London, Paris, Geneva

Mr. President and Gentlemen,--It is an ordeal to come back to one's own city where one is known; it is a greater ordeal, I think, to speak to one's own folk than to strangers, because you can bluff strangers (laughter), but you cannot always do so with your own, especially after being a long time in any one place. I quite realize the critical condition in which one is put in undertaking any exhaustive discussion on foreign affairs before gentlemen who have travelled. I have taken this title--London, Paris and Geneva--simply as a bond to hold together more or less superficial reflections that I have made during the past summer.

Sir Robert came to us fresh from two months on the Continent, and three months in Great Britain, where he delivered the Sir George Watson lectures-initiated by Lord Bryce-at London, Canterbury, Oxford, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh Universities. The Sir George Watson Lectures have as their object the promotion of good relations between Great Britain and the United States, and the series delivered by Sir Robert was entitled, "The United States as a Neighbor." One can hardly imagine a more fitting person to give our interpretation of the United States to Great Britain than Sir Robert Falconer. Himself a Canadian, born in Prince Edward Island, he brings to such a task a point of view broadened by a liberal education in Trinidad, Edinburgh and London, by way of the Gilchrist Scholarship, and Marburg University.

I do not intend to linger over the external side of those cities; I need not describe to this audience London or Paris; but I know something about Geneva, which I first saw twenty-seven years ago when I trudged into it with a knapsack on my back as an undergraduate after having walked through part of Germany and Switzerland. But today I think it is well for us Canadians to consider whether or not we as a people should not take a larger interest in the affairs of the world outside of us, and it is as leading up to that thought that I wish to speak this afternoon.

When a Canadian goes to London he naturally thinks first of things Canadian, and he will be very proud when he walks around Trafalgar Square to see the new Canada House, the site for which was secured and preparations for its occupancy made largely through the efforts of our fellow-citizen, the Honourable P. C. Larkin. (Applause) But there are wider issues there than Canada itself, and I think we should all make an effort to understand something, wherever we go, beyond those things that merely refer to Canada. When you go to London and get past the first circle of the friends you meet you realize you are in the cenre of the greatest city in the Empire. No one can read the Times every morning without being impressed by the magnitude of London and the Empire. The Times is a great paper which brings the world before you every morning as no paper that I know of anywhere else does. The educated Englishman is very much more familiar with Europe than he is with this side of the ocean, even with the Empire. He talks Empire; he is coming to talk it more and more; but he really does not understand much about it, and his mind is largely centred on Europe. That is partly due to his past training, but also very largely to the position that England is in; and when we Canadians criticize England because she does not understand Canada and the rest of the Empire we should realize what England is and where she is placed.

Of course London is the centre of the Empire, the Capital of a great industrialized people. It is also the financial capital of the world, and, further, it is the capital to which all parts of the Empire gravitate. When you consider London from those three points of view, you realize that her interests must be largely turned towards the maintenance of her own security and prosperity. We Canadians, and possibly the Americans, can afford, as a new people, to take ventures; but the British people cannot afford to act rashly in their foreign policies. They have built them over generations, and the margins are so small that England cannot enter on radical changes either in her home or in foreign policies, because of what is involved. When they come, they must come gradually; and the attention of England is being gradually less absorbed by Europe and more absorbed by the outside world, including the Empire. One reason for this is that Europe does not relatively bulk quite as large as it did before. It is probably that Europe can never be relatively as wealthy as she once was, and the interests of England are gradutlly being strengthened in other parts. Africa comes to the fore, South America comes to the fore, the wide world comes to the fore, together with the Empire. By that process the attention of England is being directed more and more to the outside world in which we as Canadians are becoming more interested. China means a great deal to us, and will mean more in future; so with South America, and the principal countries in the midst of which we occupy a very central position. Those countries are relatively growing more influential and powerful, and will undoubtedly engage the attention of England more, and I believe will make possible a larger common interest in foreign affairs between us and England. Undoubtedly it has been and yet is difficult to get the attention of our people fixed upon European matters; but that time may come; the changing condition of the world is bringing in new factors that are preparing us for a larger and really sympathetic interest in the foreign affairs in which England itself will be vitally interested.

