EMPIRE’S DUTY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 December 1940, Page 7

EMPIRE’S DUTY

SAINT GEORGE FOR ENGLAND SIGNIFICANCE OF OLD RALLYING CRY. ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS. . “Saint George for England” was the subject of an address given at today’s luncheon of the Masterton Rotary Club by Mr John E. Hunt, J.P., of Wellington, president of the Royal Society of Saint George. In speaking on “Saint George for England,” Mr Hunt said he would endeavour to give a few thoughts on that old rallying cry. Saint George was a tradition, one so old that it went back to the very beginnings of modern history. What use had traditions in the the modern world of radio and aeroplanes? He ventured to suggest that behind all the past history of their peoples was a lesson which they had failed to appreciate, summed up in that old cry “Saint George for England.” He had chosen Saint George as being representative of the real ideals of the British Empire. The dragon was usually asspciated with Saint George and the dragon could surely be said to typify something worth fighting. Treachery, lies and persecution were represented by the dragon. Englishmen took it for granted that lies and treachery formed no part in their lives and that they would not suffer persecution. It was this “taking for granted,” he thought, which constituted the greatest danger to their Empire today. He said he was sure that theix- complacent acceptance of the advantages they had enjoyed as citizens of the British Empire had led them into much of the trouble they had experienced of late years and into the terrible war they] were now fighting. Before the outbreak of the present war Mr Churchill had said: “Historians have noted all down the centuries one peculiarity of the English people which has cost them dear. We have always thrown away after a victory the greater part of the advantages gained in the struggle. England, so resolute, so dogged, so invincible in danger, has always collapsed in spirit and action aftex- the danger has been warded off. It was so after the wars of Marlborough, after the triumphs of Chatham: it was so after the overthrow of Napoleon: it was so after the last Great War.” Mr Hunt added: “And we are the ones responsible for the apathy apparent since the last Great War.”

A VITAL FORCE. When the British Empire was forming, lies, treachery or persecution did not play a part, said Mr Hunt, and so he thought they had the reason behind their Empire and the reason for the present conflict. They took it for granted that a white commissioner with perhaps half a company of native soldiers should rule peaceably over a portion of Darkest Africa larger than England itself. This was not accomplished by armed force, so that there niust be a hidden force, vital and valuable. He proceeded to give illustrations of this point, of their confidence in thencourts of justice and realisation of fair play. “All this,” said Mr Hunt, “has bred in us an attitude which has made us truly alien to other peoples, but I say that we have not realised the value of' it all. And this freedom of outpeople has been all that has saved us time and again from the onslaughts of our enemies. Time and time again, unprepared, we have been called on to fight. We have been caught unprepared, I think, mainly because we did not care to contemplate our heritage, we were free to do largely as we pleased,

SAINT GEORGE FOR ENGLAND

and we took the easiest way. When danger has threatened, however, then our peoples have risen to the occasion fought valiantly, won, and then again slipped into our insular attitude to world affairs in general. We have stood by whilst the dragon of lies, treachery and persecution has grown strong, and finally have had to fight him again. But the spirit of free men, thank God. has so far stood the test. If you would gather what I mean, read Masefield's ‘Gallipoli,’ a classic. Contemplate Craddock and his ill-fated squadron at Coronel. Think of the first hundred thousand in the last war, citizen soldiers, free men, paying a ghastly price, but paying like sportsmen because of the inherent spirit which inspired them and of which they probably never thought. Or come to recent history. The battle of the Plate. Narvik. Flanders and Dunkirk, the Royal Air Force battling against all odds, and the merchant service, and last but not least the common people of the Homeland. What sustains them, but a spirit born of a confidence that their way of living is worth fighting for. Six months ago the British Army was trapped in Belgium, trapped as the victims of a treachery we cannot contemplate without a horrified surprise. By all the rules of the game the three hundred and thirty thousand men of the British Army were doomed to become the prisoners of the enemy; the Germans appeared to have every advantage. They had, too, all except one. The British Army was composed of men who were individuals, men who had lived their own lives, had their own opinions, and had been free to express them. This was the one thing the German mind could not contemplate, and so their machine trained, regimented soldiers failed in the last trial, the trial which came when they met man to man in the battle for the beach at Dunkirk.

