THE NAVY LEAGUE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 129, 4 June 1927, Page 9

THE NAVY LEAGUE

ST. GEORGE'S DAY

MESSAGE TO; PEOPLE

(From."The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 23rd April.

A message t» its members and to the public generally has been issued by. the Navy League, the occasion being 6t'. George's .Day.' The message is signed by the Deputy President, Lord Sydenhani of Combe, and is as foliows:— "For more than five centuries the Cross of St. George has been our national emblem. In the hour of its adoption, the Crown and the honour of England were faced with overpowering odds in an alien country. King Henry V. on .the field of Agincourt appealed for help to St. George, knowing his might to be irresistible, and" believing also iv the willingness of the Saint to come to the aid ;■ f _ the^ weak against the strong. "It is well on the day of- our Patron Saint to remind ourselves that he stands not only for strength, but for service; not only for gervice, but for strength. This generation-has seen armed strength prepared and directed to secure world domination. Bightly and quite naturally, evfcr since the Great War, this gen-" 1 oration has cried aloud for disarmament as a road to peace. But disarmament is not an end in itself, or a guarantee of peace. Armaments will always bo required because of the permanent necessity for opposing strength wrongly applied. The giant who uses his strength as a giant must be deprived of his capacity for evil. But if all organised strength" is to be suppresesd, how is organised evil to be combated? No responsible person has yet suggested demobilising the police. On the contrary, it is _ the duty of every loyal citizen to reinforce the police in case of need, and : ■ is the privilege of Government to lend to the police all the authority, which strength, when rightly applied imperatively ' demands. This is the 'sanction' which gives tho policeman's uniform the dignity it bears. "Another force that has followed con•sistently the example of St. George is the Fleet of England, which makes safe all tho sea routes of tho world as tho metropolitan police make safe the streets of London. Without sufficient cruisers to safeguard the Sevon Seas the ocean going merchantmen, on whom our lives, our liberties and our industries depend, would be as helpless as • the craft which have been preyed upon by Chinoee pirates. And behind the Koyal Navy is the 'sanction' of British Nationalism from which it derives authority and power. '■ "For. n'vo centuries under the Flag of St.. George the Navy of England has boon matchless iv might and the scourge of tyrants and oppressors. On St George's Day the Navy. League desires to remind your readers that is is for his strength that St. Georgo is Venerated, the strength; that perfects itself in .« order to succour the weak and to maintain world peace."' 85, Fleet street.