The Press TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1939. A King in North America

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22717, 23 May 1939, Page 8

The Press TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1939. A King in North America

It is not often that a reigning King of England permits himself an excursion into political philosophy; but there is a passage in King George Vi’s speech at the unveiling of the Canadian national war memorial which goes to the heart of the world’s present political troubles.

This memorial does more than commemorate a groat event in the past: it has a message for all generations and all countries. . . . Not by chance do the crowning figures of peace and freedom appear side by side. Peace and freedom cannot long be separated. It is well that vve have in one world capital a visible reminder of so great a truth. Without freedom there can be no enduring peace and without peace no enduring freedom.

This is a way of saying that the problem of world order is reduced in the last analysis to a problem of national systems of' government. A dictatorship cannot seek peace and security because to do so is to seek its own destruction. A nation will submit to a deprivation of its freedom' only so long as it lives in an atmosphere of crisis and struggle and danger. After Napoleon 111 had, by subterfuge and violence, made himself Emperor of the French, he proclaimed. in all sincerity: “The empire means “ peace.” But the logic of his own position left him with the choice between a recklessly aggressive foreign policy and the collapse of his regime; anil in the finish the empire' was dissolved in war. It is already obvious that the dictators of to-day face the same choice. Moreover, even if dictators were not under a compelling urge to justify themselves by provoking international crises, the States they govern could not co-operate effectively and permanently in the interests of security for the reason that international co-operation cannot be effective and permanent if it. is based solely on pacts; it must be a relationship between peoples as well as governments. “Dictators.’ says Sir Alfred Zimmern, “cannot co-operate: their “ temperament prevents it, Nor can their “ peoples; for their rulers prevent them. If this i.s true, then the problem of world order is the problem of developing co-operation among the countries where there is political freedom and the will to defend political fieedom. Such development must be slow because it can move no taster than the political edm a(ion of the democratic peoples: but there are some individuals, among them the King and Queen of England, who have it in their power to call whole nations to a sense of their common dangers and responsibilities. This is the true significance of the visit of Their Majestic? to Canada and of their impending visit to the United Slates. For, if the nations of the British Commonwealth can evolve a common policy to express their common ideals, and if tire Commonwealth as a whole can co-operate effectively with the United States, the problems of peace and security arc well on the way to solution. Canada's position is crucial, since she belongs to two systems—to the British Commonwealth and to what might, bo called the North American system. By going to the Untied States bv way of Canada, Their Majesties are showing the way to constructive democratic statesmanship.