I accept with gratitude the high honor of the Doctorate of Queen’s University, as one of the happy consequences of my service as Allied Commander-in-Chief. It was my privilege to bear responsibility to the fighting men and citizens of free countries, united in a single cause, and each of them will always share whatever can come to me in commendation.

In this award, there is the implication of your conviction that there was worked out, in war, a method of combined leadership and of cooperation that enabled millions of fighting men of different nationalities to pursue, effectively and surely, a common objective. I trust that this award symbolizes, also, your faith that it should always be possible for free nations to find an acceptable solution to a common problem.

Details of organization of the forces of the United Nations for the prosecution of this war would not necessarily be applicable to like efforts for coordinated action in peace. But that experiment owed its success to something deeper than details. From common danger we learned lessons of cooperation, of forbearance and accommodation, of sacrifices of immediate advantage, of subordination of selfish interest to the general good. We have thought and acted on a global scale. Together we have risked dangers, improving the prospects of success by a flexible handling of our united resources, human and material. We have learned to confer and plan together, candidly and with a confidence that increased with direct contact and growth of personal friendships. These were the fundamentals of victory.

All this was born of a realization that the free peoples of the world had come to such a pass that only by unprecedented success in unifying their efforts could they find deliverance. The victory demonstrated that inexhaustible resources of faith and decency and character, can, regardless of diversity of race or nationality, generate a mighty power in combating evil. It has proved, once again, that men will not forever permit hate, perfidy, cynicism and perverted thinking to dominate the world. Throughout this long war there have been men and nations - and herein the British people have particular reason for pride - who never, in the darkest hours, lost faith in their cause or despaired of final victory.

And yet it was too near a thing. It was a risk we dare not run again. The mechanical power of destruction has now become so fearfully devastating that, I repeat, we must see that a similar menace does not rise again. We must now enlist the same energy and singleness of purpose in developing the institutions of peace which in the time of our necessity we devoted to the prosecution of war.

But the peace-time task presents certain difficulties far greater than those of war. The danger, in war, is immediate and the need of sacrifice unquestioned. The end achieved is clearly defined, since the purpose of military leadership is the destruction of the enemy's forces. Unity in action is eagerly sought.

Now, with the threat of utter disaster removed, courageous action, at first glance, seems less imperative. The pursuit of selfish aims seems less culpable. Men of narrow vision appeal to prejudice and peace loving men are tempted to temporize. The methods of coordination which should guide the ordering of a world of peace are more difficult to define than are those of purely military command. Yet we cannot doubt that the basic principles of united action which guided us through the war may be turned to the realization and preservation of the peace. It is a challenge and an imperative need. The opportunity has been purchased at an enormous price.

To this great task educational institutions have their own peculiar contribution to make. It is not possible for most men to know other nations at first hand, and in so doing rid themselves of the suspicions and doubts which we almost instinctively reflect in our contacts with strangers. But institutions of learning everywhere can interpret and diffuse an awareness of the history, culture, problems and characteristics of other lands. We confidently look to the universities, with their traditions of fresh, unconventional, creative thinking to lead in this particular effort, so important to the steady growth of a peaceful society of nations. Universities can go much farther, because they are free to make every kind of imaginative effort to anticipate and suggest solutions to those maladjustments which often serve to give a semblance of righteousness to a breach of the peace.

The substance of peace is a universal appreciation of human values. No other agency of civilization has more glowing opportunity to inculcate and spread this appreciation than has the university. Almost it seems that civilization itself and the freedom of men are in the balance - in the long run both depend upon breadth of understanding, the priceless product of true education. It is not too much to say that the world’s universities have an unequalled responsibility toward future human welfare and unequalled opportunity to enrich it.

My Lord Chancellor, may I assure you again that I am proud you have today associated my name permanently with this great university.