Finland Must Not Be Allowed To Disappear

I Am Speaking To You From The Cabinet Room At 10 Downing Street. This Morning The British Ambassador In Berlin Handed The German Government An Official Note Stating That Unless We Heard From Them By Eleven O'clock, That They Were Prepared At Once To Withdraw Their Troops From Poland, A State Of War Would Exist Between Us. I Have To Tell You Now That No Such Undertaking Has Been Received, And Consequently This Country Is At War With Germany.

My Good Friends, For The Second Time In Our History, A British Prime Minister Has Returned From Germany Bringing Peace With Honor. I Believe It Is Peace For Our Time... Go Home And Get A Nice Quiet Sleep.

This Is A Sad Day For All Of Us, And To None Is It Sadder Than To Me. Everything That I Have Worked For, Everything That I Have Hoped For, Everything That I Have Believed In During My Public Life, Has Crashed Into Ruins. There Is Only One Thing Left For Me To Do; That Is, To Devote What Strength And Powers I Have To Forwarding The Victory Of The Cause For Which We Have To Sacrifice So Much... I Trust I May Live To See The Day When Hitlerism Has Been Destroyed And A Liberated Europe Has Been Re-established.

In The Event Of Any Action Which Clearly Threatened Polish Independence And Which The Polish Government Accordingly Considered It Vital To Resist With Their National Forces, His Majesty's Government Would Feel Themselves Bound At Once To Lend The Polish Government All Support In Their Power. They Have Given The Polish Government An Assurance To This Effect. I May Add That The French Government Have Authorized Me To Make It Plain That They Stand In The Same Position In This Matter.

Finland Must Not Be Allowed To Disappear Off The Map.