Evening star., 1942-11-10
Text of ChurchWs Address
Prime Minister Credits Roosevelt
As Author of Africun Cumpuiqn

ing IN Morocco, Algeria and TuniSia.
The President of the United
States. who is commander in chief
of the armed forces of America, is
the author of this mighty undertak-
ing and in all of it I have been his
active and ardent lieutenant.
You have, no doubt, read the dec
laration of President Roosevelt, SOL
emnly endorsed by His Majestys
Government, of the strict respect
which will be paid to the rights and
interests of Spain and Portugal, both
by America and Great Britain.
To those countries our only policy
is that they shall be independent
and free, prosperous and at peace.
Britain and the United States will
do all that we can to enrich the
economic life of the Iberian Penin-
sula.
The Spaniards especially, with all
their troubles, require and deserve
peace and recuperation.
Our thoughts turn toward France,
groaning in bondage under the Ger
man heel Many ask themselves the
question, Is France finished? Is all
that long and famous history,
marked by so many manifestations
of genius, bearing with it so much
that is precious to culture, to c!vili-
zation and, above all, to the lib
critics of mankind, is all that now to
sink forever into the ocean of the
past, or will France rise again and
resume her rightful place in the
structure of what may one day be
again the family OF Europe?
France Will Rise Again.
I gladly say here, on this con-
siderable occasion, even now when
misguided or suborned Frenchmen
are firing upon their rescuers, that
I am prepared to stake my faith
that France will rise again.
While there are men like Gen. De
Gaulle and all those who follow
him-and they are legion through
out France-and men like Gen.
Giraud, that gallant warrior whom
no prison can hold, while there are
men like that to stand forward in
the name and in the cause of
France my confidence in the future
of France is sure.
For ourselves, we have no wish
but to see France free and strong,
with her empire gathered round her
and with Alsace-Lorraine restored.
We covet no French possession, we
have no acquisitive designs or am
bitions in North Africa or any other
part of the world. We have not en-
tered this war for profit or expan-
sion but only for honor and to do
our duty in defending the right.
Let me, however, make this clear,
in case there should be any mistake
about it in any quarter: We mean
to hold our own. I have not become
the Kings First Minister in order
to preside over the liquidation of
the British Empire. For that task.
if ever it were prescribed, some one
else would have to be found and
under democracy 1 suppose the
nation would have to be consulted.
I am proud to be member of
that vast commonwealth and So
ciety of nations and communities
gathered in and around the ancient
British monarchy without which the
good cause might well have perished
from the face of the earth.
No Longer Standing Alone.
Here we are and here we stand,
a veritable rock of salvation in this
drifting world. There was a time
not long ago when for whole year
we stood all alone. Those days,
thank God, have gone.
We now move forward in a great
and gallant company. For our rec
ord we have nothing to fear. We
have no need to make excuses or
apologies. Om record pleads for
us and we shall get gratitude in the
breast of every man and woman in
every part of the world.
AS I have said, in this war we
have no territorial aims. We desire
no commercial favors, we wish to
alter no sovereignty or frontier for
our own benefit.
We have come into North Africa
shoulder to shoulder with our Amer
lean friends and allies for one pur-
pose and one purpose only, namely
| to gain a vantage ground from
which to open a new front against
Hitler and Hitlerism, to cleanse the
shores of Africa from the stain of
Nazi and Fascist tyranny, to open
the Mediterranean to Allied sea
power and air power and thus
effect the liberation of the peoples
of Europe from the pit of misery
into which they have been passed
by their own improvidence and by
the brutal violence of the enemy
These two African undertakings
in the east and in the west, were
part of single strategic and po-
litical conception which we had Ia
bored long to bring to fruition and
about which we we're now justified
in entertaining good and reasonable
confidence.
Taken together they are a grand
design, vast in its scope, honorable
in its motive and noble In its aim
| ollVLoLl dIlO AlllCl lCdll 1Ol CCS COIl
tinue to prosper in the Mediter-
ranean. The whole event will be q
new bond between the English
speaking people and a new hops
for the whole world.
recall to you some lines of Byron
which seem to me to fit event and
theme.
Millions of tongues record thee, ane
anew
Their children's lips shall echo
them and say,
Here where sword the United Ma.
tions drew
Our countrymen were warning or
that day.
| And this is much and all which
will not pass away"
4 Alee \A/s