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Hokitika Guardian, 23 June 1921, Page 2

A imioi'oh of the new feeling created by the henefieient rule of the British in South Africa, an American exchange draws attention to a very interesting fact hearing on the matter. The newspa pe,. report of the discussion in the recent sessions of the League of Nations at Geneva, Switzerland, contained a brief statement by Sir Robert Cecil which ought not to be lost. He is th,,

son of the late Lord Salisbury, at different times Premier of Great Britain, and who held that position at the time of the Boer war in 1899-1900. General Smuts, one of the Boer generals in the war is now Premier of South Africa, and being unable to attend the sessions of th„ League, appointed Sir Robert Cecil to act ns the representative of the “Union of South Africa,” which is the dominion under the British Crown organized from all the South African colonies and the Transvaal, or old Dutch Republic. Th 0 Council of tlm i ('ague had been discussing means ■

conciliating the several conflicts pending between nations, when Sir Robert is quoted as speaking as follows:

In conclusion, Lord Robert Cecil said that if be were disposed to be a hostile critic, .it would be oil the ground that the Council might have (lone more than it bad done. doubtedly we have begun well. Do not lot us be afraid of our power. Let us go on from strength to strength. . . I stand before you as a substitute of General Smuts. Think of tliat! General Smuts not very many years ago was one of the most redoubtable of the successful commanders of the forces of the Boer nation when they were in arms against the British Empire, mid 1 was the son of the Prime Minister who conducted the war on behalf of the British Empire, and yet it now conies about that the General ol the Boers comes to see the son of the British Prinq, Minister and asks him to appear before the Assembly of the League of Nations as the best exponent of the General’s views on international subjects. How does that result come about? Not by timidity. Not* by shrinking from bold action, an act which T do not hesitate to say at the moment seemed to me rash and perhaps premature. Tt has more than justified itself by results. Surely this is an example to us. Do not let us shrink from measures of pacification and reconciliation.”

J T the opening of the Imperial Conference, the Prime Minister of Great Britain left no doubt as to the nation’s intentions in the matter of naval defence. He spoke of the need of it to protect the far-flung Empire, and to keep invidlate tlio ocean highways safe for Britain’s great commerce. It! is well to have the matter so well defined. Speaking on St. George’s Day n't' an English gathering in New York to honour England’s patron saint, an eloquent American speaker who appre-

dates the value of a real alliance between the English-speaking people of the world, said on the question of navies: “We will hot think of the ocean as a barrier; no, the Ocean hut generates thoSe fresh sea-breezes which have blown down through English history, carried th e mists out of minds, made wholesome the life of your great country, have made wholesomeness and play and honest work the heritage of the people. I think *not even of the waves, of the sea. They separate; but the winds of the sea—they waft us to- ' i. [,et Britannia rule the waves, if she will, but it is God that rules th c winds. You canflot rule them, and they will blow us to the same port. The symbolism of your British fleet seems to be a wonderful thing, as long as it is the expression in action of the common idealism of tho two peoples. It is our fleet as well as yours, and when anybody proposes to me such a thing as tho diminution of the power of the fleet, I say to myself. There is a sens e reverently in which it may bo said that the Empire is an incorporated fleet, and we will not diminish one jot or tittl c of its strength? No! We will stand by the common traditions of the glorious heritage. We will let the Fresh breezes of the sea blow us together. We will pay tribute to the j admirals and the seamen of the British, ~ thei,. type of wholesome life.” With an undercurrent of such feelings “as those growing in America the possibilities of an Anglo-American alliance are of transcendent importance.