.JOURNAL OFTIIE CHURCHILL CKNTER AND ... - Winston Churchill

vides incentives for effort, enterprise,self-denial, initiative, and good housekeeping.We cannot uphold die principlethat die rewards of society must beequal for those who try and for thosewho shirk, for those who succeed andfor those who fail...."Within a year—perhaps muchsooner—the British nation will havehad to make one of the most momentouschoices in its history. The choice isbetween two ways of life: between individualliberty and State domination;between concentration of ownership indie hands of the State and the extensionof ownership over the widest number ofindividuals; between the dead hand ofmonopoly and the stimulus of competition;between a policy of increasingrestraint and a policy of liberating energyand ingenuity; between a policy oflevelling down and a policy of opportunityfor all to rise upwards from a basicstandard."In August, Churchill attended thefirst meeting of the Council of Europein Strasbourg, where he delivered aspeech in French and, according toHarold Macmillan, "with a better accentthan usual." Robert Rhodes Jamesreported diat Churchill's opening words,"Take heed! I am going to speak inFrench," were received by the crowd"with thunderous cheers and applause."In the speech, Churchill attempted toharmonize European nationalism withan overriding European unity:"We are reunited here, in this newAssembly, not as representatives of ourseveral countries or various political parties,but as Europeans forging ahead,hand in hand, and if necessary elbow toelbow, to restore the former glories ofEurope and to permit this illustriouscontinent to take its place once more, ina world organization, as an independentmember sufficient unto itself."That primary and sacred loyaltythat one owes to one's own country isnot difficult to reconcile with this largerfeeling of European fellowship. On thecontrary, we will establish that all legitimateinterests are in harmony and thateach one of us will best serve the realinterests and security of his country ifwe enlarge at the same time both oursentiment of citizenship and of commonsovereignty—if we include in thissentiment the entire continent of Statesand of nations who have the same wayof life."After Strasbourg, Churchill continuedhis holiday, staying with LordBeaverbrook at his villa near MonteCarlo. While there, he suffered a slightstroke which was not reported publiclyat the time. (See "Churchill's Dagger,"FH 87.) By the end of August,Churchill had recovered sufficiendy toreturn to England, where he attendedthe races at Epsom to see his new racehorse,Colonist II.Fifty years ago:Summer 1974Take Heed!While the controversial GrahamSutherland portrait of Sir Winston,presented to him by Parliament in1954, remained unavailable for viewinga previously unknown sketch for theportrait was discovered on the back ofanother Sutherland canvas, "Paraphraseof Figure with Key in Rembrandt'sNight Watch," painted in 1953. It wasdiscovered when the owner of the Rembrandtstudy sent it to be cleaned. Thislaunched a fresh round of speculation asto the fate of the original which, as wenow know, Lady Churchill had determinedwould never see the light of day.CSC had no comment.Winning her approval, by contrast,were two excellent small statues ofSir Winston. One, revealed by LordMountbatten in September, was a 20-inch-high replica of the Ivor Roberts-Jones memorial statue in ParliamentSquare, offered in limited edition at£594 each to commemorate theChurchill Centenary.A second,by German-bornsculptress KarinChurchill (norelation), depictedWSCaged 80 in hisGarter Robesand sold for£250. The generousMrs.Churchill, alongtime memberof ICS, presentedone ofher bronze statuesto Blenheim Palace, another to theCentenary Exhibition at SomersetHouse, and a third to Lady Churchill,who was delighted with it. Unlike manymodern effigies, Karin Churchill's workwas very lifelike. "The trend nowadaysis to be almost abstract," she told theOxford Journal. "The person becomesunrecognisable, and I think people whoreally like Churchill would like somethingreally like him."&FINEST HOUR 103/17