GERMANS FAIL. “The Germans, who had been taught that all was fair so long as the final objective was gained, failed horribly in the final test,” said Mr Hunt. “Don’t think, however, that it was a mere matter of courage, for no one has 1 ever doubted the courage of the German; it was simply that they lacked something as individuals which the British had as a birthright. All this should not fail to make use think deeply. Should we take it for granted that a Scottish colonel should rise from his trench and, as a Scottish gentleman should, lead his Highlanders against the seemingly already victorious Germans and hurl them back, hurl them back recoiling from the attack of men \yho had nothing to help them but their own spirit. The Scottish Brigade, the Brigade of Guards, English County Regiments, the Artillery, the Medical Corps, fighting and 'working to hold that desperate breach that their comrades might go home. And the little ships which' came from England in their hundreds and took them off, little ships manned largely by civilians. All this sprang from something deep in the being of our peoples. It is the spirit typified by Saint George, the spirit which has run true through the-ages. This spirit ran through the men of the British Army, aye, it ran true in those simple, grousing, Brtish lads who held the beach at Dunkirk. It ran through the lads of the Royal Air Force fighting high in the sky, and turning a numerical inferiority into a moral superiority by the sheei- fighting of their service. It ran true when Fegan turned the ‘Jervis Bay’ to certain destruction to save his convoy. It ran true in the cre\\' of the ‘Jervis Bay,’ who obeyed their skipper gallantly. It runs still in the new battalions of those regiments which did not come back from Dunkirk, and eventually that spirit Avill pull us through.

TAKING IT FOR GRANTED. “Again I ask you, should we take it for granted that all this should be so?” asked Mr Hunt. “The Navy has always done it, so have the Battle of the Plate, Narvik, and the ‘Jervis Bay.’ The Army will always fight so we get away from Flanders. The Air Force is our Air Force so it, too, plays the game as well as the older services. Proud? Of course we’re proud. Surprised? No, of course not, that’s how we always ,do it. But, what are we going to do about it after all this is over? Will we again settle down to a complacent acceptance of our lives and stand by while the dragon again prepares? Surely in peace, too, we should watch that the spirit of freedom is maintained. That spirit should be kept alive in peace. Scott’s expedition showed that in peaceful pursuits the same spirit applies. That wonderful little team, sacrificing itself to stay with,Evans after he was injured. Titus Oates walking out into the blizzard to certain death that he might not be a burden to his comrades, and Wilson struggling on, literally dragging Scott and Bowers who were so ill they could not help themselves, and finally on that last dreadful day Wilson himself confessing to Scott that he too had been so badly frost-bitten that for a fortnight his feet had been dead. And the final entry in Scott's diary. ‘For God's sake look after our people.’ Scott knew what I am trying to express, our apathy towards such endeavour after the great moment has passed.

FAILURE AFTER LAST WAR. “After the last war we failed badly," he said. “In the early days of the peace settlements it bechme clear that we were going to throw away the advantages we had gained. Lloyd George knew it; so did the Australian William Hughes. We just did not insist that the spirit we had shown in the fighting should be maintained in the peace. In the first few years after the war when the future of Germany was in the melting pot, we had the opportunity to assist in the foundation of a just system of Government of that country, but wo did not. We stood by, and watched the dragon grow. When some five or six years ago we again should have stopped his growth, we could not do sc because we were not prepared. All this, I think, has been our failure. A DUTY TO PERFORM. “In conclusion, I give it to you in strong terms of recommendation that we have a duty to perform,” said Mr Hunt. “I know that when the war is over we shall be tempted to style back to the old system of minding our business. and shutting our eyes to what goes on elsewhere. Should we do this, then we deserve to lose our heritage, Should we fail to work, and if need be sacrifice, to keep our ideals, then again we shall be forced to fight the dragon, and again our wonderful, clean sporting youth will have to go forth to bat-

tic, to pay the same terrible price as is being exacted now. Our greatest struggle will come after the Avar, when we shall fight with other Aveapons to see that the freedom is kept. When the time comes may we be Avorthy of the task given us. We carry the cross of Saint George in our flag, we are compelled to live up to that symbol or eventually our Empire perishes, and with it Avill perish freedom. And as a last thought I Avould give you this inspiration taken from a London newspaper: ‘England and her Empire Avas celebrating anniversaries before Hitler was thought of. The Empire still celebrates Saint George’s Day which we venture to think, will be celebrated Avhen Hitler’s birthday is no more than an historical curiosity. His birthday came, and passed unmarked. Since then our soldiers, sailors and airmen have been daily demonstrating that the Empire does not merely celebrate anniversaries, but makes them.’ ”