WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A NATION?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 258, 2 June 1944, Page 8

WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A NATION?

Security and National Righteousness

A talk broadcast from 2YA by

C. A.

BERENDSEN

CMG,

Minister-Designate to Washington.

this opportunity of speaking to the people of New Zealand, because my stay in the Dominion will, I regret to say, be extremely brief, and because I have’ something to say on which I am really competent to speak, and on which I feel very keenly. I have just spent a happy and, I hope, a useful year in Australia, and I have had the privilege there of watching, at close quarters, an inspiring example of collaboration between two countries. Australia and New Zealand are united by many bonds — bonds of kinship, of propinquity, of common ideals and of common problems-and both are inspired by the undying traditions of Anzac. But Australia and New Zealand are also two of the partner nations in the Great British Commonwealth, and their collaboration one with another, the collaboration of all the members of the Commonwealth amongst themselves, affords, 1 think, an example, a most encouraging example, of what can be done for the good of mankind by open and friendly discussion of common problems and a determination to recognise and to pay due regard to differing points of view. This week we celebrate Empire Day -the day on which we commemorate this great association of free peoples which has done, and will do, so much to establish peace and order and justice in the relations of man with man, and it seems to me entirely appropriate that in commemorating, on that day, the gradual development of the British Empire into the British Commonwealth -a loosely-knit but indestructible union of free nations, each entirely independent but each mindful of the well-being of all, we should pay special heed to the example that the Commonwealth offers of what can be done throughout the whole world, if mankind will but attempt to do it. A Chance That May Never Rotors The Nations of the British Commonwealth, with the great Republic of the United States, and their Allies, are now engaged in a life and death struggle to preserve the very principles of freedom and justice upon which the British Commonwealth is based and without which life itself would not be worth living. Whether the end of that struggle is yet in sight or not, it is now happily completely certain, unless, of course, we should make the incredible mistake of slackening our efforts at the last moment, that the aggressors will, in the end, be beaten to their knees. And once again we shall have an opportunity of shaping a new and a better world. What will we do with this opportunity? That is the fundamental question that will face all of us in the very near future, and upon the solution of this problem will depend the peace and the happiness of the world and of the ] AM particularly grateful for

millions yet to be born, Such an opportunity is very rare indeed in the history of man, and such an opportunity may never occur again. . It is a sobering thought, and one which I would wish to emphasise with all possible earnestness, that we had an exactly similar opportunity, a quarter of a century ago, Millions who are still alive will remember the high hopes, the firm determination, the almost religious enthusiasm with which we entered, then upon that high and pregnant enterprise, and countless millions to-day have only to look upon them in this world of battle and misery, of oppression and cruelty, this world of anguish and tears, of struggle man with man such as would disgrace the beasts of the jungle, to realise, to its full extent the tragic results of our failure to solve this problem in the vears that have gone. If every decade or two the world is to be plunged into the chaos of war; if every decade or two the flower of our youth are to be doomed to torture and destruction; if every decade or two we are to sacrifice on the altar of Mars the material treasure man has toiled so hard to produce, then everything that we are trying to do to better the lot of man is futile. + Some ‘Qualifications for Speaking How to preserve the peace-how to prevent aggression-that is the first and the fundamental problem. I have some qualifications for forming and expressing a view on this great and cardinal question. For the past 20 years I have been professionally engaged in the study and the business of what is known as Foreign Affairs-the relations» of nation with nation---and I have had every possible opportunity of forming a _ considered judgment on what was, in fact, the cause of our failure after the last war of 1914-18, which was, I should like to remind you, known as, and believed to be, the war to end war. I can think of nothing more useful at this juncture than for people to be thinking--and thinking now-on this subject, for it is_a problem for peoples just as much as it is a problem for governments. It has, I am afraid, become the fashion to sneer or smile at the organ-isation--the League of Nations-that was established in 1919 to protect and preserve the peace of the world, but I give you my considered opinion that this was one of the noblest ideas ever to emanate from the mind of man. In my opinion, there was no inherent weakness in the structure of the League of Nations that necessarily led to its failure, and in my opinion the new organisation which we are about to establish, at the end of this conflict, to achieve a similar purpose will not, and cannot, differ very materially from that which was set up at the end of the last ‘war. It is easy now, to point out weaknesses in the construction of the League and in its administration; but, despite

all its weaknesses, despite its reluctance to grapple with the energy and the determination that the situation required, with its main tasks-the rectification of international injustices and the prevention of aggression, if necessary, by force-I am convinced that the League could have succeeded, that, in fact, it very nearly did succeed, and that, but for one factor, it would have succeeded, in preventing war-in preventing this war. Speaking as a practical man, not at all an idealist or a visionary, I am convinced that I know the cause of the League’s failure. I am convinced that what I am now about to say to you is the cause of that failure, and may well be the cause of another failure. The reason for the League’s failure was in my opinion a moral one. As Mr. Churchill has said — and he has been quoted with approval by many distinguished men throughout the world"The League did not let its members down- ‘ its members let the League down." In the last two decades there has grown up among far too many nations a school of -thought which believes that international morality is in some way different from individual morality; that in international relations expediency pays better dividends than principle; that if a nation’s pledged word should subsequently appear to be inconvenient, it need not necessarily be honoured; that if one group of people can save their own babies by throwing somebody else’s babies to the wolves, then that is a wise and proper course to adopt; that if one group of men and women can purchase a temporary immunity from attack and plunder by selling another group of men and women down the river, then it is not improper to adopt that course; that we need not worry very much about our neighbours so long as we are all right. The Test of Conscience Analysed by the test of conscience or by the test of logic, these principles are revolting to all, They are consonant with no law of God or man. None of us, not even the lowest of us, conducts his individual life on these principles, and how can any international society be built up on such a false and pagan foundation? I say to you, and I wish I had the eloquence and the authority to convince everyone everywhere, that here is (continued on next page)

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the kernel of the fundamental problem that the world must solve and must solve now. If war is to remain with us, then nothing that we can achieve can possibly be permanent. Indeed, it is not too much to say that if the world has to face another war such as this, it may well lead to the final destruction of civilisation itself and of everything that man has won for man in his upward struggle from the apes. But if war can be exercised, then there is nothing that man cannot hope to achieve. May I commend.-to you, with all the earnestness at my command, a simple proposition but a profound truth-that nothing can be politically wise unless it is morally right. There is nothing new in this principle — the only thing that might be new about it would be its practical application. There are many who will smile on it as simple and childish or platitudinous, but I say to you that it is the essence of what I have learnt in 20 years of hard and practical experience. May I add also that it is, in fact, the principle of which the foreign policy

of our Dominion hasbeen based for many years past. If the nations of the British Commonwealth, side by side, with the great and powerful United States of America and our other Allies, can give a lead to the world in the adoption of this principle at the peace table, and afterwards, long afterwards, because a lengthy period wili be required before the world can settle down after this turmoil; if they are prepared to found their policies upon the immutable laws of right and justice and not upon a_ short-sighted view of self-interest or expediency; if they are determined in all cases and at all costs, through a system of collective security, to oppose the wrong and resist and punish the wrong-doer, wherever necessary by the application’ of armed force, then I am convinced that success is within the power of man, and that with a settled peace the prospect for our children and their children should be a happy and promising. one. If we depart from this simple truth we. shall, I fear, fail again just as miserably as we failed last time-and we shall deserve to fail.