2110-7-11-6

[image: embossed seal 'Office of the Prime Minister, Canada']

Ottawa, July 18, 1936

The Right Honourable The Lord Tweedsmuir, G.C.M.G., C.H., Governor General of Canada, The Citadel, Quebec, P. Q.

My dear J.B.

I return herewith the rough draft which was enclosed with your letter of the 15th instant.

I would suggest, for lines six to twelve inclusive, something like the following:

"She welcomes you not less as the head of a country to whose people she is bound by ties of kinship and tradition; a country whose problems she shares, and whose future deeply concerns her own. As a North American nation, we have much in common with you. Yet our countries have their distinctive characteristics. Our differences understood and respected are, however, not less than our similarities, a firm foundation for friendship and co-operation."

You will see what I have in mind:

Re: substitution of the word "head" for "ruler". I question if the American people would like the word "ruler" to be used.

Re: substitution of "kinship " for "blood". I imagine that the latter term would be preferable in a speech to be delivered in Quebec.

Re: substitution ot "deeply concerns" for "closely linked to" in reference to the future. I tear the possibility of ''closely linked to" being deliberately misinterpreted by those who might wish to make trouble . They would seek to have the phrase construed as meaning ultimate annexation.

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Re: omitting the words "and our destiny is inseparable from yours". I should greatly fear any refernce to "destiny" being misconstrued in the manner just indicated.

Re: substitution of "distinctive chacteristics" for "very unlike." The meaning would, I believe, be a little less liable to be misunderstood.

The second paragraph appears to me to be all right as it stands. You might think it well, however, to substitute, in line six, "so large a part" for "a third of", before the words "the habitable globe". I would also suggest the substitution of the words "political or other" for the word "formal", before the word "Alliance", in the fourth line from the end, or the omission of the word "formal" altogether. Its inclusion might be taken to imply that, while a formal alliance was not thought desirable, something in the nature of a tacit alliance might be intended.

I realize that what I am suggesting may appear to be hypercritical. I agree, however, that in this particular utterance it would be unwise to risk, where possible to avoid it, a single word being misunderstood, to say nothing of being misinterpreted.

I am delighted with the result of your examination at Montreal. I hope the regime suggested will not prove irksome to follow, and that its results will prove immediately and permanently beneficial.

I am much looking forward to the pleaaure of seeing you again within the next fortnight.

Yours very sincerely, W. Mackenzie King