One could not go to England last summer or the summer before without visiting Wembley. I never quite realized, until I saw Wembley, the magnitude of the British Empire; the variety of the Empire; the demands on administration that are made by the British Empire. As one went through the three great pavilions-our own and those of Australia and New Zealand-one felt, "Here are great peoples arising, very similar in their outlook upon life, their social standards, and in the way they face the world; the reproduction in comparatively similar surroundings of the Anglo-Saxon stock." The power that is being developed in those new countries is obvious as one walks through those pavilions; but when one leaves those three, that were so much alike, one will at once find himself in a new environment. Nearby you go into the Malay States, then you pass over into Africa--a wonderful series of pavilions, exhibiting great variety. Then you pass out into the Crown Colonies and over into India, Wembley thus presents a picture of the world which I doubt could be paralleled at any time or anywhere.

London is the centre of what is represented in Wembley, and what Wembley stands for has to be maintained in the world. You have only to look at Africa, to see the value to human society of British Administration. When you thus get some conception of the responsibilities of London you can realize how carefully the city must act. We on this side, with our rising prosperity, should therefore not be too impatient and make too many demands at once. We can work out our own problems, and we are given freedom to do so, but do not let us be impatient with London, which has such a vast world to regulate and govern.

I am not going to refer to the industrial situation; everyone who has been over there speaks of that, and others who know it far better than I do can deal with it. I spent a month or more in France, and tried to read the papers pretty regularly, and to meet people who could give me some idea of how the French people looked at things. In passing to France one undoubtedly felt that he had come to the capital of the Latin world. London seemed to be the centre of a larger world, but the Latin part of it comes to Paris. Even South America looks to Paris as the eyes of a handmaiden look to the hands of her mistress. Paris gives a tone to South America, and always has done so; and although it is Spanish, and Portuguese, it is to Paris that the South American wishes to go to spend his money. A great many other peoples gather in Paris, and France has been endeavouring, as you know, to lead the forces of Europe.

In Paris you find another Exhibition, but as different from Wembley as could be. The Paris Exhibition displayed, in parts at least, the artistic power and grace in its industrial products that you would expect to find in France and Paris. There was a curious commingling in that Exhibition; both in painting and in music modern art was very obvious indeed, and you felt that the young Latin world was gathered there. There were hardly any exhibits from England, none from Canada that I could find, none from the United States, and of course none from Germany; but the countries that exhibited were those, very largely, in the following of France--Italy, Spain, even Scandinavian countries, and her Latin dependencies. The industrial exhibition showed that France evidently intends to take the lead by reason of her artistic capacity in all that she has industrially, developed among those countries. There was not the world outlook; there was not the width and the breadth.

Along with that there came the feeling that I believe exists there-at least I found it, and I shall read a sentence from a book that I think expresses it-the passionate desire on the part of Paris to maintain her outstanding position in Europe, and if possible in the world. In the old days, remember, Paris and France were very centralized in the world, and had immense power. France was the leading nation of Europe, and Paris the leading city. The lines of communication, the industrial movement, came through France, and a great deal of it through Paris. But that has been changed. France has been slipping out of her position, and Paris has to a certain extent been slipping away from her supremacy. If you go to Versailles or to any of her great national galleries, you find a great history spread before you, but it is a history in which the heroes are Louis Fourteenth and Napoleon. The French were a great martial people; you cannot go through France without realizing that. France had power and dominated the world, but today she knows that that power is slipping away. Any great people that feel that their power is slipping away are bound to express themselves, sometimes in complaint, but often in effort which may seem hard to justify unless you understand the causes.

When I was in Paris I got a book that has gone through thirty editions, though it only came out last year. It is written by Louis Romier, who writes frequently for the Figaro. Its title is L'Explication de Notre Temps, and I take this sentence from it: "The future destiny of Paris, a destiny--is it to be of fresh greatness or of slow decadence? A blasphemous question, you will say. Yes, but a question which the facts themselves place before the eyes of the observer." This book throughout turns round that thesis--what can be done to assure Paris her place in the world, and the French people their place in the world? In addition to that, of course, there is, as every visitor knows, the sense of panic that has come as a result of the war. It is easily explicible; you cannot visit the country without having sympathy with the people who know what war means as they knew it. That feeling-that they may be subject to attack of an enemy that seems to have more power to act, and greater growing power than themselves, and at the same time that their prestige is slipping away--that, I think, is the state of mind that you will meet in Paris and in France. You do not wonder that they are making efforts to conserve their life.

