MR EDEN IN U.S.A.

Grey River Argus, 30 March 1943, Page 6

MR EDEN IN U.S.A.

SPEECHES AT ANNOP.OLIS. NEW YORK, March 27. The keynote of the speech by the British Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) at Annapolis, Maryland was a vigorous and persuasive plea tor cooperation by all the United »» in peace, as in war. No nation.could close its frontiers and hope to live secure, he said. They could never find security and progress within heavily defended national fortresses, but only by the greatest measures of C °The l United Nations, particularly the United States, the British Commonwealth, China, and the Soviet Union, must act together in war and peace, said Mr Eden. When the defence of one was the defence of all, security and peace had no frontiers. The common safety demanded that overwhelming force be brought against an aggressor, wherever he might be. Only within an international syste mbacked with sufficient force could the enterprise and liberty of the individual find protection. Speaking of the desirability of frequent meetings and close understanding between the leaders of the United Nations, Mr Eden said that never in his experience had a journey been more worth while than nis present one. . • _ Referring to the period after Dunkirk, when “for the first time in our remembered history we faced national extinction,” Mr Eden paid a special tribute to the United States for sending more than 1,000,000 rifles, guns, machine-guns, and other weapons when the Home Guard was called into being. Such acts of generosity and faith meant more in the history of the two nations than all the speeches of statesmen or the labours of diplomacy. “In the year after the collapse of France, in which Britain stood alone against Germany and Italy, we had. although perilously weak, to send armed divisions round the Cape to reinforce our threatened defences, ’ said Mr Eden. Speaking of China, he said: Let China not misdoubt us. We shall not forget how for years she resisted aggression single-handed. The day will come when the Burma Road will once again be open. It will carry to China an ever-increasing volume of the supplies which the efforts oi your country and mine are turning but daily from the assembly lines. Mr Eden said the greatest of all peace aims was to ensure that unscrupluous leaders would never again be able to carry their people into war. They would accordingly take steps for the physical prevention oi this danger by the enforced disarmament of the gangster nations. This protection must be maintained tor whatever period was necessary. Of the part to be played by Britain and the Dominions, Mr Eden said: I take this opportunity once again to make plain that we have no secret engagements with any country, nor do we seek as a result of this conflict to extend our boundaries or increase our possessions. “We in the British Commonwealth have grown up in the thoughts of cooperation. Our enemies looked to this war to sound the death-knell of this great association. Nothing in the world is more unlikely. The Commonwealth is a voluntary union. The British Empire is the first in history to evolve the idea of selfgoverning dominions, which we believe can help us to reach our common aim—man’s freedom and selfgovernment under the rule of law. It is in this spirit that we shall administer our trust for the peoples in our Empire whom it is our duty and our pledge to lead to .full membership in our community of nations.”