BRITISH LIBERTY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 19 April 1934, Page 12

BRITISH LIBERTY

PRIVATE ORGANISATIONS NOT WANTED ‘•When we reflect on some recent events .abroad, I do not think that it is untimely or out of place to declare that avo do not want any private organisations for keeping order in Britain,” said Sir John Simon in a Glasgow speech. “There is nothing advanced or up-to-date in drilling a set of uniformed recruits to uphold by their physical efforts a particular doctrine or to defend a special cause. The use of private forces was a feature of England in the Wars of the Roses, and it Avas the tradition of the Highland chieftain before you Scotsmen settled down to live peaceably Avitli one another. But noAvadays, if there is a threat of trouble or disturbance sensible citizens send for the police and rely upon them to do their duty. They Avill preserve and restore order much better than any amateurs and they Avill do it in the general public interest. And there is this special objection to this sort of thing—the existence of one priA’ate and unauthorised force inevitably tends to call into exist' enee another. If people start expressing their political ideas not only by the colour of their shirts, but by preparations to demonstrate their physical force, there Avill be more colours than one, Ave may end by finding ourselves black and blue in the scuffle, and we shall be in danger of losing the practice as Avell as the doctrine of that common citizenship in Avhich one opinion is as free as another, and undivided public authority is respected because it deals out equal treatment according to luav. That Avould mean slipping back into a different conceptiqn of political organisation Avhicli is not th e least an improvement on British practice, and Avhich inevitably leads to rival attempts at bullying people Ave do not happen to like. I trust that there is nothing improper or vain-glorious in my saying that I do , not believe that British citizens have anything to learn on the subject of political liberty from other people. For it is the essence of British political liberty that justice should be administered Avith complete impartiality and as speedily as possible; that those Avho are proved innocent should receive and enjoy their freedom; that governing should be carried on under the authority of a Parliamentary GoA'ernment; and that order should be kept by responsible' authorities, for Avhom Minister^’of the Crown and elected local bodies are ansAverable. By these means, and no other, Britain at least can be made ‘safe for democracy.’”