Afternoon Light: some memories of men and events

389 Pages·1967·13.106 MB·English

by  Sir Robert Menzies

W W W W K W W W
Thé Right Honourable
‘ SIR ROBERT GORDON MENZIES
K.T., C.H., Q.c., F.R.S.
i . I (PrimeMinisterofAustralia, 1939‐ 41and1949‐ 66)
Afternoon
SOME MEMORIES OF
MEN AND EVENTS
CASSELL - AUSTRALIA
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CASSELL AUSTRALIA LTD
210QueenStreet,Melbourne,Victoria
Sydney,London,Toronto
johannesburg,Auckland
© SirRobertMenzies1967
Firstpublished1967
RegisteredattheGeneralPostOfiice,Melbourne, 2'
fertransmissionbypostasabook
PrintedinGreatBritain
by EbenezerBaylisandSon,Limited
TheTrinityPress,Worcester,andLondon
F.567
for
FRANK GLADSTONE MENZIES, C.B.E.
Brother,counsellor, andfriend
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I amindebtedto Sir Arthur Goodhart for permissionto quotehis
publishedopiniononthevalidityofPresidentNasser’s‘nationalization’
decree; to Mrs Verwoerd, of South Africa, for permission to quote
from a correspondence I had with her late husband; to the Hon.
Winston Fieldfor permissionto useadocument hesent me,relating
to Rhodesian attendance of Prime Ministers' Conferences; to the
proprietors of Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack for permission to quote
fromanarticleI wrote for the Centenary Number;andto theDaily
ExpressandCummings for permissionto usethe cartoonreproduced
on page 211. \
I should also express my thanks to my secretary, Miss Hazel
Craig, C.B.E., for her helpin assembling material,and to her,Miss
Gladys Munro, and Mrs Eleanor Kett of the University of Virginia,
for their uncannyskillin thedecipheringof myhandwriting.
R.G.M.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I INTRODUCTORY
2 A PORTRAIT OF MY PARENTS
TWO CRUCIAL YEARS: 1939-41 13
62
CHURCHILL
THREE BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS 95
108
SIX AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTERS
132.
THREE AMERICAN PRESIDENTS
MY SUEz STORY I49
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE MODERN
186
COMMONWEALTH
230
5:10 THE CROWN IN THE COMMONWEALTH
II OUR RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA 259
281
312 THE REVIVAL OF LIBERALISM IN AUSTRALIA
13 TWO AUSTRALIAN EPISODES IN THE MATTER OF
PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE 297,
14 TWO GREAT AMERICANS 309
316
I5 A LAWYER LOOKS BACK
16 CRICKET‐ A DIVERSION 341
APPENDIX 361
INDEX 377
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTORY
THIS
ISNOTAHISTORY.Themanwho sets out towrite‘history’
essaysamostdifficulttask.If hewritesaboutthemoreremote
past he will inevitably find himself plundering treasures
gatheredby others, thoughhemayaddto them by hisownrecords
andmayilluminatethembyhisownreflections.Iamnotanhistorian;
myresourcesareinadequate,andmyinclinationlacking.
Asforcontemporaryhistory,I haveno greatfaithin it.Whatisthe
source material? All too frequently, in my experience, it consists of
newspapermaterial(almostallofwhichisslantedonewayoranother),
and does not stop short of the gossip column. History, asthe great
Frenchscepticoncewrote,is‘nothingbutareceivedfable’;thoughat
its best it can throw light on the past and therefore provide some
guidancefor the future.Butitsadequatewritingrequiresadegreeof
objective scholarship to which I can lay no claim. In spite of these
reservations,or perhapsbecauseof them,I think thatthoseof uswho
haveknownsomeof theactorsin theworlddrama,or whohavehad
even awalking-onpart in some of the acts of that drama, shouldif
possible set down our impressions, our ownfirst-handimpressions,for
the assistance of tomorrow’s historian. Added to the observation of
others,suchmemoirswillhelpthathistorianto seehishumanbeings
‘intheround’,andto formsomethinglikeabalancedjudgement on
greatevents. .
