treaty has not prevented the Irish from taking a rather dim view of Churchill’s imperial leanings, and his acquiescence in sending the infamous “Black and Tans” to quell Irish unrest after World War I.

Clementine Churchill’s amusement was told by Churchill’s bodyguard, the late Eddie Murray. In the days when aircraft refueled in Shannon before flying the Atlantic, a Churchill flight alighted there and Eddie went to order some duty free Irish whisky for his Secret Service friends in the States. The Irishman at the counter said he’d box it up, and what name should he put on it? “Murray,” Ed told him.

When he arrived at the counter to pick up his box, the man handed it to him saying he hoped he would enjoy it—”But can ye tell me, Mr. Murray, what’s a man with a name like Murray doing working for an old bastard like Churchill?”

As the flight resumed, Eddie related the incident to Churchill, who thought it uproariously funny and related it to his wife. About five minutes went by in silence; then suddenly Clemmie exclaimed, in her high-pitched Scottish voice:

“But he was wrong, Winston, he was quite wrong—you DO know who your father was!”