I WISH TO SPEAK TO YOU TODAY about the tragedy
of Europe.
This noble continent, comprising on the
whole the fairest and the most cultivated regions of the earth;
enjoying a temperate and equable climate, is the home of all the
great parent races of the western world. It is the fountain of
Christian faith and Christian ethics. It is the origin of most
of the culture, arts, philosophy and science both of ancient and
modem times.
If Europe were once united in the sharing
of its common inheritance, there would be no limit to the happiness,
to the prosperity and glory which its three or four hundred million
people would enjoy. Yet it is from Europe that have sprung that
series of frightful nationalistic quarrels, originated by the
Teutonic nations, which we have seen even in this twentieth century
and in our own lifetime, wreck the peace and mar the prospects
of all mankind.
And what is the plight to which Europe has
been reduced?
Some of the smaller States have indeed made
a good recovery, but over wide areas a vast quivering mass of
tormented, hungry, care-worn and bewildered human beings gape
at the ruins of their cities and homes, and scan the dark horizons
for the approach of some new peril, tyranny or terror.
Among the victors there is a babel of jarring
voices; among the vanquished the sullen silence of despair.
That is all that Europeans, grouped in so
many ancient States and nations, that is all that the Germanic
Powers have got by tearing each other to pieces and spreading
havoc far and wide.
Indeed, but for the fact that the great
Republic across the Atlantic Ocean has at length realised that
the ruin or enslavement of Europe would involve their own fate
as well, and has stretched out hands of succour and guidance,
the Dark Ages would have returned in all their cruelty and squalor.
They may still return.
Yet all the while there is a remedy which,
if it were generally and spontaneously adopted, would as if by
a miracle transform the whole scene, and would in a few years
make all Europe, or the greater part of it, as free and as happy
as Switzerland is today.
What is this sovereign remedy?
It is to re-create the European Family,
or as much of it as we can, and provide it with a structure under
which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom.
We must build a kind of United States of
Europe.
In this way only will hundreds of millions
of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make
life worth living.
The process is simple.
All that is needed is the resolve of hundreds
of millions of men and women to do right instead of wrong, and
gain as their reward, blessing instead of cursing.
Much work has been done upon this task by
the exertions of the Pan-European Union which owes so much to
Count Coudenhove-Kalergi and which commanded the services of the
famous French patriot and statesman, Aristide Briand.
There is also that immense body of doctrine
and procedure, which was brought into being amid high hopes after
the First World War, as the League of Nations.
The League of Nations did not fail because
of its principles or conceptions. It failed because these principles
were deserted by those States who had brought it into being. It
failed because the Governments of those days feared to face the
facts and act while time remained. This disaster must not be repeated.
There is, therefore, much knowledge and material with which to
build; and also bitter dear-bought experience.
I was very glad to read in the newspapers
two days ago that my friend President Truman had expressed his
interest and sympathy with this great design.
There is no reason why a regional organisation
of Europe should in any way conflict with the world organisation
of the United Nations. On the contrary, I believe that the larger
synthesis will only survive if it is founded upon coherent natural
groupings.
There is already a natural grouping in the
Western Hemisphere. We British have our own Commonwealth of Nations.
These do not weaken, on the contrary they strengthen, the world
organisation. They are in fact its main support.
And why should there not be a European group
which could give a sense of enlarged patriotism and common citizenship
to the distracted peoples of this turbulent and mighty continent
and why should it not take its rightful place with other great
groupings in shaping the destinies of men?
In order that this should be accomplished,
there must be an act of faith in which millions of families speaking
many languages must consciously take part.
We all know that the two world wars through
which we have passed arose out of the vain passion of a newly
united Germany to play the dominating part in the world.
In this last struggle crimes and massacres
have been committed for which there is no parallel since the invasions
of the Mongols in the fourteenth century and no equal at any time
in human history.
The guilty must be punished. Germany must
be deprived of the power to rearm and make another aggressive
war.
But when all this has been done, as it will
be done, as it is being done, there must be an end to retribution.
There must be what Mr Gladstone many years ago called 'a blessed
act of oblivion'.
We must all turn our backs upon the horrors
of the past. We must look to the future. We cannot afford to drag
forward across the years that are to come the hatreds and revenges
which have sprung from the injuries of the past.
If Europe is to be saved from infinite misery,
and indeed from final doom, there must be an act of faith in the
European family and an act of oblivion against all the crimes
and follies of the past.
Can the free peoples of Europe rise to the
height of these resolves of the soul and instincts of the spirit
of man?
If they can, the wrongs and injuries which
have been inflicted will have been washed away on all sides by
the miseries which have been endured.
Is there any need for further floods of
agony?
Is it the only lesson of history that mankind
is unteachable?
Let there be justice, mercy and freedom.
The peoples have only to will it, and all
will achieve their hearts' desire.
I am now going to say something that will
astonish you.
The first step in the re-creation of the
European family must be a partnership between France and Germany.
In this way only can France recover the
moral leadership of Europe.
There can be no revival of Europe without
a spiritually great France and a spiritually great Germany.
The structure of the United States of Europe,
if well and truly built, will be such as to make the material
strength of a single state less important. Small nations will
count as much as large ones and gain their honour by their contribution
to the common cause.
The ancient states and principalities of
Germany, freely joined together for mutual convenience in a federal
system, might each take their individual place among the United
States of Europe. I shall not try to make a detailed programme
for hundreds of millions of people who want to be happy and free,
prosperous and safe, who wish to enjoy the four freedoms of which
the great President Roosevelt spoke, and live in accordance with
the principles embodied in the Atlantic Charter. If this is their
wish, they have only to say so, and means can certainly be found,
and machinery erected, to carry that wish into full fruition.
But I must give you warning. Time may be
short.
At present there is a breathing-space. The
cannon have ceased firing. The fighting has stopped; but the dangers
have not stopped.
If we are to form the United States of Europe
or whatever name or form it may take, we must begin now.
In these present days we dwell strangely
and precariously under the shield and protection of the atomic
bomb. The atomic bomb is still only in the hands of a State and
nation which we know will never use it except in the cause of
right and freedom. But it may well be that in a few years this
awful agency of destruction will be widespread and the catastrophe
following from its use by several warring nations will not only
bring to an end all that we call civilisation, but may possibly
disintegrate the globe itself.
I must now sum up the propositions which
are before you.
Our constant aim must be to build and fortify
the strength of the United Nations Organisation.
Under and within that world concept, we
must re-create the European family in a regional structure called,
it may be, the United States of Europe.
The first step is to form a Council of Europe.
If at first all the States of Europe are
not willing or able to join the Union, we must nevertheless proceed
to assemble and combine those who will and those who can.
The salvation of the common people of every
race and of every land from war or servitude must be established
on solid foundations and must be guarded by the readiness of all
men and women to die rather than submit to tyranny.
In all this urgent work, France and Germany
must take the lead together.
Great Britain, the British Commonwealth
of Nations, mighty America, and I trust Soviet Russia - for then
indeed all would be well - must be the friends and sponsors of
the new Europe and must champion its right to live and shine.
