THE EMPIRE AND PEACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22058, 14 September 1933, Page 8

THE EMPIRE AND PEACE

The sentiments expressed by Viscount Cecil in an address to the delegates to the British Commonwealth Relations Conference at Toronto are of a kind that should make' a general appeal to the peoples of the Empire. The endorsement of them by the more enlightened elements in the communities concerned may be taken for granted. The Empire, as a group of nations, cannot more reasonably expect to live for itself alone than can any single nation. The world to-day is in a somewhat confused and restless state. There are those who do not hesitate to say that Europe is heading for war, and that a situation is developing similar to that which existed prior to the outbreak of the great conflict in 1914. Certainly there is more talk of armaments, both in the West and in the East, than there is of disarmament or of the removal of causes of international friction. Some writers speak of nationalism as the world’s bane, and so far as they apply to ultra-nationalism, their arguments have much cogency. International efforts to promote better world relations have encountered checks, but must be continued. A great deal depends upon the manner in which the leading Powers exercise their influence. Viscount Cecil has offered a reaffirmation which is perhaps well-timed when he declares that the influence of the British Empire in world affairs should be for peace and progress. There is no room for any suggestion that the Empire has lost sight of an ideal with the furtherance of ’which its statesmen have been identified since the time of Disraeli, or that there is any special need for a new envisagement of the Empire’s high destiny. It can be claimed that Great Britain, as head of the Empire, has done more than any other Power to promote the interests of peace. Of the League of Nations she has been the strongest pillar. Viscount Cecil has been addressing himself to the Empire as a whole, and has pointed, of course, to the highest ideal possible when urging that it has no right to exist unless for the benefit of humanity. But the sum and substance of his speech rests in his exhortation to the Empire to aim at the promotion of world peace. His own zeal in that cause is well known, and his argument needs no embroidery. The peoples of the Empire will recognise the force of the suggestion that the more they act in concert the greater will be the prospect of success for any international policy which has the Empire’s advocacy. Read in conjunction with Viscount Cecil’s inaugural utterance the cabled reports of other speeches at the Toronto conference are interesting. Their main theme is the navy. It will be agreed that if the British Empire is to exercise in the international sphere the beneficial influence upon which Viscount Cecil justly places so much emphasis, it must speak with authority. It' has been claimed that not only is the British Navy the greatest peace machine that the world has known, but that it is the gauge of Britain’s position among the nations. And because such a claim is based on solid foundations the arguments relative to the maintenance of the navy must be recognised as wholly to the point. The logic of the situation seems to be effectively summed up in the assertion by an Australian speaker that the strength of the Empire is the greatest essential to world peace and to the safety of Australia.