Empire Day

Northern Advocate, 26 May 1941, Page 4

Empire Day

EMPIRE Day, which was celebrated on Saturday, again found the British Empire at war. It also found the Empire more closely united than at any period in history. This probably astounds all who believed that the Statute of Westminster would prove a destructive element, in that it gave units of the Empire the right, if they thought lit, to act as independent nations. An invisible cord —the crimson cord of kinship—has always held the Empire together; it was therefore impossible to cut that which did not exist as a tangible bond. The blast of war soon proved that fears of cleavage in the British Commonwealth of Nations had no basis, for, with one accord, the units of the Empire, the small as well as the big, rallied, as they had always done, to the protection of all that British people hold dear. Empire Day this year has provided an opportunity for a demonstration of the nation’s oneness of purpose and determination to achieve victory. It was emphasised by various speakers at Empire Day celebrations that, despite the fearful strain placed upon Britain by the defection of those in whom she had placed faith as allies, she holds today all the territory she held when war broke out. The enemy has been unable to hoist his ilag on territory over which the Union Jack Hew pre-war, and, on the anniversary of Empire Day, Britain was astonishing the world by the bravery with which her sons were defying (he enemy in one of the strangest and most terrible struggles of the war. There should he no attempt to minimise the undoubted peril with which, the Empire is faced. Empire Day served to stress this peril; it also provided a warning and an inspiration to the people of the Empire by emphasising that it is only as individuals measure up to the responsibilities placed upon them that the victory confidently anticipated will be definitely achieved.