ཎྞེ་
THE CHINA MAIL, DECEMBER 3, 1940.
Page:
CHINA MAIL Unofficial Ambassador
WINDSOR HOUSE
EMPIRE EFFORT
.
to
over
"He reflected upon the fact that Italy had so little control, in com- parison with Great Britain, of the Mediterranean, of Egypt and of the Suez Canal.
The Past And
men of letters.
1
*
A'Balfour Story
One good story refers to the Earldom and the Order of the Garter conferred on Mr. Balfour after the Washington Conference. The King wished to award the. honour personally, but Mr. Lloyd George flatly told the King that the prerogatives of the Prime Minister were being usurpet-
......
DR. Nicholas Murray Butler, the the history of civilisation, and that ancient Rome occupied when at ences to British statesmen and
President of Columbia Uni- 'the peace of the world cannot rest the height of its power. versity has been affectionately with permanence upon any theory described as America's unofficial of domination by force-whether that force be military or economic The visit to England of Ambassador:
When the
Great War was or racial or religious. Any such do- Colonel Ralston, the Can- over, he helped the move mination is always a temptation to adian Defence Minister, Europe.
ment
restore devastated its own disturbance' and. In his book "Across throw. Peace can only rest secure with the proclamation the Busy Years," he tells upon a liberal, enlightened and,
The Future that Canada is resolved to the story of America's. effort to convinced public opinion,
rebuild and restore the library,
"I pressed the question whether contribute not only all both at Louvain and Rheims, the time had not come when "He felt that England, like Por- her strength,
but her which he organised. Dr. Butler Europe might take the next long tugal should be satisfied with its
tried to make friendly contacts step forward in promoting national position on the Atläritic and ́its "Then some ingenious person hit most effective strength, with Germany, and actually ad- satisfaction
. and
international influence towards the west, and upon the plan of having the King's with the best teamwork dressed the Reichstag. Dr. Butler, comfort through the building of that Italy should retake Savoie, personal letter to Balfour an.
too, and many chats with Mus- an cconomic United States of Corsica, Malta and the control of nouncing these distinguished hon- that can be devised in col-solini, and while naturally he dis-Europe, which should do for the the eastern Mediterranean. All ours. handed to him by Lloyd laboration with the agreed with his views, acknow- teeming. and highly civilised this of course was thinking in Georgo himself on Balfour's ar-
frankly that Mussolini was populations of those countries terms of centuries long past. The rival. Mother Country, is parti-ays ready to frankly discuss what the Constitution of the Unit- twentieth century does not require This course was followed. cularly timely in the light international affairs.
ed States had done for America." or expect political domination over When the train came in, Balfour. "I took as my text," he writes,
"It was possible to quote in sup- territory and people with which stepped out on the platform and of the increasing strain
"a sentence used by Bismarck in port of that ideal many of the trade and commerce are carried was greeted by all sorts of high. which intensified Nazi speaking to the Reichstag on Feb-great names in German history on. We have gotten beyond personalities and friends, at whose head was Lloyd George, who night bombing is placing ruary 6, 1888, as well as a sen- those of Lessing and Herder, of that.... upon Britain.
"Italian tradition, Italian culti-handed him an imposing-looking tence from the writings of Ralph Goethe and Schiller, of Hegel and Waldo Emerson and one from the Schleiermacher, of Fichte and Im-vation, Italian achievement in envelope which, as a matter of writings
Oliver Wendell manuel Kant..
letters, in architecture, in music fact, contained the King's letter Holmes."
and in the fine arts, are so com-announcing the two great honours. letter in his manding that the place of Itnly in Balfour thrust the The Imponderables.
the modern world is wholly secure coat pocket and proceeded to con- if only it will turn to forward fac-verse freely with the welcoming Matter Most
ing and constructive policies of group.
"It was only after he reached progress in the spirit of to-day and
asked him "The thought which ran through
to-morrow rather then in that of home that someone sure of cooperation in the this address was that it is the im-tieth century to a position of in- centuries long gone by."
what was the purport of the let- the Prime Minister mobilising of Common- ponderables which matter most influence comparable to that which
ter which handed him on the railway plat- wealth resources to
form. For a few minutes the letter could not be found anywhere, but strengthen defences in
finally it appeared from the pocket every part of the world
of Balfour's overcoat, which had been left in the hall on reaching and to create a striking
home. On reading the letter, he force that the aggressors
found notice of the two very dis
which were will soon begin to dread.
tinguished honour's his....