In alecture at the Smithsonian Institutionat Washington on 31
March1966,that brilliantandremarkableAmerican,DeanAcheson,
madeapointwhich weshall dowell to remember.Hewas dealing
withthecantphrase‘theverdictofhistory’(onwhichmanyprominent
menin public life reposeeither their hopes or their fears). He said:
‘Now averdict isthe product of ajury under the Anglo-American
legalsystem,itsunanimousopinion,anditsopinionuponthefacts.The
lawisgiventothejurybythejudge;butbothcomeoutintheverdictas
aratherscrambledegg.’Andthen,somepeople‘regardit [thejury] as
anexcellent methodofadministeringlawtemperedbyjustice.Butits
mostardentadmirer wouldhardlyadvocateit asanadequatewayof
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AFTERNOON LIGHT
establishingtruth, atleastastruthisconceivedbyaphysicalscientist.’ '
So,heargues that whenwetalk of the verdict of history, weare
talkingoftheverdictofhistorians.
Hisremarksserved to remindme,atleast,of this. I amalayman,
interestedin the reading of history. What are my ‘facts’ about past
people and events? For the most part, the works of the historians
using,toaperceptibleextent,theworksofearlierhistorians.Theymay,
by good fortune, perpetuate truth; they may equally perpetuate
error.Forif wecouldtraceit allbackfarenough,wewouldfindthat
such contemporary records aswere made and added to over the
centuries were asprone to prejudice or error of observation asany
twelveobserversof amotorcollisionin ourtimewillbeprone.In my
experience,atleastsix different Versionswillemerge. Whichversion
thejury has accepted no one will ever know, perhaps not even the
membersof thejury which,in these days ofcompulsory third‐ party ‘
insurance,usuallydecidesfortheplaintiifanyway!
Theverdicts of the futurejury of historiansontheeventsoftoday
will,ofcourse,notbeunanimous,andwillbeevenmoresusceptibleto
error,since these historianswillnot havethe benefitof direct obser‑
vationandwilltherefore beobligedeither to select their witnesses at
willor to makeacompromise decisionlongafter the event. Andno
lawyereverbelievedthatacompromiseverdicthadmuchrelationtoa
preciseandauthoritativeascertainmentofthefacts.
Now you may well wonder where these observations are taking
me.Arewetodiscardhistory,eithernoworinthefuture?Notatall.
For myself, the great advantage of history is that its study tends to
giveoneasenseoftimeandthereforeofcontinuity.Wearenotbound
to acceptasgospeltruthallof the facts recorded;wewouldbevery
naivetodoso.KingAlfredandtheburntcakes;Bruceandthespider;
such anecdotes remain in our memories of our young reading, but
almostcertainly they were quiteuntrue.EvenKingCagute,whohas
beenreportedtohavesatbytheseaandorderedthewavestoretreat,is
popularlyregardedashavingbeenanignorantbooby,whereasIhave
never doubted that, if the event occurred at all, hewas aiming to
convincehissuperstitiouscourtiersnotofhisownfolly,butoftheirs.
Butthe sense of historicalcontinuity is,in any people,apowerful
instrument for the productionof sanity andresponsibility.If,in any
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INTRODUCTORY
generation, we believe that, to adapt the words of Omar Khayyam,
we camelikewater,andwillgo likethewind,thenwe shallhaveno
senseofresponsibility.Ourinstinctivemottowillbe:‘Eat,drink,and
bemerry, for tomorrow we die.’ Sothe scramble for individual
wealth and prosperity will go on, with all its accompaniments of
selfishness.TheshortView,the demandforimmediateandincreasing
personal benefits,will place great obstacles in the way of statesman‑
shipandthesteadymarchofcivilization.
