Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-07-18
British Empiire and League

| Premier Hughes of Australia and Sir JOS
| eph Cook, chairman of the naval committee,
were guests of honor at dinner given by the
| British Empire league in London recently.
| The following is portion of their remarks as
| published in the London Times, md gives a
good notion of how conservative British opin-
| ion regards the peace treaty and the league OF
nations Premier Hughes said:
Although the empire is, perhaps, the great
est factor in the worlds life, we have no i'm
perial policy. 1t is true, as we have just seen
and know, that it grew with little if any aid
from governments; but is its future to be left
to chance, to endure or to pass away as may
be? Or are we to formulate policy of EN-
pre, which will tend to ensure its permanence
and safety and develop its resources, The
problem before us today is how we are going
to readjust the circumstances of that confed-
Grafton of nations and peoples which we call
the British empire to the new conditions which
the war and the treaty of peace have created
First we must remember that apart from
the ties of race and tradition, the two material
bonds that held the various parts of the EN-
pire to Britain were defense and trade. The
growth of the self-governing dominons, the
development of their institutions of free gov
eminent, as we'll as their rapidly increasing
wealth. due to the fact that the mighty
ger, had kept predatory hands from being
stretched out to clutch these fertile and rich
portions of the earth They still need protec-
ton. They have shown that they raise
great armies. Australia has even small but
quite useful navy. But against frst-class
power we feel some further defense is called
for. To whom are we to look? You say to
the British navy? Good. But will the British
navy be in the future the supreme naval pow
er? And will it be entirely under the control
of Britain? Has the old order of things passed
away with the coming of the league of nations?
| - me-
the league of nations. l believe the idea of
settling disputes by appeal to reason and
right, rather than by brute force, is the civil
lied and proper method. But the end of war
is not yet. These last five or six months,
while men in Paris have been talking over the
league of nations, war has been raging in near
ly every quarter of the world, and strife and
unrest manifest themselves everywhere. HUI
man nature is not to be bottled up by formu-
las or ambition and desire repressed by pious
words. l am not satisfied that the league of
nations will work quite as its advocates believe
If in Australia attacked, to whom shall
we call-the league of nations or the British
empire? Unless there is an imperial system
of defense unless every part of the empire
knows that between them and danger is the
British navy, this empire is the fabric Of a
dream.
The British navy under the league of ma
tons is no longer British navy under the
control of Britain. 1t is part and parcel of
that heterogeneous force that is to police the
world and guarantee its peace. We are to call
league of nations? Will it contain our pres
ent deadly enemy? No man can say-but in
all human probability it will. If we are at
tackled, does any man think that the league of
nations will come to our aid with that swift
eagle swoop that will mark the fight of the
aggressor? Does any think that nation, |
having made up its mind to take the plunge,
will spend its time in dallying, in giving notice
of its intention to plunge dagger into our
hearts? No. The first notice of that nation
will come in the roar of cannon, in the actual
noise of conflict.
stand. We must not leave the firm ground
for the treacherous quicksand. Let US make
up minds while there is yet time, come |
what may, we will not abandon the substance
for the shadow. We will not abandon that
sure shield behind which we have lain so safely
for that other thing which has yet to win its
spurs. (Cheers)
Sir Joseph Cook in responding said that
during his visit he had been greatly struck
with the spirit of the empire as it displayed it
self in the heart of the empire. He thought |
they could have dispensed with great deal of
the criticism of the peace conference they had
got for many weeks past good deal of
criticism not at all justified
They had been engaged in the most colos-
sal task in the history of the world. The task
was not yet complete. MuCn uncertainty ana |
dsquiet prevailed all over the world, and in +,
finite patience and labor would be needed yet
to put things right. The whole world had I
been sent reeling; victor and vanquished were
more or less dslocated and ,beggered in the
result In these circumstances, it not too
much to ask that the people should be little
patient while their representatives were trying
to make peace which would last and be worthy
of the war. There were lots of things one
could say before leaving, but the feeling in
ones mind was that while they had so much
trouble of their own still on their hands, and
needing all their energies and wisdom to con-
troll and to solve, it would be better to leave
the people in the mother country to face their
own in their way, while they unraveled
and Strengthened out theirs in the dominions.
Some things the war had not changed. One
was the conviction of the dominions that their
future destroy must be within the empire and
not outside it. There many common du-
ties attaching to this common realization They
went out to their own countries to develop
the empires resources there, while the people
of the mother country developed them here at
home. They would try to make it secure out
there, while the people here made it secure at
home. They would carry with them the same
outlook and ideals and try to live the same
high plane of civilization which had made the
empire so widely respected in the world. They
would recognize their growing power as a
trusteeship as the empire had done in all the
past days 1t was his hope as it was his firm
belief that the best DAYS of the empire were