Colonel Ralston is ex- pressing a feeling which is common to every part} of the Empire and pre- supposes the fullest mea-
of
Human
"The
Economlet" recently ex- pressed the following views on the opportunities offered by the war for creating a new national life in Britain;
is necessary is to see what is un-
cracy.
of a concrete fact.
are neces-
"During those years of close contact with Mussolini and with the aims of Italian policy," he as- serts, "it became more and more impressed upon me that Mussolini kept before him the conception of restoring his country in the twen-
Right: Bill Of
The book contains many refer-
And A
Duties
too often accompanies the spiritual, gotten to seize it. And that, in its wealth of the large family. turn, can be traced to our edut
**
+
Dr. Butler happened to be in England when the Dominions Premiers were in conference to discuss the new form the British Commonwealth should take. He paid a visit to Mr. Lloyd George at Chequers, and it transpired that Mr. Hughes, the Australian Premier, was apparently hard to persuade. at times to fall into line with the other, delegates. Dr.
It has sometimes been complained that Britain's We shall be compelled by the strength abroad was by do a number of radical things. It exigencies of the war itself to
If we were to do this, we should cational system. The existence of no means as great as her is surely better to do them with find that a remarkably high pró-privileged and exclusive schools strength at home. The our eyes open to the future, to do portion of the whole list was al-and universities is no new thing; them logically and consistently, ready secured in this country by but the convention that these pri- "beleaguered fortress" than to do them haphazard and the unrelated provisions of a score | vileged institutions are the only mentality had to be resist-provisionally. Under the tremen of enactments, that many of the channels of entry-or at least the of unhandicapped ed. This is a world war cial and economic life of the coun ampie will probably have to be entry in all the dominant forms Butler writes: dous pressure of the war, the so- gaps. (family allowances, for ex- only channels in which the enemy is out try is, in any case, going to be filled before the war is over and of professional activity is a very "Lloyd George took me aside for world domination. It forced into new shapes. Let us take that the cost of establishing the re- new thing indeed.
and said: 'Hughes needs stirring a hand in the moulding.
mainder is not impossibly high to. The result is that, in spite of up. You have got a car-take him is Britain's task to prove There is no need to go in search
contemplate.
the great extension of the public out and show him what there is that her world empire is of subjects for reforming. All that
If, in fact, we approach so close-schools, in spite of the great around here. Get under his skin!' strong and united enough der our noses, to take some tem-ly to such a real Bill of Human growth in university scholarships, It was a very hot day, so I went is forced Rights, a double purpose would be the field of selection for the-im-up to. Hughes and said, 'Prime to win a world war-fight-porary expedient that
upon us by the war and, with served by embodying it in a formal portant posts of State and society Minister, come on with me: let us ing, if need be alone, in such adjustments as
[Declaration. We should be nailing has been narrowed. Two genera-go and take a drive.' three continents at the sary, build it into the permanent our democratic colours to the mast tions ago, as-now, it was an ad- An Informative Drive structure of our growing demo- and reinforcing our own faith in vantage to any young man to be
Christ "I took him about three miles same time, if necessary.
the principles to which we adhere able to put Elon and We have, for instance, been And we should be issuing a chal- Church after his rame; but it was to the little village in which was The self-governing Do-
We compelled to realise since the out-lenge which speaks straight to the not then a handicap to be without the house where John Milton
wrote Paradise Regained. minions, with the excep- break of the war that the com- heart of the ordinary mana these magic claims.
We are unconsciously excluding looked at that and talked about tion of Eire, have all gone munity has greater obligations to challenge which speaks straight to
a whole rate of able young men Milton. We drove on about three the citizen, and the citizen greater the heart which Hitler could nei- to war and thrown men obligations to the community, than ther ignore nor accept. "This", we and women from positions of resmiles farther to the village from and are preventing which William Fenn came and resources into the either has hitherto been prepared could say, "is what. Democracy ponsibility; we
What them from taking full advantage, where he is buried in the grave- offer one-half As industrial to admit. When the needs of war promises and performs. struggle.
as of the scholarship ladder by giv-yard, a simple and impressive make it necessary to enforce a have you to
ing them a subtle sense of inferi- place. countries, Canada and general lowering of the standard good?"
*We looked at that and talked The counterpart should be a Billority (this is the only country Australia have to play a of living, the iden of a national
minimum standard of living, of Duties that the citizen owes to where variations in accent are about William Penn. We went on economically important), and we a few miles more to the graveyard large part in the produc- hitherto no more than a notion, the community."
In a modern community there are depriving the State of the ser- where Edmund Burke is buried. tion of finished war ma- begins to take on the semblance
are a thousand ways in which the vices of men of ability by a form "We stood by his tomb and talk- .terial. South Africa, too, Public money is devoted to the citizen can give his personal ser- of bepotism that is the more dead-ed about Burke. We next turned where John Hampden's manifesto has been building up steel cheapening of food and the in-vice to the State, and the mini-by for not being confined to ties of around and went into the church and secondary industries, payments.
crease in various social insurance mum of Rights will be the more blood..
