Between Truculence & Groveling

Fortnight ago, Colonial Secretary Oliver Stanley tartly answered "a good volume of friendly criticism and disinterested advice" from the U.S. He was not speaking from under the sounding board of the House of Commons (the speech was to the Oxford Conservative Association), but his words carried. Said he: "The first and fundamental principle is that the administration of the British colonies must continue to be the sole responsibility of Great Britain." Then he flatly rejected the suggestion that "some international body" should administer British colonies after the war.

Last week the House debated colonial policy. Laborite Creech A. Jones rose to utter these labored words: "Much as it might be right that Britain should not and could not transfer her administrative responsibility to an international syndicate, it was imperative we should give evidence that we welcomed third-party interest and third-party judgment and the fullest cooperation in the colonial field." To that, Liberal James Armand de Rothschild snapped: "We are not fighting against the thralldom of the Central European powers to submit after the war to any tyranny on the part of Pan American Airways: nor ... to hand over our colonies in lieu of Lend-Lease."

Next day, Laborite John Dugdale turned to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, directly asked him to come clean on the Government's colonial policy. Said the Prime Minister, with his accomplished air of plowing a statesmanlike furrow through the rich dirt of politics: ". . . His Majesty's Government are convinced that the administration of the British colonies must continue to be the sole responsibility of Great Britain. The policy of His Majesty's Government is to plan for the fullest possible political, economic and social development within the British Empire--and in close cooperation with the neighboring and friendly nations." Laborite Dugdale then asked Winston Churchill if he was aware that the "somewhat truculent nature of [Colonial Secretary Stanley's] speech had created misgivings in the United States and the Dominions.. . ." Growled the Prime Minister: "We must equally beware of truculence and also of groveling."

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