THE FINEST HOUR'

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 222, 18 September 1940, Page 8

THE FINEST HOUR'

HISTORY'S LESSON. DOGGEDNESS OF BRITISH. "Periods of dire peril and of the gravest anxiety nave been part and pareel of the dogged upward progress of the British people/' said Mr. R. M. Algie in an address at a meeting of the Creditmen's Association to-day. "On every occasion, however, the magnificent quali- J ties of self-sacrifice and endurance possessed by the rank and file of the nation have risen superior to the emergency by which'the people were confronted." The glory of a nation, added Mr. Algie, was written in the pages of its history, and there was no finer cure for moods of doubt and defeatism than a glance over the records of the past achievements of our nation. Not once or twice, but many times, Britain had been brought by one way or another to the brink of disaster. In 1756, for example, the Seven Years' War had been forced upon our slowly-expanding Empire by the actions of France. There were ait that time in all England no more than three regiments fit for service overseas. One portion of our army had been forced into ignominious surrender on the Con-li

Itinent, and at about the same time the British Fleet, under Bying, had retreated ingloriously before the French. In America the British generals had been hopelessly outclassed by the brilliance of Montcalm. The earliest days of that great war presented the spectacle of England torn asunder by those political difficulties that have so often been a feature of the civil life of so many countries. For the first eleven weeks of the Seven Years 1 War Britain was practically without a Government. Glorious Triumphs. Victories in India were followed by glorious triumphs on the seas, and these had been supplemented by Wolfe's brilliant defeat of Montcalm on the heights of Abraham. The war which bad begun in disunity, despondency and unprepared - ness ended with Britain as the ruler of the seas, the master of all India, and, for all practical purposes, the conqueror of North America. In the triumphs of 1763, however, lay concealed the seeds of further crises. Rebellion broke out amongst the British colonists in America. Once again inept leadership brought the Empire to the brink of destruction. The French seized the opportunity to avenge themselves for previous defeats, and joined in on the side of the American colonists. Prussia, too, in a mood of vengeance, organised the League of Armed Neutrality, which was soon joined by Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Naples, Portugal and even Holland. Britain faced the world and faced it alone. It was the brilliancv of the victories of Admiral Rodney that saved our Empire from annihilation. The Empire suffered defeat on land. Britain lost the bulk of her American colonies, but she remained the. mistress of the seas. A generation later the Island Empire faced the might of Napoleon in 1803. Bonaparte ruled over far more of Europe than Hitler did at the present time. Britain and Portugal alone stood out against him. Nought had remained but to cross the English Channel and invade and conquer England. Ambitions Shattered. Once again the hour had produced its men. Nelson at Trafalgar had shattered I the fleets of Napoleon, and a few vears' later Wellington had completed at' Waterloo the process of the destruction of French power. Once more, the ambitions of the invader had been shattered and the Empire was free to move forward again along its appointed path. "And now," concluded Mr. Algie, "the people of our Empire are called upon to pay the price of their success. Once more they must face ordeal by battle, and in the process they must make sacrifices and endure hardships greater than ever their ancestors were calbl upon to bear. That they will respond and ultimately triumph * goes without saying. At such a time we could have , no liner watch words than those of Britain's great Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill: " Let ns brace ourselves," he said, "to do our bit, and let us so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire lasts for a thousand years men will still say: ' This was their finest hour'."