6 SEPTEMBER 1940, Page 5

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

CANADIAN soldier to whom I gave a lift on Sunday re- minded me of something I ought to have commented on ore—the extent of the debt that the whole Commonwealth es to Mr. Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister of Canada, for part he has played in cementing relations between the Corn- wealth and the United States. At earlier stages in his liamentary career Mr. King has been bitterly criticised by his 'dui opponents for what was regarded as his too " pro- erican " attitude. The harvest that attitude, so far as it sted, is bearing now is such as to close all cavillers' mouths. ada seemed always destined to be the link and the inter- eter between Great Britain and the United States, and it has ver filled that role more effectively or more valuably than oday. That is due in no small measure to the personal friend- p between the Canadian Prime Minister and the American ident, which rids contacts between them, whether by tele- one or in the flesh, of every vestige of formality. The efforts . King made to secure a visit from the King and Queen ve yielded a harvest equally important, both in the United tates and in Canada itself, where the stimulation of the loyalty French Quebec has meant that the Dominion went into e war a year ago with hardly a dissentient voice.

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