The Dominion. SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1944. WELL-EARNED TRIBUTES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 199, 20 May 1944, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1944. WELL-EARNED TRIBUTES

British people in all the overseas parts of the Empire will endorse willingly the tributes paid by the Prime Ministers to the great spirit shown by the citizens of the United Kingdom throughout this long struggle, and also'to the leader who has, perhaps to an unsurpassed degree, been the embodiment of that spirit. From the day that hostilities began Britain has been a bastion of freedom —for long the only bastion—in the European war zone. There were days when the threat of invasion was very real, but the leader spoke for the nation when- he said they would fight on the beaches, in every street, hold every building in the defence of their island home. And that sturdy note of defiance having been sounded the people turned, as one man, to the great task of building their defences, making armaments, constructing ships and aircraft, and, despite all that the enemy could do, held grimly oh. It was in every way. fitting that the spokesmen for the self-govern-ing units of the Empire should pay tribute to this strength of national spirit and unfaltering leadership. Their respective countries had, fortunately, been spared the terrible tests of human endurance to which the people of the Mother Country had been subjected, and in the course of which 50,000 civilians bad lost their lives. Mr. Mackenzie King rightly said that “the will and spirit of the people of Britain have been a source of inspiration to all the peoples of the Cominonwealth.” And it has not been forgotten that at no time did they fail to recognize generously the aid which the Dominions and other parts of the Empire were able to give. Indeed at times it seemed that, in their desire to acknowledge this help, they under-stated the extent of their own achievements, both at Home and in many a battle zone. It will certainly be a cause of deep satisfaction to the peoples overseas if these earnest tributes, paid by the Prime Ministers to the wonderful record of the people in the United Kingdom, are accepted as those of the communities themselves.

There is good reason for the people to see in this friendly conference, with what General Smuts has described as “an atmosphere of comradeship and understanding,” an augury for greater unity of policy and purpose in the future. It must exercise a formative influence, for the joint declaration issued, and these tributes, make it abundantly clear that, the British Empire “sees war as a process in the evolution of peace, and victory never as an end in itself but as a beginning.” The fact that leaders in the United States have so emphatically approved the declaration, and have seen in it “a concrete step forward in the realization of the United Nations’ war aims” is cheering, but to British people it has a meaning peculiarly their own. It strengthens the conviction that ever greater unity will mark the years that lie ahead, whatever they may bring. And just what that implies was stated by General Smuts in the course of a speech delivered in London last year: “I think the world'needs our British system. I think we, in our group, play a part which is essential and vital to the future of mankind, and whatever we can do to put our own house in order, to remove anomalies, to remove sources of internal friction and of misunderstanding is a service not only to our group but to mankind at large.” This conference has made its contribution to that great end. 9