EMPIRE ORDEALS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24410, 23 September 1940, Page 9

EMPIRE ORDEALS

HISTORIC PARALLELS SIGNIFICANT PERIODS TIMES PRODUCE THE MEN Significant periods in British history and the lessons to be learned from them were strikingly shown by Mr R M. Algie in an address he gave to members of the Auckland Creditmen's Association The title of his address was "War, Peace and Victory," and he emphasised the need for planning for both peace and victory. Periods of dire peril and the gravest anxiety had been part and parcel of the dogged upward progress of the British people, he said. On every occasion the magnificent qualities of self-sacrifice and endurance possessed, by the rank and file of the nation had risen superior to the emergency by which the people were confronted. Mr Algie said. Too frequentlj the reason for Britain's difficulties could be attributed to faulty, uninspiring and unimaginative leadership but when once the hour produced the man. the people invariably responded and turned defeat into victory. There was no finer cure for moods ol doubt and defeatism than a glance over the records of the past achievements of the British nation Brilliant Victories Not once or- twice, but many timeb, Britain had been brought by one way or another to the brink of disaster. In the first 11 weeks of the Seven Years War, for instance, Britain was practic ally without a Government The occasion, however, produced the man; the genius of Pitt supplied the spark thai inspired and ennobled the nation. The Seven Years War. which began :n disunity, despondency and unpreparedness, ended with Britain as the ruler of the seas, the master of all India, and. for all practical purposes, the conqueror of North America. The seed of further crises was sown. Rebellion broke out among the British colonists in America, and thf> French joined their side. Prussia', too. in a mood of vengeance, organised the League of Armed Neutrality which was ioined by Russia •• Sweden. Denmark, Austria Naples. Portugal and Holland. Britain faced the world alone. It was the brilliance of the victories of Admiral Rodney which saved the Empire from annihilation The Empire suffered defeat on land, the American colonies were lost, but Britain still was mistress of the seas. The Price of Success A generation later the Empire faced the might of Napoleon in 1803. Bonaparte ruled over far more of Europe than Hitler did. Nothing remained but to cross the English Channel and invade and conquer Britain He never secured that mastery. Once again the hour produced its men. Nelson at Trafalgar shattered the fleets of Napoleon, and a few years later Wellington completed at Waterloo the process of the destruction of French power. Once more the ambitions of the invader had been shattered. "And now," Mr Algie concluded. " 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 called upon to bear. That they will respond and ultimately triumph goes without saying. At such a time we could have no finer watchwords than those of Britain's great Prime Minister. Mr Winston Churchill, who said: 'Let us brace ourselves 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,'"