The Grey River Argus WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1948. COMMONWEALTH’S NEW MILESTONE

Grey River Argus, 20 October 1948, Page 4

The Grey River Argus WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1948. COMMONWEALTH’S NEW MILESTONE

PRIOR to the meeting, it was * foreseen that the British Commonwealth Prime Ministers would have in particular to consider the new status of India, but it had scarcely been anticipated that the occasion would mean the new milestone in relationships which in fact has been reached. There is not only the matter of Eire’s assumption of complete independence—although as much had nearly been signified by the legislation of Mr De Valera, whose successors now wish to repeal that Act —but there also are the questions of South Africa and Burma. This conference is the first at which India appears as autonomous, although there is at least the possibility that the Hindu Dominion, whatever may be the course of Pakistan, will eventually decide for absolute independence. South Africa, with its new Administration, is now moving for an enlargement of its intercourse with the United States, and the Government has an inclination to take up a stand similar to that of Eire. What happens in Burma may depend far more upon the influence of India than upon that of Britain, although the country cannot ignore the advantages it has gained from the presence of British as well as Indian interests. As for the other three Dominions — Canada, Australia and New Zealand—they are all quite as autonomous as they could be, and it is from a belief in the advantages of association that they adhere to the Commonwealth, and not from any feeling of constraint. History shows that every great polity or realm has its rise and growth, as well as its decline, but, contrary to the thesis of Gibbon, the Roman Empire, for instance, did not decline in an absolute sense. Instead its influence moulded Europe, and its law remains embedded in the law of all Western Europe. That analagy applies in the case of the Commonwealth. It is quite impossible by any mere legal enactment or convention to undo the effects of British colonisation or development, and the fact is well illustrated in Eire’s case, the object of the present negotiations being... to maintain, and not to cut short association, in all of those things which have become essential in external relations, It is indeed rather remarkable that the man whom some regarded as responsible for ending the tie of Eire to Britain, Mr De Valera, should soon after his defeat see his legislation as good as repealed with the object of ending- the external association which he fostered. It’might be conjectured that if partition were to be ended, the problem of defining some new formula for cooperation would be-more speedily solved. Yet, as remarked, whatever the ultimate understanding may be, it will not make much of a change in the existing relationship, because the peoples of the countries concerned are already integrated too greatly for any merely legal enactment to have a sudering’ effect. The British tradition will doubtless dictate a sustained effort to perpetuate association even at the expense of’ constitutional inconsistency in Eire’s case, as also in the cases of India and possibly South Africa. The greatest single influence in the United States is still that originally impressed by the British, whose language is almost universal, and whose political concepts largely .prevail. It is to be noted that in Eire’s ease the population has been racially and even culturally distinct from the times of antiquity, so that morally the case for independence is more obvious than it was even in that of the great republic of the West. The new epoch visibly appearing will require perhaps a half century to reveal its full effects. In even a generation the Empire has given place to a new order. Britain cannot now act independently of the Commonwealth in anything like the same

degree as formerly. The Dominions have gained much greater power, and have to be relied on for much more help. Britain’s responsibilities have contracted in the sense that they arc more concentrated in Europe and its neighbourhood. More of her people must migrate. Divergencies are inevitable, but past- development, has forged bonds which are flexible and probably lasting. The immediate requisite is political foresight, so that cohesion in practice shall be rendered preferable for all. The greater the degree of liberty hitherto enjoyed, the greater has been the degree of moral unity. The same principle ought to work out in the same way in future.