1. My first duty is a very pleasant one. It is to join many speakers in extending my congratulations to our new President, Mr. Maza. The United Kingdom delegation welcomes you, Mr. President, with particular warmth, for two reasons. First, because the country you represent is one with which the United Kingdom has had a long and sincere friendship and many ties, political, economic and cultural. We welcome you also, Mr. President, for yourself and for the high qualities which you bring to your important office.
2. I should like also to express my pleasure at meeting again many colleagues, both old and new. Most of the speakers here are, of course, practised hands. Like old parliamentary figures in our different countries, the orators here have acquired by long experience the difficult art of addressing the General Assembly. This is the first time that I have spoken to the General Assembly at a business meeting, and I therefore claim the indulgence which is customarily shown in our Parliaments on such occasions.
3. Sir Anthony Eden, in his first address to the General Assembly, after his return to office in 1951, drew a broad but on the whole depressing picture of the state of the world. He used these words: “... we can none of us pretend that in the interval” — that is, since the foundation of the United Nations at San Francisco — “the world has made any notable progress towards unity, toleration and enduring peace” [339th meeting, para. 30], That was certainly a sombre but true reflection.
4. I read the other day in some book or other some words which stuck in my mind. This is how they ran: “In this world men must be dealt with according to what they are and not to what they ought to be; and the great art of life is to find out what they are and act with them accordingly.” This is profoundly true of individuals; it is equally true of world problems and issues.
5. In these days of mass communications and rapid transit, where none of us ever stays put for more than a moment or two, it is not easy to form these calm judgements — certainly not so easy as it was in less restless times.
6. Sir Anthony Eden went on to say that he thought that, the first method of approach to this position of apparent stagnation was to deal with limited and definite problems one by one, to try to reach a practical solution of first one and then another of the threatening conditions and difficulties in this or that part of the world — in other words, to make a series of outflanking manoeuvres rather than a frontal attack upon the massive and almost monolithic character of the world’s stalemate.
7. Looking back over these four years, I think we have the right to say that this approach has not been unsuccessful. It is certainly one which Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom has followed loyally. Whether we look east or west, there has obviously been an improvement: nobody can deny that. Both in Korea and in Indochina, fighting has stopped. Even in the problems surrounding China and the narrow seas, there has been a marked relaxation of tension. In the West, the complete deadlock over the Austrian Treaty has been happily resolved. The problem of Trieste has been settled by mutual agreement. In Western Germany, a new and free democratic State has entered into its manhood and become a free partner of the countries of Western Europe, In the Middle East, some of the baffling difficulties which faced the British Government four years ago have been overcome. A new treaty has been negotiated between the United Kingdom and Egypt, to the mutual satisfaction of both. The question of Iranian oil has been resolved by a fair and honourable agreement equally beneficial to both parties.
8. And if there are still some outstanding problems of this character, we should hope to reach their solution by the same combination of patience and skilful diplomacy. The question of Cyprus, for example, intractable as it may seem today, is no more dangerous and difficult than many questions which have been settled. We shall press forward, calmly but firmly, with constitutional development in Cyprus, and although sole responsibility lies, of course, upon the United Kingdom Government, we shall continue our search for common ground with our friends and allies, Greece and Turkey.
9. Important though these problems are, the overruling issue of our time is the great gulf which unhappily divides the world. But before I go on to speak of this basic problem, there are one or two matters to which I should like briefly to refer, if only to emphasize how much they are in the thoughts of the British Government.
10. Fortunately, we are not wholly taken up in the United Nations with problems of strife and conflict. There is a more attractive side of our work, and perhaps a more productive one- — that is, not merely to concentrate on how to avoid war, but to give our attention to the question of how to make peace more fruitful.
11. Since this Assembly last met, we have seen encouraging developments toward international cooperation on atomic energy. The resolution [810 (IX)] which the British Government, joined with other Governments in sponsoring, and which was adopted unanimously by the Assembly on 4 December of last year [503rd meeting], recommended that international cooperation in developing the peaceful uses of atomic energy should be encouraged through the international conference of scientists and the establishment of an International Atomic Energy Agency.
12. The International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy held last August in Geneva was an outstanding success. It brought together scientists of more than seventy countries. I am sure it will prove to be a momentous step toward the establishment of a new spirit of co-operation among the pioneers of atomic science everywhere.
13. At the same time, work on the International Atomic Energy Agency has also gone forward satisfactorily, and I can assure you that the United Kingdom will continue to give the Agency its full support. Work in this field has had a by-product of a rather remarkable kind; it has led to a useful discovery, and it is this: many of what were considered closely guarded secrets were in fact found to be common knowledge to all competent scientists.
14. This unexpected — if somewhat bizarre — development has done much to dissipate the atmosphere of secrecy and suspicion which has hitherto veiled the unfolding of the most important discovery of our time. All this brings into startling relief the great paradox of the age. Wrongly used, atomic power may destroy the world; rightly used, it may open a new age of undreamed of prosperity.
