The Hard, Cold Truth

In top hat and spirits, Prime Minister Winston Churchill last week bounced by carriage to London's bomb-pocked Guildhall. There he spoke of appetizing victories on the battlefronts, of greater Allied attacks to come. He was proud of Britain as it is ("I rejoice in the soundness of our institutions and proclaim my faith in our destiny"). With this Britain he asked the U.S. to cooperate, now and forever.

Winston Churchill clearly implied that Britain will ally itself intimately with one of the great United Nations after the war. Just as clearly, he prefers this power to be the U.S., not Russia. As if he were speaking directly to the U.S., he stated the premises and the possibilities of alliance.

For the Record. "We entered [the war] of our own free will, without ourselves being directly assaulted. . . . We seek no profit, we want no territory or aggrandizement, we expect no reward and we will accept no compromise. . . . Against the triumphant might of Hitler, with the greedy Italian at his tail, we stood alone, with resources so slender that one shudders to enumerate them even now."

To those in the U.S. who, for either liberal or imperialist reasons, want the British Empire liquidated, Winston Churchill spoke plainly. Though willing to compromise on its title, he glories in the Empire and is not ashamed of the word: "I think the expression, British Commonwealth and Empire, may well be found the most convenient means to describe this unique association of races which was built up partly by conquest, largely by consent. . . . The universal ardor of our colonial empire to join in this awful conflict . . . is the first answer that I would make to those ignorant, envious voices who call into question the greatness of the work we are doing throughout the world and which we shall continue to do."

Guarantee. To those in the U.S. who doubt British intentions in the Pacific, he said: "Should this victory [in Europe] be achieved before Japan has been laid low, I stand here to tell you today . . . that every man, every ship and every airplane in the King's service that can be moved to the Pacific will be sent and there maintained in action by the people of the British Commonwealth and Empire in priorities for as many flaming years as are needed to make the Japanese in their turn submit or bite the dust."

The Road Ahead. Statesman Churchill dutifully patted Soviet Russia: "We nourish the warmest feelings of fellowship toward the valiant Russian people, with whom we have made a twenty years' treaty of friendship and mutual aid." That was all. For the united future of the U.S. and Britain, the Prime Minister's hopes were grave:

"Upon the association and the intimate alignment of the policy of the United States and the British Commonwealth and Empire depends, more than upon any other factor, the immediate future of the world.

"If we walk, or, if need be, march together in harmony and in accordance with the moral and political conceptions to which English-speaking peoples have given birth . . . all will be well. If they fall apart and wander astray from the lines of their destiny, there is no end or measure to the miseries and confusion which would mark modern civilization.

"This . . . is hard, cold, vindictive truth. Yet there are many light and wayward spirits in both our countries who show themselves by word and action unmindful of this fundamental fact."

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