ThearcherinIvanhoemayhavebeensomewhatrhetoricalwhenhe
said: ‘Mygrandsire drew astout bowatthe battleof Hastings,andI
trustnottodishonourhisname,’butheexpressedanunspokenattitude
whichIcouldclearlydiscernintheEnglandof1941. _
Winston Churchillwas himselfthe most eloquent embodiment of
that sense ofhistoricalcontinuity,andI willhavemuchto say about
himin the course of this book.Hisgreat wartime speeches arein no
sensederivative,but,allowingfordifferencesinthemodeofexpression,
arereminiscentof thoseof theYoungerPitt,confrontingtheNapole‑
onicthreattoEngland.
Twoyears ago,I was appointedby the Queento succeedWinston
ChurchillasLordWardenoftheCinquePortsandConstableofDover
Castle, and was installedatDover.In this ancient ofi‘ice, which goes
backto KingHaroldin 1066,andwhich, over thelasttwo centuries
has been occupied by such historic personages asWilliam Pitt, the
Duke of Wellington, Lord Palmerston, the Marquess of Salisbury,
Lord Curzon, Lord Reading, the Marquess of Willingdon, and
Churchillhimself,asenseof continuity isinevitable.You almost see
theprocessionof history.Youknowthatyouarein whathasbeenthe
‘invasion area’ of Englandfor centuries. Along the coast, there are
physicalproofs of this, from Henry VIII’s castles, built asfortresses,
through Pitt’s Martello towers, built to repel Napoleon, to the re‑
mains of morerecent gun-emplacements and searchlight posts,built
underChurchilltorepelHitler.It isthissenseofcontinuitywhichhas
helped to produce, in the Britishpeople,aconfidence in survival,a
quiet goodhumour,andacapacity for endurancewhichhavecarried
them through crisis after crisis,in the course of afrequently difficult
history.
I haveagreedwith my friendDeanAcheson about the phrase(the
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AFTERNOON LIGHT
verdict ofhistory,’ arelianceonwhich can serve only todistract the '
statesman’sattentionfromthesternneedfordecisionandaction.ButI
attachvast importanceto a‘senseof history’,aphrasewhichI useto
describe astate of mindwhich draws inspirationand light from the
recordedpast,notastateofmindwhichisanxioustoberegardedwell
intheun‐recordedfuture.
NowChurchillbothmadehistoryandrecordedit.Whatarelesser
people,whohavebeenclosetosomeoftheeventsofmodernhistory,
and played some small part in some of them, to do about it? The
answer isto befoundin what Mr Justice Frankfurter,of the United
StatesSupremeCourt,oncesaid:
Butif historybetheultimatejudgmentseat,aman’scontemporarieshavea
specialclaimtobeheardbeforeit.IthasbeenWiselysaidthatifthejudgmentof
thetimemustbecorrectedbythatofposterity,it isnolesstruethatthejudg‑
mentofposteritymustbecorrectedbythatofthetime.
For myself, I have no intention to betedious, or to attempt to be
definitive.WhatI willsetdownwillbeaseriesofvignettesofpeople
andevents asI knew them; notaccompaniedby amassof footnotes
anddocuments;notnecessarilyin continuouschronology;butevery‑
thingatfirst hand.Perhapssome day,anhistorianmay findin them
someassistance in histask of seeingpeopleclearly andunderstanding
thefacts moreaccurately.This isamodestenoughambition.If parts
of this book are somewhat autobiographicalit does not mean that I
amproducinganautobiography. Onthe contrary. This isabook of
personalmemories.It isnotanessay in self‐ justification;such things
arewearisome,andfrequentlydistortedby personalbias.And,in any
case, ‘history’,or the historians,will bemore interestedin many of
thepeopleofwhom I write than,I profoundlysuspect, they willbe
interestedinme.
Last, but not least, I want to make it clear that these are ‘some
memories’;by nomeansall.I haveomittedmanynotableeventsand
manypeoplerichlydeservingofrecord.Butoneshouldnotsetoutto
becomprehensivein ahurry.At my age,I mustdowhat I canwhen
I can. Some critic may properly call this book a‘patch‐work quilt’.
Andsoit is; butitscolours lightup the past for me,andI hopefor
you,anditssubstancewarmsmeastheafternoondrawson.
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