“Navy Is Our Life”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 793, 14 October 1929, Page 9

“Navy Is Our Life”

MR. MacDONALD ELOQUENT Appeal to Americans TO SEE BRITAIN’S POINT OF VIEW BRITAIN’S reliance on lier Navy, her pride in its power and glorious history, were eloquently described to Americans by Ilr. Ramsay MacDonald, in a notable speech at New Yorlc. He asked his thousands of hearers to try to see the British people’s point of view, when it came to a question of weakening the naval arm of the Empire.

British Official Wireless

Kecd. 11 a.m. RUGBY, Sunday. At New York, the British Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, was the guest of the evening at a dinner given by the Council of Foreign Relations. On this occasion he addressed in effect the people of the United States. His speech was broadcast by 70 stations throughout America. It was a summing up of his visit and an analysis of the fruits of his mission. He spoke bluntly at times, and as his theme was developed the enthusiasm of his distinguished audience —one of the largest dinner gatherings in the history of New York —mounted steadily. The veteran American statesman, Mr. Elihu Root, presided. Mr. MacDonald said he wanted the world to know that during the entire course of the conversations between President Hoover and himself, there had never been any idea of an exclusive understanding between Britain and the United States. Nothing had been discussed which the two Governments would not be happy to see discussed on the same basis with all the Powers of the world. The understanding they had been trying to establish would always be incomplete and unsatisfactory until it became the common possession of all the nations of the earth. OPEN NEGOTIATION Describing his negotiations with General C. G. Dawes, United States Ambassador to Britain, Mr. MacDonald said: "Everything was conducted in a glass house with no secrecy, no curtains and no blinds. From that day to this our negotiations have been conducted by men who wish to live an open life and have no desire to pursue a secret one. Referring to suspicions regarding his conversations with the President, the British Prime Minister said: "These suspicions arise because the people who entertain them have no conception of the new spirit that is making up its mind to govern and dominate the world. This is the spirit of open diplomacy—-the spirit of men coming together, no£ for the purpose of dividing the world into alliances and groups, but for the purpose, by their own agreement of helping the world to come to a general agreement that will he universal and not meticulous.” MUCH YET TO BE DONE Speaking with marked earnestness, Mr. MacDonald warned his hearers that much remained to he done before the peoples of all the nations wffuld relinquish military security for politi,cal security. He again emphasised the fact that his negotations with the United States had been entirely in the open, and took occasion to rebuke the few people who had been alleging' I,hat an Anglo-American alliance had been entered into at Washington. Speaking of moral disarmament between the United States and Great

Britain, proclaimed in the statement issued by himself and President Hoover, Mr. MacDonald asked could that doctrine and determination be applied. "This is a problem of statesmanship. On the one hand you get your moral disax-mament and sentiment is with you. Resolutions that read fair and sound well are carried unanimously, but the moment the poor statesman starts to apply them for the purpose of transferring the mentalities of the people from a mentality of military secui-ity to a mentality of political security, then he is beset by a thousand and one exceedingly intricate problems." BRITISH VIEWPOINT He proceeded: “The mind is furnished always with old furniture that it is difficult to turn out. You have an assumption and a fear you have inherited,. For instance, in our case, our Navy is the very life of our nation. We have romance surrounding it. We are people of the sea. We are a small island. Europe is at our doors. For good or for ill, the lines of our Empire have been thrown all over the face of the earth. We have to import our food. A month’s blockade, effectively carried out, would starve us all. In the event of any conflict, Britain’s Navy is Britain itself. Tile sea is our security qnd our safety. I hope your imagination will enable you to see the affection —real understandable human affection—that is gathered around our ships, and how hard it is to get the British people to feel security if their naval arm is limited in any way whatever. I put that in front of you, not as a final word, but £>s a plea for understanding, patience and goodwill.” The British Prime Minister added that during the last seven days he and President Hoover had been trying to amalgamate the two ingredients of real creative action, and an idea of such was just and inspiring, with the practical experience that would enable them to apply that idea like practical business men. “Our dreams of peace, and our conceptions of human justice and human wisdom, are based upon the assumption that the nations sooner or later must discover how their competition is to be competition of mind, competition of spirit, competition of soul.” Public opinion in Europe today told its political leaders that it knew the risks of peace, that it knew that the assumption made between one nation and another, that they were to conduct their affairs in sincerity and justice, did lay a believing nation open to a certain amount of risk. “I will take this risk,” declared Mr. MacDonald. He spent a quiet week-end in New York, alter the strenuous time he has had. He and his party leave for Canada tomorrow morning.