What Does Our Empire Mean To Us?

THE PRESIDENT: Distinguished Guests and Gentlemen "What is involved by the term British Empire at the present time is a subject of much concern and discussion among all the component groups, particularly in Canada. Hitherto most of us have complacently accepted all the advantages derived from the relationship, confident of their permanent continuance, but the new cults which take their rise from many of the world centres have rudely disturbed our sense of security and threatened our basic institutions. If we are at all observant we cannot avoid sensing the demand for sane leadership and we are exceedingly fortunate at this juncture in our guest-speaker of today. (Applause.) The Honourable Mr. Dunning enjoys the confidence of the people of this Dominion in a manner that few public men do. (Applause.) Since coming to Canada in 1902 he has filled many and various important offices in his own Western Province as well as in the Federal House, with great credit to himself and to this country. He has remained a citizen of Canada but his reputation as a statesman has recrossed the Atlantic where his counsels are sought in Empire and world affairs, as they are in this Dominion. We, of The Empire Club of Canada in Toronto, are honoured by his presence here today. He has chosen as the subject of his address, "What Does Our Empire Mean To Us?" I have the honour and much pleasure in introducing the Honourable Charles A. Dunning. Mr. Dunning. (Applause.)

THE HONOURABLE CHARLES A. DUNNING: Sir William Mulock, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I must thank you for this opportunity, the acceptance of which has been so long delayed. Your President has reminded me of the length of time which has elapsed between your kind invitation to me and my acceptance of it. Unfortunately, the work in which I am engaged does not permit as much public speaking as can conveniently be done by those who hold other portfolios. I sometimes think the less said about Finance except in budget speeches the better.

I had the great honour and privilege this summer, of being one of the representatives of Canada at the Coronation and at the Imperial Conference. Many of those in this room, I know, witnessed part, if not all, of the ceremonies incident to the Coronation, and were impressed and inspired, by the great meaning behind all the pageantry, all of the history of the centuries which was there expressed. I am sure all felt strongly that our Empire is not merely a geographical entity. The spiritual meaning of it was brought home to us as never before. This great gathering of people, representative of every country within the British Commonwealth, came together voluntarily to participate in a great historic act. Voluntarily. That is rather an important word in connection with the meaning of our Empire to us. Voluntarily. There is no conscription of the mind in the British Empire. (Applause.) That fact alone is one of the profound meanings of Empire to us. Totalitarian states, dictatorships of whatever kind, depend ultimately upon conscription of the mind for a continuance of the authority which they exert and therein lies one of the main fundamental difference between our Empire and that type of state.

A little illustration of what that means, carried a step further, I can give in the form of an incident related to me by the man to whom it occurred this summer in London. You all know of that part of Hyde Park which for generations has been devoted to affording liberty of speech to all who cared to go there and could gather around them an audience. You can understand that an occasion such as coronation time gave a splendid opportunity to all the would-be orators, all the would-be apostles, and, of course, the blue-coated London 'Bobby' was there to protect the speakers from the wrath of the crowd. My friend, in relating the incident to which I am referring said he was driving along the roadway, close by the green grass on which the rostrums are erected and, seeing quite a crowd gathered at one spot, he thought he would put the brakes on, stop and listen for a few moments beside the curb. A great crowd was listening to an orator who was abusing all our' established institutions from the King down, but with direct reference to the Metropolitan Police. They were the agents of Capitalism! They were grinding the faces of the poor and-Oh, a lot more violent things than that. Just about the time that statement was reached in the speaker's address, a blue helmet stuck itself inside the window of the car and a policeman said to my friend, "Would you mind shutting off your engine, Sir? They can't hear what the gentleman is saying." (Laughter.)

Gentlemen, it's amusing. It's amusing, yes. But it has a profound meaning. I see you all get it. I need not elaborate it.

If I were asked what feature of the proceedings in London impressed me most from the standpoint of Empire and its meaning, I would point to the great gathering of the Empire Parliamentary Association in historic old Westminster Hall. Many of you, I am sure, have seen that old hall and have felt the thrill as you walked the stone pavement and saw here and there throughout its length plates indicating stages and crises throughout the last eight centuries in the history of this people and this Empire. That great stone hall which more than any other building in the world typifies our institutions, our Empire, more closely associated with all that we hold dear, with all that is real and permanent in our conceptions of government than any other building. On that day there were gathered at tables similar to these, down the length of the great hall, representatives from all of the Legislatures of the British Empire, and at the top of the historic stone steps a long head table, similar to this, and in the centre, His Majesty, the King, flanked on either side by the Prime Ministers of the countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations. His Majesty, the King, facing one of the great ordeals of his life, in some respects an ordeal greater than the ordeal of the Coronation, for his duty that day was to do what had never been done before, to respond to the toast to his own health before a gathering of the parliamentarians of his Empire.

