Mr. Baldwin on the Empire In Hyde Park, on Friday,
May 24th, Empire Day, .Mr. Baldwin spoke at a celebration organized by the .Daily Express. His words were . chosen with the taste of one who has a genuine instinct for language. He did not , avoid the grand Manner for a grand occasion, but there was not a phrase which was grandiose or hollow. His aspirations, for peace, as the primary object of the ,Empire, may have. reminded some of his hearers of the confident belief expressed" by the Prince Consort in Hyde Park in 1851, that the era of war had been replaced by an era Of industry. and the arts. Atlas! the Great Exhibition was followed quickly by the unnecessary Crimean War. But Mr. Baldwin was able to base his . . . hopes On a surer foundation :— "We deem it no small thing in the ordering of the world that between great communities covering a quarter of the surface of the globe the possibility of_ war is banished; and instead of devoting our counsels and our energies to the prevention of war between us we 'devote them Wholly to -co-Operation in arts of Peace. The power and resource of the Empire are consecrated to this task, and no greater blow could befall the peace of the, world than the disableinenti - of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The freedom and -unity, the' peaceful- rivalry which is the goal of the
League of Nations, we have in no small degree achieved in the -Empire, and all who would encircle the wider loyalties of the -League should pray no less for the prosperity of the great. British partnership.
Previous page
