---
title: 'W. M. Hughes, M.H.R.: "In no circumstances would I agree to send men out of the country to fight against their will" (No-Conscription Campaign)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/in-no-circumstances-hughes-no-conscription-1916/
description: A caricatured W. M. Hughes gestures at a large oval of lettering, 'IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES would I agree to send men out of the country to fight against…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![W. M. Hughes, M.H.R.: "In no circumstances would I agree to send men out of the country to fight against their will" (No-Conscription Campaign)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/in-no-circumstances-hughes-no-conscription-1916.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/in-no-circumstances-hughes-no-conscription-1916.jpg)

# W. M. Hughes, M.H.R.: "In no circumstances would I agree to send men out of the country to fight against their will" (No-Conscription Campaign)

A caricatured W. M. Hughes gestures at a large oval of lettering, 'IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES would I agree to send men out of the country to fight against their will', beneath a Hansard extract from July 1915. The sheet sets one selected sentence of his from the House of Representatives against his later proposal to send conscripts overseas, leaving out the debate and the changed war situation around the quotation.

- **Date:** 1916
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** No-Conscription Campaign, Sydney (authorised by P. C. Evans and J. M. Power); drawing by Claude Marquet; printed by The Worker Print, Sydney
- **Region:** [Oceania](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=oceania)
- **Country:** [Australia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=australia)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Hughes Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=hughes-government)
- **Leader:** [William Morris Hughes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=william-morris-hughes)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [Australian Conscription Referendums](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=australian-conscription-referendums)
- **Techniques:** [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [State Library Victoria (Riley & Ephemera Collection)](https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/263135), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (issued 1916, before 1931; SLV: 'This work is out of copyright') State Library Victoria, Riley & Ephemera Collection, handle 10381/263135 (IE8777586).

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
PLEASE PASTE UP.

W. M. HUGHES, M.H.R.
Hansard, July 22, 1915.
"This Bill is not for the purpose of conscription, either in Australia or abroad. In no circumstances would I agree to send men out of this country to fight against their will. If the day ever comes when men will not fight when their country is at death grips it will be because the country is not worth fighting for."

"IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES would I agree to send men out of the country to fight against their will." -W. M. Hughes 16/7/15

[signed] Claude Marquet

NO-CONSCRIPTION CAMPAIGN.
HEADQUARTERS: MACDONELL HOUSE, SYDNEY.
Help Wanted!  JOIN THE LOCAL COMMITTEE.  Funds Wanted!
Authorised by P. C. Evans and J. M. Power, Secretaries for the No-Conscription Campaign, Macdonell House, Sydney.
The Worker Print, Sydney. b1576 [imprint line very small; the last group is read at low confidence]
```

[← Gold gab ich zur Wehr, Eisen nahm ich zur Ehr (I Gave Gold for Defence, I Took Iron for Honour)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-gab-ich-zur-wehr-1916/) [Kriegsfürsorge für die türkischen Truppen in Galizien (War Welfare for the Turkish Troops in Galicia) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kriegsfuersorge-tuerkische-truppen-galizien-1916/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [La paz según el Perú – La paz según los chilenos (Peace According to Peru, Peace According to the Chileans)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-paz-segun-el-peru-el-banquillo-1880/) (Jun 12, 1880 · Card stacking)
- [Remember the Maine! And Don't Forget the Starving Cubans! (Judge)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/remember-the-maine-starving-cubans-judge-1898/) (May 7, 1898 · Card stacking)
- ["A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo's Ambition" (commercial stereograph, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sacrifice-to-aguinaldos-ambition-1899/) (1899 · Card stacking, Name-calling). Content note: Photograph of two dead Filipino soldiers.
- ["England and the War in South Africa" (Der wahre Jacob, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-and-capitalism-der-wahre-jacob-1899/) (Dec 5, 1899 · Card stacking, Scapegoating)
- ["Kill Every One Over Ten" (New York Evening Journal, 1902)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kill-every-one-over-ten-1902/) (May 5, 1902 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Blindfolded Filipino children before a firing squad.