FUTURE UNCERTAIN

Evening Star, Issue 25620, 22 October 1945, Page 5

FUTURE UNCERTAIN

: BRITAIN’S PLACE IN WORLD HR CHURCHILL CONCERNED LONDON, October 20. “ It was not without a pang that I found myself dismissed at the General Election frpm the honourable task of guiding our country,” Mr Winston Churchill told his constituents when receiving the honorary freedom of the Borough of Wanstead and Woodford. “I had hoped the position 1 had gained in the world, the experience and knowledge which I had acquired, and the links which had been forged in the fires of war with other lands and leaders, might have been of service at this critical time of transition and in the fateful work of trying to revive the life and glory of Europe within the circle of an assured world peace.” .\lr Churchill declared also that he was disappointed that he was unable to throw all his personal strength and that of his colleagues into demobilisation, hpusing, and the switch-over from war-time industries to peace-time production. He would not. however, waste his time repining. . “1 share with many people deep anxiety about the future.” said Mr Churchill. “It seems to me that the next few years may well decide our place in the world. It is a place which, if once lost, may never be regained.” The break-up of the famous Coalition Government, he added, had inevitably led to a wider rift between the parties. He could not conclude, however, without reaffirming his confidence that the qualities which had carried their island race to the vanguard of mankind would not desert them now.

Mr Churchill, earlier in his speech, expressed his appreciation of the action of many famous cities in Britain and abroad in bestowing the freedom of their cities upon him. “ I know not whether 1 shall live long enough to attend all the ceremonies’ required.” he observed. “ I shall, however, do my best ”

Mr Churchill pointed out that his constituents had been loyal to him for nearly 22 years, sustained him after the Munich crisis, and voted their confidence in his attitude and policy. “1, therefore, was able to have a seat in Parliament at the time when the fearful storm broke upon us,” he said, “ and but for that my opportunities of serving m.v country might well have been severely limited, and for good or ill there would have been a different tale to tell.”