FREE AND ELASTIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 121, 24 May 1944, Page 6

FREE AND ELASTIC

THE BONDS OF EMPIRE

TASK FOR THE FUTURE

"I Hope nothing further will be heard of the recent proposal for' a permanent Empire secretariat," said Mr. G. G. G. Watson in his address to the Royal Empire Society luncheon this afternoon. "In that direction lies the rule of the bureaucrat—the members of a ■ permanent secretariat tend to formulate, codify, and preserve fixed and1 definite principles as -distinguished from the freedom, elasticity, and adaptability which comes from the frequent interchange of views of the ever-changing personnel of the political leaders of different parts of the Empire." .

In the period between the wars, Mr Watson said, it became fashionable for minorities to decry the Empire, belittle its achievements, and attack the principles on which it was built. It might well be that these were symptoms of the decay of the Empire and indeed of a civilisation, a decay which could only be, and had been, totally arrested by the ordeal of a war in which the peoples of Britain had reached the very pinnacle of achievement in the preservation and enhancement of the principles of justice and freedom. The, Empire as it existed today was not the product of conscious planning or written constitution, but the result of growth and evolution, maintained by a process of free and frank consultation, mutual give and take, tolerance and good will, between its component parts. STILL WIDER PARTNERSHIP. "If that same system of frequent and frank consultation, mutual give and take, forbearance, and good will in pursuance of a common ideal can be extended and developed not only within • the Empire, but to our great ally with the same fundamental outlook •on life, the United States of America, is it too much to hope that the British Empire may in the fullness of time become a partner in an Anglo-American Commonwealth of Nations which would ensure the freedom of mankind for centuries to come?

"The future of the Empire lies in the hands not only of statesmen and leaders, but in the hands of you and me and all the common citizens of the Empire. In as much as the Empire is an expression of a way of living and the embodiment of common ideals and aspirations, it is the way of living and the ideals and aspirations of each of its citizens that will preserve or destroy the Empire. It has been built on the courage, enterprise, selfreliance, honour, honesty, and* fair dealing of its citizens; and only by continued adherence to these principles will it continue to flourish and grow. When victory and peace come, so too will come the testing time for each one of us.

QUESTIONS THAT MUST BE FACED.

"Are we going to hold' fast to our past virtues of courage, enterprise, selfreliance, honour, and love of freedom, or are we going, in the reaction from war, to sink into a bog of materialism and apathy? Are we one and all going to stand on our own feet and work and contend for all that is right and good in life, or are we going to allow our lives to be ordered and regimented and planned by others, who too often have no qualification for such a task other than a blind belief in regimentation or a love of the power that the planner has over the planned? Are we going to insist.on leading our own lives in our own way, true to the virtues which have made the Empire great, or are we going to fall into a clamourous mob demanding rights and forgetting duties? Are we going to look to the State as the universal provider of all benefits, or are we going to rely on our own self-reliance and enterprise, to ensure not only our own welfare, but also to provide the help that, is necessary for the weak, the helpless, and the afflicted, but which is not necessary for the strong, the virile, and the self-reliant? Are we going to insist in.the days of peace on sweeping away all those forms of control and interference with individual liberty which are necessary in time of war, but which are anathema to the lover of freedom and liberty in times of peace, or are we going to succumb to the strangling grip of a powerful and deeply entrenched bureaucracy? Are we going to measure happiness and success in life in terms of material comforts and indolence, or in the terms of achievement in work done to the best of our ability and in accordance with a high ethical or moral code? Are we going to strive and fight for what we believe to be right in our national life, or are we going to acquiesce in what we know to be wrong? . "These are the questions which will demand an answer as soon as peace comes. Upon how the people of the Empire answer these questions will depend the future of the Empire."