HISTORY REPEATED

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 196, 15 May 1940, Page 8

HISTORY REPEATED

Mr. Churchill’s advent as Prime Minister and leader ot Britain s war effort contemporaneously with the involvement of the Dutch nation in the war on the side of the Allies marks a very interesting historical coincidence. It was Winston Churchills gieat ancestot, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, who was over two centuries ago so closely associated with the Dutch nation in the maintenance of the Grand Alliance which finally broke the military power or another aspirant for world domination, Louis XIV of France, indeed, had it not been for the patience, courage, enthusiasm, imagination and leadership of this extraordinary man the Grand Alliance would have collapsed. Overcoming difficulties that would have broken the heart of an ordinary man John Churchill proved the heart and. soul of the Alliance. For long and bitter years the armies under his command fought over Europe from the Low Countries and France to the Danube; his campaigns gave to England not only the glories of Ramillies and Blenheim, but they restored to her her lost leadership of Europe. Those people, and they are many, who will interpret the latest association of the name of Churchill with the valorous and tenacious Dutch people as a happy augury for. the successful outcome of this latest war against ruthless dictatorship, will take additional comfort from the character of the Empire’s new leader. He is blessed with many of the characteristics of his illustrious ancestor. Mr. Dur Cooper, in a British Broadcasting Corporation radio talk on “Churchill the Man,” referred to him as “this remarkable man” and went on to emphasize the more notable sides of his character. These included, he said, courage, both physical and mental; energy and. enthusiasm, and imagination—qualities essential to leadership of the highest ordei. These are essentially the qualities demanded of the tremendous conflict now in progress, and for inspiring in the people and in the armed forces their utmost confidence and unbounded efforts.