To draw from this state of af- about ship-money was nailed to a Faced with a chal- cherished if it is paid for by a but is unable at present lenge to the whole idea of demo- minimum of Duties. For too long fairs the moral that all education post in the middle of the building,
to one dead and has been there ever since. cracy, we are compelled to think we have thought and talked of the should be reduced
"We looked at that and talked to supply her own require-cut afresh, and defend with fresh State, as an impersonal dispenser level would be the wrong con- ments. The "Economist” vigilance, the basic liberties of the of free doles; we must now think clusion. To have special schools about John Hampden. Between recently stressed the need citizen. On the other hand, when of the community, the common- for leadership and to clear ob- Milton and Penn and Burke and the community is under a direct wealth to which we give, from stacles from the career of their John Hampden, by the time we for facing this question: threat, the citizen discovers in which we receive, of which we graduates is a source of enormous got back to Chequers, Hughes be- strength to any State provided gan to think that England was how much further can himself an unsuspected anxiety to are members.
This is the democratic answer the raw material is carefully quite a place after all and that it would be well to be more en- the mobilisation of the There are here the makings of to one of the great problems of selected.
Let us keep the Public Schools thusiastic than he had yet been the age, the proper relations be- Commonwealth be Car-a new Social Contract between the tween the citizen and the State. and the Universities as special about the background of Australia British citizen and the State. By the ried? Until the blitzkrieg gradual addition of one temporary We are fighting Hitler because we channels of advancement-but let in England and about a swept over Western expedient to another, we are, in detest the solution that he has im- us see that only those who show Commonwealth of Nations."
This is, of course, a tall order.
"Jibbons" Europe, there was a ten-actual practice (though we may posed. Here is a means by which, proof of ability enter upon them. not realise it) drawing up a mo- while the war is still in progress,
One of the best stories in the dency to adopt a policy of dern Bill of Rights, whereby the we can establish our own solution It embraces far more than educa- limited liability as far as citizen is guaranteed not only his and proclaim the faith by which tional reform. It involves, for ex-
ample, disappearance of the book concerns the head of the Ro- personal liberties but the mini-we live and die.:
A second field in which the war rigid line between the director-man Catholic church in America: the war effort of the Do- mum of economic welfare and
"A woman, whose curiosity was minions went. The lack security that will enable him to has revealed the need for drastic caste and the employee-caste-n
action is in the search for personal distinction having nothing to do greater than her tact, once asked enjoy those liberties. of action in Europe for Let us make a list of the mini-ability. It has been one of our with ability that hampers, the Cardinal Gibbons. how far he nine months after Hitler's mum requirements for decent liv boasts in the past that our social whole of British industry and can thought the infallibility of the ing. It will include the familiar system, with all its peculiarities, be seen at its clearest and most Pope extended. Cardinal Gibbons, with the very slightest smille on Polish campaign made, basic guarantees of the dignity of was a matchless breeder of ability, damaging in the City of London.
and in past generations we have We are, in fact, faced with a his face, quietly answered: Ma- the need for strenuous ef- the individual-freedom of speech, ertainly had less incompetence in golden opportunity if only we can dom, that is not an easy question. forts seem unreal.
writing and religion, the right to But
a fair trial, the subordination of high places than other nations. have the vision to realise that we All I can say is that a few months We realise now. to our horror are neither likely nor anxious to ago in Rome His Holiness called all this has now been all government to the rule of law that in every walks of life there is see the world of the 1930's again, mo. "Jibbons reference to
In a cordial General changed. The Dominions But it will alsa, go much further;
it will catablish, minimum stan- nothing but mediocrity at the top but rather that we must bend our are determined to do their dards of housing, food, education or else (what is often worse) so energies to the wise construction Smuts, Pr. Butler quotes what he little ubility that it is overburden of the now. The bricks and mor- terms his unforgettable Words" part without stint or and medical care.
It will provide security against ed and forms itself into a bottle- tar are there not, indeed, for a uttered by the eminent South limit
of the The only pity is the various undeserved misfor neck. This is true of politics, of grandioso new building, designed African
"The disappearance that India, with her im tunes, such as unemployment, ac industry, of finance, of art of with all the tyrannous symmetry
cident, widowhood and old age, Journalism. It is most peculiarly of a Veraallles or a Reichskanzlei sturdy, independent-minded, free- mense reserves of raw ma- that can reduce an individual and disastrously true of the Civil but for a new wing to be built dom-loving Individual, and his re- who knows on to the loss protentious English placement by a servile, standard- terials, man power, and sufficiency to deatitution. It will Service. But no one industrial resources, and relieve the material poverty that the British people can doubt for structure so as to combine the feed mass-mentality is the great- a minute that the raw material of beauty, and the solidity of the tra- est huiman menace of our times,"" ("Across the Busy Years" is and conveniences of the modern published in two volumes at 1s holding a pivotal place in not in a position to pull leadership is still as abundant ne ditional with all the efficiencies
ever
cach by Scribners.) the strategic plan, is still her full weight.
..
serve.
The trouble is that we have for-