"The slow evolutionary process of the spread of freedom is proceeding all the time inside the Colonial Empire.
"In some countries, like Ceylon, the gaining of freedom has already gone very far.
"In others, it is necessarily making much slower progress, "It might take generations. even centuries, for some peoples in some parts of the Colonial Empire to reach complete self-government—but it is the major part of our policy, even among the most backward peoples of Africa, to teach and encourage them always to be able. to stand a little more on their own feet.
"Our love of freedom, not only for ourselves, but also for others has inspired our policy right through the Colonial Empire.
Mr. MacDonald said that he believed that the best assurance those people could have that that spirit would continue to guide their affairs was that they should continue their association with the British Empire.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.