15. On other fronts also the United. Nations has had a good year. Our commemorative meeting at San Francisco showed, I believe, that there is a wide-spread and genuine desire to make the United Nations work as it should work. It was, for all who were privileged to. take part in it, an inspiring occasion.
16. At the last session of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General was asked [resolution 906 (IX)] on 10 December 1955, to seek the release of the United Nations airmen. It was with a sense of profound gratitude and relief that we saw his labours rewarded this summer.
17. I should like also to pay a tribute to the helpful efforts of the Indian Government.
18. Through the tireless and courageous efforts of General Bums, backed by the Secretary-General and the Security Council, the United Nations has continued, despite serious incidents, to restore and maintain peace on the borders of Israel. It is clearly the duty of the United Nations to moderate and allay the animosities between Israel and its Arab neighbours. In this difficult issue the duty of men of goodwill is to try to develop the necessary confidence on both sides for an ultimate settlement to be reached. A heavy responsibility will lie on any country which introduces a new or disturbing factor into this delicate situation.
19. Meanwhile, the economic and social work of the United Nations has made steady progress. No veto could stop this; no policy of non-participation could hold it up; no suspicion or conflict could delay it.
20. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Bank) has become an established institution, with growing authority, in the financial centres of the world. The new International Finance Corporation will now supplement its work.
21. The new United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance, only in its infancy four years ago, is an outstanding- example of international cooperation for giving valuable technical help to those countries which need it most.
22. Perhaps the part of the United Nations work which most strikes the ordinary imagination is that of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). This brings its beneficent and humane assistance wherever children are in need or suffer, in all the four quarters of the globe.
23. Nor should be forgot the continued efforts of the United Nations on behalf of refugees wherever they may be. This is a great humanitarian appeal to which the United Nations has always responded.
24. Then there is another part of our work, the International Labour Organisation, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. We are glad that these have now been joined by the Soviet Union.
25. I must now turn to some internal questions; regarding the structure and organization of the United Nations. The first of these is the Charter. We have this year to consider whether to hold a Charter review conference, and I have no doubt that the Assembly will think it wise that at some appropriate time the Charter should be reviewed in the light of the experience which we have gained.
26. This must be done in a spirit of harmony and, if possible, in a time of calm. Otherwise it may generate discord rather than agreement on any improvements which may be needed. It may be that the time has not yet come to review the Charter, and yet I do not really believe that it is any improvement in the Charter, however useful that may be, which is required to enable the United Nations to play its full part.
27. Then there is a second question. As Mr. Dulles suggested in this hall [518th meeting] a week ago, we must make another effort to broaden our membership, For too long now many nations, great and small, have been excluded from our company. Nations whose right to membership no one can seriously challenge ought now to be in our ranks. Nevertheless, these have become the victims of the promotion of less substantial claims. Nor is it right that the question of membership should be treated as one of the pawns in the great diplomatic game.
28. Thirdly comes the question of the representation of China. The British Government’s position has already been made clear to the Assembly. We do not believe that the time has yet come to take up this problem. Nevertheless it must be settled before fully peaceful relations can be established in the Far East But, as so. often in human affairs, it is not only the question of what ought to be done but the question of when it ought to be done.
29. Before I pass to some reflections upon how the great gulf between the Communist and non-Communist countries may be bridged, I should like to say a word about what seem to me to be valuable elements of cohesion in a rather confused scene.
30. There has been no more marked feature of the post-war world than the emergence of the countries of Asia into full nationhood. Happily, in no part of the world are new ideas of democratic institutions developing more rapidly. Naturally, there are difficulties and even stresses. That is not to be wondered at. But, after all, these are growing pains, signs not of decay but of a new vigour.
31. No peoples have a greater desire for or a greater interest in peace. Peace is the essential condition of their progress. In the. long association between the United Kingdom and many countries of Asia it has always been the British purpose to foster their development and to promote their freedom. Now that we can judge history a little more objectively, I like to feel that the honourable performance of this task has begun to win wide recognition. In this connexion I was much moved by the words which fell from Mr. Casey, the Australian Foreign Minister, a few days ago [520th meeting]. The Commonwealth is indeed a striking example of peaceful and fruitful co-operation between peoples of different race, tradition and creed.
32. I must now turn to the prospect of the third Geneva Conference to which humble people all over the world are looking with hope.
33. We who have a special responsibility, the Foreign Ministers of the four Powers who will assemble there realize that it would be wrong to expect spectacular results. We must hope for a gradual growth of understanding of each other’s point of view, and with that understanding, a reaching of practical agreements in which the new spirit can be embodied.
34. It is my experience, whether in matters of, private or public affairs, that it is not at all difficult to make agreements if both sides want to make them. The difficulty is not in writing the terms of these agreements. Any good international lawyer can do that for you. The difficulty is to get both sides to mean the same thing. Indeed, one of the main and besetting troubles of the post-war world is that we do not even mean the same thing by the same words.
35. What I think we gain by close and intimate meeting is that we may perhaps begin to speak the same language.
36. The directive given to the Foreign Ministers covers three points. The first is the reunification of Germany within the framework of European security.