Picture the scene, will you? The audience, composed of men, many of whom were practised public speakers, all of whom thought they were; flanked on either side by the leading figures of the British Empire, a man who had just succeeded to the Throne, not by any ambition or any desire of his own but solely because of that call which coming under such circumstances could not be ignored, without the advantages of training usually associated with long periods as heir apparent. That slim, athletic figure standing there, facing that ordeal, was an inspiration to every man in that historic hall and, as the speech proceeded in measured accents, there came to all of us the knowledge that here was an exhibition of that character upon which the foundations of this Empire rest. (Applause.) I say character for a very special reason. There have been stories that our King suffers from disabilities which prejudice him in the performance of his duties. Rumours about his health. I can say without any fear of contradiction from any one who has been close to His Majesty that physically His Majesty, King George the Sixth, is an athlete, in very fine physical condition. (Applause.) Disability? Yes. From his youth up he has suffered from an impediment in his speech and one of the best evidences of the character of the man which I can give is the picture of him facing that ordeal before the most critical audience, from the standpoint of public address, which could be gathered together in this Empire. He proceeded steadily from beginning to end. True, it was a fight, a steady, sustained fight, but the kind of fight that one could feel the speaker winning every second against the greatest odds. (Applause.)

I do not remember any incident which impressed upon my mind to a greater degree the power of character in an individual under great stress. On every occasion--that was only one--on every occasion His Majesty, King George the Sixth, meets that test and meets it successfully, but it is a continuous fight, and that is what places emphasis upon the character of the man. We need have no fear, Gentlemen, that King George, the Sixth, will not sustain the noblest traditions of his forebears. (Applause.)

I am sure that the word, Empire, used as the name of this Club, is not merely an abstract term, but in fact, relates to the unique system by which the British peoples everywhere are governed. Nothing like it has ever existed and no previous organization of mankind was ever so wide-spread or so flexible in its application to various races, creeds and conditions. To describe it and to analyze logically its vital principles has ever been the despair of historians of other races.

We, who are the inheritors of this Empire's noble past and the trustees of its future, seldom attempt logical analysis of our inheritance and are generally content to meet the problems of the future as they come without definite plans for adjusting our system according to any rigid line of future development.

In this we are but following the example of those who went before us. This great Commonwealth is an ever evolving organism, adjusting itself, as required, to changing conditions and to the progressive development of its many peoples. I believe one of our greatest responsibilities is keeping alive and in full vigour the conception of human relations which has made it what it is.

We can sense the basic aspiration of the British peoples throughout their history, that they shall be governed by laws made by their own elected representatives and not by the will of one man nor by the will of any group not responsible to the people.

Consider for a moment the tremendous consequences of that idea, held strongly by our forebears for a thousand years and more. It finds expression in each succeeding century in an ever-widening freedom, an ever-widening capacity to govern among all classes of our people, an overdeveloping system of local self-government based on the same fundamental principle and steady improvement in social conditions.

In each succeeding period of our history the responsibility of carrying the torch of this great conception of ordered liberty has been shared by an ever-increasing proportion of our people.

In earlier times, with a very limited franchise, the responsibility rested on a few, but the franchise has steadily broadened until in most countries of the Commonwealth, the responsibility now rests upon all adults equally. All are now responsible by their votes for the maintenance of the best from the past and for continuing the process of human betterment in our time.

Viewed in this light the responsibility of the individual voter is a vital one. Upon the proper discharge of it the whole structure rests. All down through the years whenever more citizens were allowed to vote and thus to join in the work of government, dire prophecies were made that the state would collapse because of lack of a sense of responsibility on the part of the electorate. We have seen instead that our people have always been equal to the occasion and the orderly evolution of our institutions has continued.

We have seen in many foreign countries the power of government pass from the citizens and into the hands of a Dictator. We often say, "It could not happen here," but in sober truth, one great factor only prevents it happening in British countries, and that is continued responsible, sane, progressive use of the vote by the people as a whole. Because of the times in which we live, because of what is happening in the world around us, I believe our greatest responsibility at this time is to ensure that all of us, who by our votes create the government of all, should now take an even keener interest in the problems of mankind, should be even more tenacious in holding to our tried and tested conceptions of human, national, Commonwealth and international relations which have brought us thus far safely along the road.

British peoples everywhere know all these things well, but is there not a danger that we have become so accustomed to the orderly use of the freedom we enjoy, that we treat it as we do the daily wonders of nature, taking it for granted that nothing can disturb its operations?

In the present state of the world it is of the greatest importance to remind ourselves that nothing in human relations can be as certain as the daily rising and setting of the sun. Our British conception of the social contract of government, developed by many generations, with painstaking effort, much debate, much trial and error, and some conflict, is nevertheless a man-made instrument which can be improved continuously by man's efforts, but which if neglected can fall into decay with surprising ease.

