VITAL PRINCIPLES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 211, 5 August 1940, Page 8

VITAL PRINCIPLES

BRITAIN’S CRUSADE. CLEAN CONSCIENCE. (United Press Association- —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (British Official "Wireless.) Received August 5, 12.55 p.m. RUGBY, Aug. 4. “Without in any way introducing politics may I be allowed to express admiration for the pronouncements of President Roosevelt, who has shown himself to be a fearless Christian statesman worthily discharging his duties as head of the great North American Commonwealth,” said Cardinal Kinsley (Archbishop of Westminster), in a broadcast over the networks of the National Broadcasting Company of America to-night. “Now I want to say a word in defence of my country,” he added. “1 believe in patriotism. My faith teaches that patriotism is part of the virtue of charity, for charity requires that wo love all men in God according to our kinship with them. “I can tell you quite decidedly that in this island we are all united in our determination to live or die together whatever may assail us. “Some writers dwell on the iniquities of England in ages past, on her aggressions and her conquests. Quite right!—England is not immaculate. Neither are all those who malign her j —but, worthy or unworthy, she is on the side of truth and justice in this conflict. “I am persuaded that our rulers did all in their power to preserve peace at Munich and elsewhere by an agreed settlement of past wrongs. They received promises and pledges. Any outstanding grievance was to be remedied by arbitration. The promises and pledges were made apparently only to be broken. I maintain that Britain lias kept her word, and, looking back over the closing decades of last century, I remember that she entered into international conventions which were signed by all the Powers, ineluding Germany. I defy anyone to prove that Britain has not adhered to those contracts as faithfully as any of the high contracting Powers. NEUTRALITY IMPOSSIBLE. “She stands now for the life and liberty of all nations, great and small, powerful and weak. And to me it seems a poor argument to hark back to our old sins in order to discredit our active opposition to the cruel wrongs done to Poland, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. “I declare that for me neutrality of heart is impossible in this struggle,” concluded Cardinal Hinsley. “I see it as a great conflict between light and darkness. And when I say that this war is in its deepest significance the defence of Christian civilisation, J do not mean that we desire the preservation of the existing order. There is very much that calls, lor radical improvement in the actual conditions —social, economic and political —of this country and Europe. We are wholeheartedly and confidently in this struggle to secure a renewal—a reformation—which will oblige us all to apply in every sphere ol liie the principles of sound philosophy.”