Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-03-27
Mr.. Eden's Testimony

| Mr.. Eden's Testimony
The address of Anthony Eden at
Annapolis last evening was con-
structive utterance Experience has
taught him a caution which he once
may have lacked, but he also appears
to be endowed with a courage even
more substantial than that which
characterized him, more or less ad-
venturously, in the early phases of
his career.
At the start of his speech, the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
told his audience: II hope you will
not expect me to give you any sudden
and sensational developments, for
there will be none" His conferences
with President Roosevelt, Secretary
Hull and members of Congress, he
explained, had been "a meeting of
minds about the present and
the future Naturally, he stipulated
that: There will be no turning back
until the victory is won,' but he
warned: I'VE have yet far to travel
before the final triumph over our
enemies in the West and in the East"
and Gin the interval there will be
strains and stresses, setbacks and
disappointments."
Mr. Eden deliberately emphasized
his country's debt of gratitude to the
United States for more than a mil
lion rifles, guns, machine guns and
other weapons" sent from your
arsenals to arm our volunteers" in
the weeks Immediately following
Dunkirk. Those weapons might we'll
have meant the difference between
life and death for US" But: To-day
the picture is changing. Lease-lend
has become the machinery for pool
ing the war effort of the United
Nations, the material equivalent of
the combined strategic planning of
our armies and navies. 1t is no
longer a one-Way traffic. The
United States will remain the greatest
arsenal of democracy, but Britain in
her turn is sending supplies today to
Russia, to her other Allies, to the
American forces abroad and even
to the United States itself"
Life in Britain, Mr.. Eden confessed,
is difficult because of inevitable
shortages, discomforts, privations,"
yet his countrymen, he testified, ARE
happy to welcome your sons, brothers,
husbands, even daughters, in our
cities and our homes We are learn
ing from them how alike our peoples
are on both sides of the ocean in the
things that matter most. On
five continents and seven seas, SOL
diers and sailors of the United Ma
tons are living and fighting side by
side. May they cherish in peace the
friendship that they learnt in war"
But how is peace to be attained?
Mr.. Eden insisted: I'VE cannot shut
our windows and draw our curtains
and be careless of what is happening
next door or on the other side of the
street. No nation can close it's from
tiers and hope to live secure. We
cannot have prosperity in one coun-
try and misery in its neighbor; peace
in one hemisphere, war in the other.
We shall never find security or
progress within heavily defended
national fortresses. We shall only
find them by the greatest possible
measure of cooperation" Specif-
ically, the Foreign Secretary dis
avowed for Britain all sins of selfish
ness. Eve have no secret engage
ments with any country, nor do we
seek as result of this conflict to
extend our boundaries or increase our
possessions anywhere" The British
Empire, however, he made it clear, is
not to be destroyed At some con-
siderable length, he discussed it's
utility in the world as "a voluntary
union" whose bonds are the will of
peoples and races with a COM
mon past and common purpose.
The self-governing dominions" are
pledged to mans freedom
under the rule of law" and ut is
in this spirit that we shall admin
lister our trust for the peoples in our
empire" But these principles y
are not of limited application. They
are inseparable from the kind of
world for which we are fighting, the
kind of world we hope to see. That
hope is today gathering strength in
North Africa, the Pacific, China
through enslaved Europe and on the
wide plains of Russia. Our
joint task will be hard But for our
part we are proud of the company
with which we march"
Mr.. Eden, of course, left much
unsaid, yet the Importance of what
he did say is manifest in the pre-
vailing crisis.