There is no doubt that England and France must remain friends,--the English people themselves are confident of that. England is a part of Europe, and England's own safety requires friendship with France, and there is every desire on the part of England to maintain loyalty to her allies; but you can see that the situation very often creates problems, and has made France a difficult ally; we all know that. You only have to visit France to discover the reason why. However, that these two will continue to be friendly must be obvious, I think.

We pass now to Geneva, and there England and France meet as the two leaders who stand, the one opposite the other--not on England's part--in an endeavour to secure the leadership. Unquestionably that is true of France. I was told by all whom I met in Geneva that France from the beginning has put her best foot forward to get influence in Geneva; she sends her strongest men always, and she has around her a very large interest in Geneva itself. Many of you know what an ideal spot Geneva is for this gathering of the League of Nations. It has always been a home or refuge for the oppressed, and has always been more or less an international city. No people that I have ever met anywhere are more hospitable than the Swiss. You feel nationalism in other countries very strongly marked; but not so strongly marked in Switzerland, particularly in Geneva. Their language is the language of diplomacy. The city is situated in a corner near France, and in a country where the people speak three languages. Moreover, Geneva is a city of great cultivation. The big shops of Geneva are just as fine, for their size, as you will get anywhere, and there is no city outside of Paris in Europe that has a finer intellectual cultivation. The old families of the neighborhood who had wealth were the bankers of the world many years ago. Those old families have had a succession of outstanding men who, while they had money, used it for the furtherance of branches of science-great botanists, great geologists, great scientists. We had the pleasure one afternoon of having tea on the beautiful estate of a man who in his day was probably the leading Egyptologist, Edward Naville, known everywhere.

So the atmosphere of Geneva is a fine one for such an institution as the Society or the League of Nations. The wealth of Geneva is passing, and many estates are for sale, but her life has taken on a revival through the incoming League of Nations. Unfortunately, we were not able to be there during the sitting of the Assembly, but fortunately there was a School of International Relations, conducted during the week by the Secretariat of the League of Nations, chiefly, and every day a series of addresses were delivered by leading men on various phases of the league. It was attended by over a hundred people, the majority being Americans. The proceedings were all in English. The purpose of the school was to unfold the real objects and purposes and methods of the League.

General attention is directed by matters that appear in telegrams in the newspapers, such as the Protocol, discussions on Security and Defence, and that sort of thing, that take place while the Assembly is going on; but when you meet the Secretariat of the League and attend such a school, you realize that the power of the League is not in those external matters, but in the great accomplishments that have constantly been going on through the activities of the Secretariat and those connected with it all over Europe. You cannot listen to such an address as I heard from Sir Arthur Salter on the Economic Reconstruction of Europe without realizing what the League has done to bring order out of chaos. If it had not been for the League and that Secretariat, what would Europe have been today? (Hear, hear) What they did lies behind the Dawes plan; there could have been no Dawes plan if the financial arrangement that had been wrought out by the League of Nations had not been carried through. The whole question of Disarmament, that will probably be discussed by another Conference in Washington was one of the matters dealt with and the conditions precedent to the reduction of armaments. The officers of the League know the conditions; they know what the armament of Europe is; they have the facts; and if results come they will come because of the work that has been done by this Secretariat. Sir Arthur Salter himself is looked upon as one of the ablest financiers of Europe. Our own Canadian has also done very well in Geneva--Sir Herbert Ames. He is held in very great respect as treasurer of the League, throughout the whole body of Geneva. (Applause) Dr. W. A. Riddell, the Canadian representative, also is a man who, slowly and quietly, has built for himself quite a reputation, and is held in much respect. (Applause) We have other junior representatives; but one man of whom I heard as having brought regard for Canada is Mr. Tom Moore in connection with the Industrial Labour Bereau of the League. (Applause) I was told again and again that Mr. Moore's opinion on labour questions carries as far as that of any other person in the discussions that come on annually. When I was in Geneva they were looking forward with a great deal of pleasure to what has since been realized-the hope that Senator Dundurand would be appointed President of the Assembly this last September--(applause)--all our friends there felt that was a feather in Canada's cap, not only because Canada is a younger and smaller member of the League, but because it shows that in Canada there are new conditions which may be of value to the League itself. Here was one who could speak both in French and in English, a man who could take his place with any of them in his presentation of affairs, and in his direction of the Assembly; therefore we may say that Canada has a place that is highly respected in Geneva.