37. Our progress on this vital issue depends really on the answer to a very simple question: Why does the Soviet Government object to the re-establishment of a reunited Germany under a system of free elections? That is the question. I can well understand that after the war and the terrible injuries inflicted upon the USSR by the Nazi armies, Soviet policy should prudently wish to protect itself with a kind of glacis of intervening territory. I readily understand their determination that never again should the soil of Holy Russia be defiled by an invader. These are respectable and understandable motives. But if this is the only difficulty, I am satisfied that the Western Powers^ can devise a scheme to meet these legitimate preoccupations.
38. We are confident that we can produce the plan which the whole world will regard as giving the USSR hill protection against any threat which might come from a reunited Germany, which has chosen, as well it may do, to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
39. This really is the purpose of the various security proposals upon which we are working.
40. This is the purpose too of Prime Minister Eden’s additional proposal to strengthen any pact, which is after all a matter of words, by thinning out the military dispositions, which is a question of deeds.
41. If our proposals are insufficient, then we would be glad, we would welcome the opportunity of considering amendments or additions. Our proposals are put forward with a sincere purpose.
42. And if, in one form or another, the Soviet Government is able to accept this system of security, then the Gordian knot will have been cut and the Geneva spirit will have been proved to be something real indeed.
43. Then if we can only, reach agreement upon this first point, how different will be the prospect of approaching the second, the problem of disarmament. In this field it would be ungenerous not to recognize the very substantial progress which has been made under the aegis of the United Nations since we met last year. The work which has been carried on by the Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission has brought a new and realistic approach to what has formerly been, I am afraid, largely an academic or even a propaganda exercise. In June 1954 the Anglo-French plan was put forward and universally accepted by world public opinion as a valuable contribution. After only a year’s thought, the Soviet Government advanced proposals which reproduced many of its features. I do not complain of this delay, but I cannot help being slightly amused at the attitude towards the Anglo-French proposals which has recently been' developed by the Soviet Union.
44. The casual reader of Mr. Molotov’s draft resolution, which he introduced [520th meeting] at the end of a most moderate and balanced speech, would have thought that the Soviet proposals of 10 May and 21 July of this year [A/2979] represented some novel and revolutionary-initiative. However, it is satisfactory to feel that in this, as in so many other matters, they are now following in the footsteps of the bourgeois States.
45. I should like, nevertheless, to take the opportunity of saying how much we were encouraged by the general tone of Mr. Molotov’s speech. It was certainly in language and in presentation in tune with the new decorum which is consistent with the Geneva spirit There was hardly a sentiment throughout his long and valuable contribution to which I would myself raise any disagreement. There is hardly a phrase to which we could take exception; Even the references to Soviet anxieties and grievances were clothed in conciliatory language. I will give some examples. “Aggressive blocs” have become “military groupings”. “War-mongers” has been softened into “Powers pursuing their own narrow ends” [520th meeting, para. 122].
46. But there is One statement to which I must take exception in justice to the Western Powers. He stated the argument that now the Soviet Union had accepted the maximum level of armed forces proposed by France, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Western countries no longer had a case for objecting to the immediate banning of atomic weapons. This really begs the whole question, and I think it would be quite easy to expose the logical fallacy of this argument, but it is not necessary for me to draw upon our own sources for this purpose. I need only quote the Soviet Government’s statement in their proposal of 10 May 1955 in which they issued this warning: “Thus there are possibilities beyond the reach of international control for evading this control and for organizing the clandestine manufacture of atomic and hydrogen weapons, even if there is a formal agreement on international control” [Af2979, annex I]. It is that problem indeed that we must somehow solve if we are to make the progress for which the whole world longs.
47. Meanwhile, we must take what comfort we can in the strange paradox that by the development of these terrible weapons we have reached some degree of security, since everyone now knows that in nuclear war there can be no victor.
48. The third point in the Geneva directive instructs the Foreign Ministers to find means of increasing contacts between East and West. Here is a field in which surely it should not be difficult to make progress. The more the people on one side get to know those on the other, the better it will be. Let us make use of every possible means: travel, trade and the interchange of ideas. At any rate, those who are really confident that their philosophy is the right one should not be alarmed at exposing it to the maximum amount of criticism and knowledge. In the long history of human thought, censorship has never been as effective a protection against false doctrine as sound argument. I am still convinced that for spiritual as well as bodily ills the open air cure is the best.
49. What then is the lesson of all this? Peace is not a passive state to be enjoyed. It is something that must be won by patience and perseverance. It cannot be imposed by one nation or group of nations upon another. But if we are to seek it, we must seek it sincerely. During the search for peace, nothing must be done or allowed to be done in any part of the world which tends to increase instead of reducing the existing tensions. Nor must we treat this supreme question as a subject for pique or jealousy.
50. All the organs and institutions of the world, regional or universal, must be brought into play. The work of the United Nations and the work upon which the four great Powers are now setting their hands must be thought of not as rival but as complementary. We must not be too much puffed up by temporary success. Neither must we be downcast by temporary setbacks. We must combine in this task realism and idealism; with our feet firmly planted on the ground, we must raise our eyes to the horizon.