It is true that Mr. Duff Cooper in his -postscript
on Sunday night only claimed the r.,,,;ht to say on a single day in the year that " We are the greatest people on earth, and I am not at all sure that we are not the very greatest people that has been on the earth." Nothing would have been lost if it had not been said at all. The more it is true—and I have no desire to question it, though the meaning of " greatest " in such a context could be discussed at length—the less imperative it is to stress the fact. And there are certain nations, including at least one of our Allies, who are liable neither to accept such assertions as fact nor to think the better of us for giving them publicity ; to be, in short, rather irritated when they hear such pre- tensions put forward. It is a pity to irritate our friends without occasion.
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