And, gentlemen, that is what we must aim at, I am confident. No one can go to Geneva and realize how central the problems there are not only for Europe but for the old world without believing that we as Canadians must take interest in them. If there is any hope for the world it is there, at any rate in the way of preventing a repetition of war. France knows that, and she sent her very best and very ablest men. England is sending some of hers, but it is doubtful whether England takes quite the strong and passionate interest in the League that France does, and the influence of France carries again and again. But I am confident that we, as Canadians, must have larger relations to what is going on in the world through that League of Nations at Geneva.

That leads me to say a few words about the development that I think we as Canadians must look forward to. I feel confident that the time cannot be far distant when at Ottawa there will regularly be a discussion in Parliament every session on foreign affairs. Hitherto we have been contented with our own domestic concerns. But we are placed in the centre of the world, with China and Eastern Asia on one side, the United States to the south of us, and Europe just a little way off on the east; and what happens in the outside world is bound to affect us more and more the wealthier we become, and the larger the population we possess. Therefore our interest must be enlarged from our domestic affairs to world affairs. (Hear, hear) That can only be done, I believe, if the people of Canada as a whole are instructed by their leaders at Ottawa as to the condition of those foreign affairs. (Applause) I do not see how we can get out of it-that every year there should be some intelligent survey at Ottawa so that our people may not be taken by surprise, and that as time goes on they may be prepared for eventualities that will undoubtedly force themselves upon us.

I am not a practical politician; I have had no experience in political administration; but it seems to me that we ought to have a minister appointed who will not have to carry any burden of domestic affairs on his shoulders. He should not have to worry about a local portfolio, or to have his time taken up with it, but he should have opportunity to study the situation in the world at large. That man should go over to London every year. I do not believe that our Ministers will ever be contented to deal through Mr. Amery's new secretariat for the Dominions, although its creation was a good gesture on his part. That will not solve the difficulty; nor will it ever be solved by anyone who lives in London as High Commissioner. But this new Minister of Foreign Affairs should have time, and we at home should be broad enough minded to say, "Go, and leave to others the handling of domestic affairs. You will spend time with us, but you will also go and tell us what is being done in London. You will go to Geneva and tell us what is being done there, and you will be able to give us more intelligent direction because of increased knowledge of the situation of the world at large." Through that Minister policies of co-operation will be wrought out, and I am positive that the people of Great Britain are only waiting to have from us that larger cooperation and that if we show any desire to take a share in the burden of the world they will be only too glad to bring us in, not as Colonials, but as co-operative members of this British Commonwealth, to sit down and discuss these matters together. This Minister would come home and lead us at home. I do not believe that our people throughout the Dominion will ever get an intelligent knowledge of those affairs except through Ottawa, and through a Minister who sits in Ottawa.

This view was emphasized for me a few years ago when I was in Michigan. There was a very large gathering addressed by General Leonard Wood, Mr. Beck, the Editor of the Paris Matin--his name has slipped me for the moment-and some other outstanding men. The people there were just like a gathering of Ontario people, partly farmers, partly city people, the same grade of society and not a whit more intelligent, I believe-as a Canadian my prejudice would be to say so, our people are equally able to enter into and understand such problems as were being presented to that gathering. It was an assembly of ordinary people who had thought it of sufficient importance to have outstanding people not only of their own country but of the world, come and speak to them about problems that they thought should engage the attention of the United States as a world-power. Do you think that would be possible in Ontario? Not at all; you could get a gathering like that; but I am confident that in the not distant future we shall be forced to assume a position in the world, by our growing prosperity, by our enlargement, by our connection with the British Empire. I have passed the suggestion on as that of one who has had no experience in political affairs or administration. Whether my view will carry or not, I am sure that all intelligent Canadians must realize more and more the fact that before long the outside world is going to come in upon us also as it has done in England and as it is pressing in upon the other nations of the world today. (Loud applause)

SIR JOSEPH FLAVELLE expressed the thanks of the Club for the very inspiring address.