HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1967-11-30, Page 15•
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Every so often, when there prevailed; one cannot but CON
is nothing much else to Write elude tbat the successive sociai.
about, a variety of publicists' ist geVeriunents of Britain die.
compose funeral orations over carded it in a fit of absent.
Britain and her Empire. mindedness.. •
Recently (19/7/67) the 'Toronto Seventy years ago there was
Telegram' let fly with lunset peace in the World. There may
of Empire" and yet it was have been a little jungoism:
maii4uraff,*. xcer&u.d?...2104
Voetwrote: ' r tannia,',. when you've sung
Far called, our navies melt 'God Save, The Queen', when
I I I . • — s
'11C.
"------,•-•---- wan -P.-. ---4,-,-,------ - —you've finished killing Kruger
Iliiir
On dune and headland sinks with your mouth". Queen Vic.,
. ,„,..
the fir. toria was celebrating her 'Dia
Lo, all our pomp of yester. mond Jubilee.: Lord Salisbury
e.
governed from Hatfield. Joe
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre.. Chamberlain was at the Foreign
, and in my own life time every. Office and Cecil Rhodes was
thing which Kipling predicted dreaming of a Cape to Cairo
has come to pass. route. Dr. W.G. Grace still
Some cltbm the -Empire was played cricket and Prinee
made in a At of absent.minded. Ranjitsinghi, C.B. Fry, Tom
;less, Looking out over the Hayward and Archie Maclaren
world - at the Middle East, were still flashing centuries
Africa, India, Burma, Malaysia to every boundary. Itwas an age
and China, in all of which a which introduced the telephone
short 70 years ago the sons of and electric light. Horse
Britain sustained° a great and buses were replacedby electric
commercial edifice, all to be trams. The Lusitania , and
surrendeked to dictators, civil Mauretania rode majestically at
wars, rebellions, corruption anchor in the- Mersey and the
and enslavement; alltothe anti. 'Allan Line was filled with eml.
thesis of the -peace which once grants for Montreal andQuebec.
•
as
,
tosetluies, For. Br
Lord Roberts -seemed like a
voice in the wilderness, as he
called Lor. universal military
service, until Lord Haldane Or.
ganized the Territorials. -
In the shock ef two world
wars the march of aggres.sion
wit. 'Can you imagineanyonebut
an Englishmaa advertising thn
"Does anyone in the country
wear a hair.shirt? If so, where
did he get it?" Or this; "Stu*
dent of Anglo.American relay
tions is anxious to know what
was withstood, only itself to
qualities- are mostlestre4edislikegtdiwinv,
'victory' rom the blows it has reasons."
4i4
suffered and borne. And whilst The econornist George
Schilaite explains: "The pro.
cess of British decay has many
facets. George Stephenson's ap.
plication of the infernal steanl.
engine has landed us with un.
retuunerative branch lines,
single.nianning disputes, end4
less commuter grievances and
a running deficit of millions.
What with free trade, invest.
ment abroad, imperial adven-
tures, an infestation of
Treasury officials and the pro»
longed disdain of science and the
arts, Britain has been dying on
its feet. since 1850 and now that
it, is flat oh its badk, under
the pathetic delusion' that it is
ready . to knock hell out of all
comers, some pretty drastic
measures of resuscitation are
called for: Various tubes have
this- is a reason for .13rffSfieS
.decay, it is a reason to which'
few conteniporary orationists
refer, either because they are
too ignorant or too young. But
-
the most heinous mistake is to
presum6 that with the demise
of world power, the character
which built' and sustained the.
Empire was also buried.
Abroad more especially,
there remains the prevalent
habit of regarding the govern.
ment in power as being re.
presentative of the spirit of
the nation. In truth they repre.
sent but a very thin veneer.
They put too much faith in sys.
nems And look to little. to
men, for the „people of Britain
can- live for a long time yet
on their brains and on their
ain
Ce
The'
And
Empire.
been stuffed up the nose in order
to inject deflatiee, corporation
taxes, capital gains purgatives,
selective employment shocks,
investment stimulants, income
and prices astringents, anti.,
travel serum and industrial
train401:4ott:, along wi
4X.•
Flacons of import controls,
export incentives new.fangled
taxes and -even devaluation
•
stand ready in the 'surgical
cupboard. But one puzzle re.
mains. How on earth, . do you
resuscitate a prostrate, help.
less body which .is sitting up
filling in its football coupons?"
George is certainly a very
amusing economist, but per.
haps his accent is too much for
.you.
And yet, and yet, so many
. branches of the native oak that
once . was England have been
torn down, that today there
seems little standing but the
trunk. The government governs
'in vacuo'. There is excessive
deference . to 'the exaggerated
claims and denunciations of the
authoritarian govern m -e t s
which have seized power in
many former colonies, Which
we liberated in the name of
democracy, equality and seM -
deter ratnati9A. The pretence
that lies; injustice and tyranny
are other than what they were
when supported by a paper vote
majority in the U • 'ed Nations
lourmoutlie72M-out;banlIaPxr7''
lack, a_ statesman-with.an-un.-
compromising belief in the
enduring "principles which have
made Britain great. It is the
quality of life in Britain and in
the world that is the issue!
An attribute which can never
be buried is a long and glorious
tradition; a tradition which is
venerated. whilst convention is
ridiculed. Whenever disaster
has reared its ugly head, the
nation, -Irony-- its boundless
store, could produce a man -
a leader. There was an' Aldan
to teach us faith and a Drake
and Nelson to show us what
faith and couragecould do.
And when the lights went out
all over Europe, a Churchill
to lighten the darkness. Today
- we seek leaders, men of large
minds, large sympathies and the
ciderigh Si.naJ$tr, 'Tiiursda Nov.„, 0 1
ability to learn. We ,nead then),
to light the nation to find its
way again.
Speaking as a biased indivip
dual, it Is impossiblete mourn
with the writers Of these funeral
orations. On the contrary I am,
csupzemely • • , ., • 4 '
nessed, experienced
imbued with, the spirit extant
at the turn of the century, for
it was a philosophy compounded
of faith and voluntary subordin.
ation. A faith in Britain, in her
justice- and- honourable -deal
in a world whose future happi.
ness. depended on the.mainten.
ance and defence- of those vir.
tues. So we will not mourn the
Material losses, for it is the
spirit which matters and that,is
unquenchable and it is a national
credo that Britain will emerge
again as a beacon and a guiding
light to others, showing them the
lovely virtues which have been
preserved inviolate' from -rust
and xuoth.
It was the same poetwho gave
us: "Lord God of Hosts be with
us yet. Lest we forget, lest we
forget!"
OY
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