Each succeeding generation is only dimly conscious of the progress made by previous generations. The citizen of the British Commonwealth of today starts life with all the advantages, material, moral and social, which have been won by all who have gone before. He naturally, therefore, tends to take for granted, as commonplace, all the hard won attainments of the past.

I sometimes think that it would add greatly to our appreciation of British institutions if suddenly some morning we could awake in the world of 1837 and live in that century ago time for a week or two. I venture to say that on returning to 1937 we would have a very much higher appreciation of the value of many things which we now take for granted, especially in those matters which have to do with human relations under the law. We can only hope to continue to hold our progress, and to build even better for the future, by cultivating an understanding of the value and reality of our institutions of ordered liberty and of our unique system of self-government.

These things axe of greater moment today than for many years past. During the early years of this century a world trend in the direction of popular government was clearly visible. During the last twenty years there has been a distinct reversal in important countries. Twenty years ago who would have dreamed of attempting to convince civilized people that dictatorship is superior to democracy as a form of government for a nation? Today it is being seriously contended. Great nations have thrown away the hard-won progress of generations and have completely abandoned their right to an effective voice in their own government. While it is the undoubted right of each country to determine its own form of government, this development is not without significance to us.

We hear even in British countries some who seek to convince us that democracy cannot possibly be as efficient as dictatorship and that we must abandon our voice in government in order to avoid being overwhelmed in the near future by the massed efficiency of dictatorships.

It is not enough for us to say that this is nonsense, that nothing of this nature could happen. The pages of history show clearly that while dictatorships have never been permanently constructive in human affairs, their capacity to destroy the liberties and institutions built up by others stands clearly revealed.

In theory, at least, a nation under dictatorship, responsive to a single will, is more efficient at a given moment of time than any of our free nations of the Commonwealth, governed as they are by Parliaments, through discussion, political parties and all the complex machinery of democracy. Those who accept this theory advocate centralization of authority in the Commonwealth and would have us become virtually a dictatorship.

Such a step would be a complete reversal of our course hitherto and would destroy all of that liberty on which our whole structure rests. The great Dominions equally with the United Kingdom now enjoy complete self-government. Each of the nations of the Commonwealth has its individual fight of decision and action on all questions of peace and war. The tie that binds us together is in fact the very absence of bonds which would compel any one of us to act because of the will of any other. (Applause.) Our freedom under a common crown is our most precious possession, and is the element which, rightly understood and appreciated by all, will ever be the strength of the Commonwealth.

Since the Great War the British nations have laboured earnestly to co-operate with the rest of the world in bringing about enduring peace. We have been leaders in all international efforts to remove the causes of war, and have gone further than the rest of the world in setting an example of disarmament. The rise and trend of dictatorships has rendered our efforts of little avail for the present and we have been compelled to give thought to the defence of our whole conception of ordered liberty against possible destructive aggression.

Now the question is being asked, "Is it possible for a group of free, democratic nations, not united by any centralized authority, to successfully maintain their freedom against the dictatorship of Fascism on the one hand, or Communism on the other?" The answer depends on the full appreciation by our free citizens of the supreme value to us of all that I have been speaking of. Slowly but surely, in each of the Parliaments of the Commonwealth, we are witnessing the expression of the will of the people to hold fast to our own system of ordered liberty. (Applause.)

We are seeing also on the part of each nation of the Commonwealth a determination to put its own defences in order. With this determination goes the other, just as strong, that our own national Parliaments shall have individual rights of decision and action in all matters of peace and war. It is this determination which causes our critics to believe that we cannot successfully withstand the power, of dictatorships. All our history supplies the answer. Critics have made the same error in the past, by failing to give full weight to the great human values inherent in a citizenship which holds the freedom of its institutions as the most vital of its possessions. With freedom we believe everything is possible for a people, and that without freedom nothing can have real and lasting value. (Applause.) The answer is that a people who have carried their conception of ordered liberty to the ends of the earth, and who appreciate to the full all that this great conception means to them, cannot be enslaved, from within or without, and will organize themselves in the future, as in the past, to defend their liberty.

So, in conclusion I repeat, the greatest responsibility of Empire at this time is to see to it that every citizen knows and appreciates keenly all that ordered liberty under the British Crown means to the individual, to the nation and to the Commonwealth. Thus we may be sure that our steady march to human progress and betterment will go on and on because it is the will of a free people. (Cheers-prolonged.)

PRESIDENT: Mr. Dunning, there are times when my expressions of thanks to our guest-speakers seem most inadequate and this is indeed one of those occasions. Owing to the limited time, but not lack of appreciation, it is our custom to have no formal motion of thanks. As I said in introducing you, Sir, we are greatly honoured by your presence here. Your inspiring address will long be remembered by all who have heard it. Our faults, I hope, also will be remembered and corrected. I have much pleasure in extending to you the sincere thanks of the members of the Empire Club of Canada, our guests and your vast radio audience from coast to coast.

The meeting is adjourned. (Applause.)