1968 Fredericton Encaenia
Smith, Arnold Cantwell
Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
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Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 1968
ARNOLD CANTWELL SMITH
to be Doctor of Laws
The Commonwealth, in which Canada has been a working leaven, is the largest family on earth, a family of twenty-two countries, seven hundred and thirty million people, one quarter of the human race. It is a family in which black, yellow, and brown outnumber white, ten to one. They share one widely understood language, one symbol in The Crown, and one philosophy -- consultation not conflict.
A momentous step towards their cohesion has been the establishment of a Commonwealth Secretariat. Envisaged by Nehru and the Prime Minister of Ceylon, it was a tentative step. The Secretariat was to be as informal as the Commonwealth. Its staff and functions, to quote the exquisitely vague guidelines, were "to expand pragmatically in the light of experience and as approved by member governments". But when it came to finding a Secretary, never did those cautious heads of governments move with greater alacrity or agreement, as when they chose Arnold Smith.
Outwardly, he was an impeccable candidate. A Canadian diplomat, he had been posted to Moscow, had learned Russian, and proved sufficiently persona grata to be permitted to visit Siberia. He had served in Cairo, Brussels, and at the U.N. He had been Canadian Commissioner in Cambodia, and ambassador to the United Arab Republic. In 1956 he had gone for two years to Canada House, London, when he won high commendation for his handling of Canada's stand on Suez, and his healing of Anglo-Egyptian relations. He seemed young enough to be malleable and Canadian enough to be neutral.
He has broken no rules, but he has surprised his electors by his positive interpretation of them. No "motionless mail-box" he is an "activist", with his own optimistic view of an undefined and impossible-looking task.
The back of that task was broken by his mere appointment. Like Mt. Everest, he was "there" -- there to listen, there to receive and soften grievances, there to offer himself in a score of trouble-spots as counsellor, mediator, and friend.
He quickly found trouble enough. Singapore and Rhodesia greeted him on the doorstep of Marlborough House; Nigeria is again on his lap. But he has won, as no other, the confidence of the Afro-Asians, and the London Press from the outset has hailed him as "Mr. Commonwealth".
A world pattern of civilized and civilizing processes, the commonwealth operates, in his words, in the realm of attitudes, values, motivation, and faith. Arnold Smith knows that these intangibles must be focussed on a terribly tangible problem: how our rich and industrialized Northern hemisphere can aid the poor and underdeveloped Southern. For that focussing he and his Secretariat are an indispensable and, let us all pray, an indestructible lens.
Mr. President, I give you "Mr. Commonwealth".
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
ARNOLD CANTWELL SMITH
to be Doctor of Laws
The Commonwealth, in which Canada has been a working leaven, is the largest family on earth, a family of twenty-two countries, seven hundred and thirty million people, one quarter of the human race. It is a family in which black, yellow, and brown outnumber white, ten to one. They share one widely understood language, one symbol in The Crown, and one philosophy -- consultation not conflict.
A momentous step towards their cohesion has been the establishment of a Commonwealth Secretariat. Envisaged by Nehru and the Prime Minister of Ceylon, it was a tentative step. The Secretariat was to be as informal as the Commonwealth. Its staff and functions, to quote the exquisitely vague guidelines, were "to expand pragmatically in the light of experience and as approved by member governments". But when it came to finding a Secretary, never did those cautious heads of governments move with greater alacrity or agreement, as when they chose Arnold Smith.
Outwardly, he was an impeccable candidate. A Canadian diplomat, he had been posted to Moscow, had learned Russian, and proved sufficiently persona grata to be permitted to visit Siberia. He had served in Cairo, Brussels, and at the U.N. He had been Canadian Commissioner in Cambodia, and ambassador to the United Arab Republic. In 1956 he had gone for two years to Canada House, London, when he won high commendation for his handling of Canada's stand on Suez, and his healing of Anglo-Egyptian relations. He seemed young enough to be malleable and Canadian enough to be neutral.
He has broken no rules, but he has surprised his electors by his positive interpretation of them. No "motionless mail-box" he is an "activist", with his own optimistic view of an undefined and impossible-looking task.
The back of that task was broken by his mere appointment. Like Mt. Everest, he was "there" -- there to listen, there to receive and soften grievances, there to offer himself in a score of trouble-spots as counsellor, mediator, and friend.
He quickly found trouble enough. Singapore and Rhodesia greeted him on the doorstep of Marlborough House; Nigeria is again on his lap. But he has won, as no other, the confidence of the Afro-Asians, and the London Press from the outset has hailed him as "Mr. Commonwealth".
A world pattern of civilized and civilizing processes, the commonwealth operates, in his words, in the realm of attitudes, values, motivation, and faith. Arnold Smith knows that these intangibles must be focussed on a terribly tangible problem: how our rich and industrialized Northern hemisphere can aid the poor and underdeveloped Southern. For that focussing he and his Secretariat are an indispensable and, let us all pray, an indestructible lens.
Mr. President, I give you "Mr. Commonwealth".
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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