Dealing with the protection accorded by the Navy, the Prime Minister said since the beginning of the war some 50,000,000 tons of shipping had entered or cleared British ports. The convoy system had been so successful that out of 9,000 British, Allied and neutral vessels which had sailed in convoy, only two-tenths of one per cent. had been lost.
Mr. Chamberlain declared: "I am amazed at the vastness of the effort which the country is making, and at the spirit of unity and resolution with which it is being conducted. I feel that today the nation is united as never before in all its history, in its determination to grapple with forces of evil and to overcome them."
"Quoting Herr von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister, and Dr, Josef Goebbels, German Propaganda Minister, Mr. Chamberlain proceeded: "be there you have the Nazi aims—the destruction of this nation and the domination of the world. We, on the other hand, are fighting against German domination of the world, but we do not desire the destruction of any people.
"We are fighting to ensure that the small nations of Europe shall henceforth live in security, free from the constant threat of aggression against their independence and the extermination of their people. But we do not want domination for ourselves, nor do we covet anyone else's territory. We are fighting to right the wrongs which Germany has inflicted on people who once were free: we believe we can achieve our aim, and we know that it can be secured without putting other people into bond-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.