General Smuts' Reflections
In a "general informal talk" last week to the Empire Parlia- mentary Association, in which he claimed to be expressing "no dogmatic beliefs," General Smuts in fact made some .very positive observations about the shaping of things to come in the changing world. In paying tribute to the League of Nations he said that its failure lay in the fact that it had not made necessary provision, first for security, second for economic questions ; and he begged that we should be realistic, and remember that we cannot get away from the problem of power. Freedom and democracy, essential as they are, are not enough ; there must also be leadership, and leader- ship can only be exercised by the three great Powers that are now at the lead of the United Nations—Great Britain, the United States and Russia. But Britain, with all her incomparable prestige, is not the economic equal of either of the other two parties in the trinity ;
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and since General Smuts is uneasy about the prospects of a too close union between Britain and the United States, he looks to the strengthening of Britain not solely through the Empire, which is widely dispersed, but also in Europe, through a closer association with the swollen democracies of the west analogous to the association within the British Commonwealth of Nations. It is a fascinating idea, but one which could not be realised without great psychological changes within the smaller countries. But it is well that in the arena of public discussion the 'Commonwealth conception should be explored and discussed. General Smuts made some suggestive remarks about the association of the Dominions in Colonial govern- ment, a question which should certainly be pursued, never forgetting that transferences ot power to another authority should not be made against the clear wishes of Colonial peoples themselves. They may well be better off as they are.
