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Will theCommonwealth
Survivethe Seventies?
Britain is facing one
of
the
most
serious crises since the
war years. The
Common–
wealth is in trouble. Read
this firsthand report
on
the
recent Commonwealth
Con–
ference that almost toppled
the British Commonwealth
of
Nations .
by
Raymond F. McNair
Singapore
I
N JANUARY
1971, thc cightecnth
Commonwealth Conferencc was
held in the tiny city-nation of
Singapore!
The Cornmonwealth leadcrs collided
head-oo over the British arms-to-South–
Africa issue. Disaster was postponed by
a last-minute heated compromisc bctwccn
Britaio and Commonwcalth membcrs.
The British Lion Dead?
Singapore, meaning "City of Lions,"
was, in a way, well suited as a meeting
place for the leaders of thc British–
reared Commonwealth fami ly of nations.
For Singapore and all the Com-
monwealth member nations were once
part of the proud British Empire -
often symbolized by the Brítish Lion.
And in the leonine days of the Empire,
its growl could
be
heard all the way
from London to Singapore - and
around the world!
Britain then ruled the largest, most
prosperous empire ever
to
exist. In the
words of
The Times
of London: "the
mightiest and most benelicial Empire
cvcr known in the annals of mankind."
Historians still scratch their heads in
amazement at the remarkable circum–
stances which led Britain - very reluc–
tantly at times - into the acquisition of