DRAMATIC SPEECH TO ALLIED STATESMEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 138, 13 June 1941, Page 7

DRAMATIC SPEECH TO ALLIED STATESMEN

HITLERISM REVILED

Churchill Slates "Polluter And Invader" Of Europe

U.P.A. and British Wireless. Bcc. 2 p.m. LONDON, June 12. A meeting was held in London at ot. James' Palace, at which were present Mr. Churchill, the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, the Lord Privy Seal, Mr. C. R. At.tlee, the Dominions and Colonial Secretaries, the Air Minister, Foreign Under-Secretary, High Commissioners for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the Secretary of State for India, the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretaries of the Governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Luxemburg, Norway and Poland, the Greek Minister in London, the Netherlands Prime Minister and Minister in London, the Yugoslav Minister in London, and General de Gaulle representatives.

The following resolution was adopted:—

"The Governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the Government of Belgium, the provisional Czechoslovak Government, the Governments of Greece, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia, and the representatives of General dc Gaulle, leader of the Free Frenchmen, engaged together in the fight against aggression, resolved, first, that they will continue the struggle against German or Italian oppression until victory is won, and' will mutually assist each other in the struggle to the utmost of their respective capacities.

"Second, we affirm that there can be no settled peace or prosperity as long as free peoples are coerced by violence into submission to the domination of Germany or her associates, or live under the threat of such coercion.

"Third, we affirm that the only true basis for enduring peace is the willing co-operation of free peoples in a world in which, relieved of the menace of aggression, all may enjoy economic and social security; and it is their intention to work together and with the other free peoples both in war* and peace to this end."

"In the twenty-second month of the war against Nazi-ism we meet here in order to proclaim the high purposes and resolves of the lawful constitutional Governments of Europe," said Mr. Churchill. "Here before us on the table lie the title deeds of 10 nations or States whose soil has been invaded and polluted, and whose men, women and children lie prostrate or writhing under the Hitler yoke. "But here also, duly authorised by Parliament and the democracy of Britain, arc gathered the servants of the ancient British monarchy and the accredited representatives of the British Dominions beyond the seas, of the Empire of India, of Burma, and of our colonies in every quarter of the globe. U.S.A. Message "They have drawn their swords in this cause. They never let them fall till life is gone, or victory has been Avon. Here we meet, while from across the Atlantic Ocean the hammers and lathes of the United States signal in rising hum their message of encouragement and their promise of swift, ever-growing aid. "What tragedies, what horrors, what crimes, has Hitler and all that Hitler stands for brought upon Europe and the world! The ruins of Warsaw, Rotterdam and Belgrade are the monuments which will long recall to future generations the outrage of unopposed air bombing, applied with calculated, scientific cruelty, to a helpless population. Here "in London, throughout the cities of our island and in Ireland there may also be seen the marks of devastation. They are being repaired. find presently they will be more than repaid. Terrorised Peoples "But far worse than these visible injuries is the misery of the conquered peoples. We see them hounded, terrorised and exploited: their manhood by the million forced to work under conditions indistinguishable in many cases from actual slavery; their goods ajid chattels pillaged or filched for worthless money; their homes and their daily life pried into and spied upon by the all-pervading system of secret political police, which, having reduced the Germans themselves to abject docility, now stalks the streets and byways or a dozen lands; their religious faiths affronted, persecuted or oppressed, in the interests of a fantastic paganism devised to perpetuate worship and sustain the tyranny of one abominable creature.

"We see their traditions, their culture, their laws, their institutions, social and political alike, suppressed by force or undermined by subtle, coldly-planned intrigue. The prisons of the Continent no longer suffice. Concentration camps are overcrowded. Every dawn German volleys crack. Czechs, Poles, Dutchmen, Norwegians, Yugoslavs and Creeks, Frenchmen, Belgians and Luxemburgers make this great sacriifice for faith and country."