The Prime Minister feels the necessity of bracing himself for the exceptional responsibilities which rest upon him and of concentrating his whole endeavours on their effective discharge. In these circumstances the duty fell to me of delivering a response to the kind words which have been said about his Majesty’s Government. I will offer only a few observations, about which I can safely say that they will not command universal agreement.
My first observation is how very lucky artists are. The guests on this occasion must realize that we are entertained by a class of the most fortunate mortals on the globe. All human beings may be divided exhaustively into two classes – those whose work is their toil and those whose work is their joy. Fancy painting all those delightful scenes and graceful forms, tracing the subtle curves of beauty and marking justly where the flash of light falls among the shadow, and doing all that, not as an amusement, but as a solid profession – as a means of earning one’s daily bread and paying one’s income tax. Fancy at the same time being able to establish a claim on the admiration of contemporaries, and having, in addition, a chance, all the more fascinating because it is unknowable, of building up an enduring posthumous fame. It sounds almost too good to be true. Looking around these walls we see reflected from them hours of pleasure, hours of intense creative enjoyment, bottled sunshine, captured inspiration, perennial delight. We have been told that Faust sold his soul for the right to command the moment to remain. Our hosts enjoy in complete security, and without the slightest prejudice to their future destination, the power to command the moment to remain, not only for their own advantage and reputation, but for the pleasure of everyone else.
It has been the custom on these occasions most frequently to compare art and politics, to draw distinctions between them and lay stress on the points they have in common. There is a great field of discussion in comparing art and action or painting and politics. I would be prepared to say that all forms of art and action are in principle the same – I say ‘in principle’ because it is a valuable phrase – but, making allowance for differences of time, circumstances, technique, and so on, all forms of action and art really require at their critical moments the same kind of decisions. If you were building a bridge, planning a house, or making an argument in a book or speech, or framing a Budget, or the programme of a party, or the policy of a nation, or planning a battle on sea or land, you would come across the same sort of decisions and complex propositions requiring flair and judgment as are always presented in the course of painting any large or serious picture.
But in comparing art and politics one may notice particularly their resemblance in the fact that the three dominant elements of each are common to both – colour, proportion, and design. Colour is the most popular – I admire it very much indeed in painting. I am not entirely averse to it in politics. I rejoice infinitely to see the swift advance of English painters into the full assertion of the force and charm of colour. Still, I must admit that colour ranks far above proportion and design both in painting and politics. It is curious that the sad and crude ages of politics in every country have been those in which people had not been able to express their differences from one another by reasoned argument or scientific or logical principles – they had to choose crude colours – more primary colours – red, black, white, green, blue or true blue. It certainly implies a descent in the level of political action. When colour runs mad, without the discipline of proportion and design and without the harmonies that follow from them, you may be certain, whether in the field of art or action, you are passing through a somewhat stagnant period.
There is one respect in which workers in the field of action have suffered in comparison with those in the field of art. Art is long and life is short; but art has not got any longer and life has not got any shorter in the past century. But in the sphere of action, the scale of events has been multiplied a hundred-fold, while no notable advance in the mental stature of man has yet been discerned by impartial observers. It is on those grounds I feel sympathy is extended to his Majesty’s Government, who are sincerely endeavouring, without respect to class or party, without fear, favour or affection, to carry our country through an extremely difficult period of recovery and recuperation forward on its path – are now trying to make the best arrangements which are possible for the present generation of British subjects to live their lives and realize the best that is in them, and make the finest use of the unequalled inheritance that they have received from their forefathers.