Mr. Anthony Eden's appeal to Britons to make efforts to achieve their purposes equal to those made by autocratic states, in the course of a St, George's Day banquet in London, is a most striking one. It does not matter how much disagreement there may be with the political doctrines inspiring such countries as Germany and Italy; the fact still remains that the autocratic system has brought about much improvement in the status of those two countries and to a great extent in their internal conditions. What those nations have achieved Mr. Eden rightly describes as stupendous, and there will be agreement with him when he states that it would be foolish, and, perhaps, fatal to the very survival of democracy to ignore them. Exactly how a similar fervour can be aroused in a democracy during peace times it is a little difficult to see, for the operation of the political party system, lacking unanimity of counsel, must inevitably put a drag on such progress as Mr. Eden would have. There is this comforting thought about Great Britain, that, in moments of danger, divergent parties swiftly coalesce, and present a common front to the enemy. It is, perhaps, regrettable that this apparent disunity in times of peace cannot be done away with. Unfortunately it would mean the abolition of the democracy and the institution of conditions in which individual freedom, so dear to the heart of the Anglo-Saxon, would have to disappear in favour of a strict control analogous to that prevailing in the countries mentioned. That would be entirely foreign to the genius of the race, and what might suit the German and Italian would most certainly not suit the British. There are questions on which Britons would make a stand as one man, would subordinate individualism in the interests of the common good, but the sinking of individuality in times of peace is certainly not to be expected of them. In times of war history has shown the other state of mind to exist.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.