POWELLITE TRIUMPH
and a case of double indebtedness
There is nothing repugnant in the Im- migration Bill, and it is consequently to be welcomed as a tidying-up piece of legislation, as a further instance of the Gov- ernment's desire to redeem its election pledges, and as a political demonstration to allay any widespread anxiety there may be that further excessive immigration of coloured people from the Commonwealth might again be permitted. Although it has been clear for some time that neither a Labour nor a Conservative government would, in practice, permit immigration of this nature, there is no harm in legislating to such purpose. The Bill should provide some comfort for those groups of people who have most to fear from further im- migration: that is, the coloured immi- grants already here, and the native whites who have felt their welfare to be threat- ened by them. The interests of both these groups have been conspicuously ignored by those who profess to find the principles of controlled and selective immigration most offensive.
The Bill does not appear in any way to detract from what must remain the overriding principle, that people here are equal in the eyes of the law. To admit new immigrants for specified purposes and periods and places is in no way to con- travene this principle, provided each new immigrant is made aware of the conditions of his entry. No one who has applied to enter a foreign country as tourist, visitor or temporary resident feels himself .to be unreasonably singled out, or discriminated against, or legally impaired, because of the terms a foreign country chooses to impose upon his entry. In the ideal world of some people's day-dreamings, there would be no frontiers and men would intermingle either uncon- scious of or rejoicing in (it is not always made clear which) each other's pigmentary distinctions, and differences of tongues, dress, manners and customs. But in the world we've got, the arrangements are in the hands of nation-states; and although the public is entitled to expect that legis- lators should be resolute to protect liber- ties and uphold and preserve the dignity and decency of laws, it is also entitled to expect that they do not turn the country into a charitable institution against the will of its majority. This country lies under no obligation (except in the particular case of the East African Asians, which obligation the Labour government legis- latively disowned) to admit any immigrants whatever. This country through its Par- liament and government is as entitled to choose *horn it prefers to admit and whom it prefers to exclude as any other nation-state. And in particular, if the choice is to admit those who seem to most people here to be of their own kind because their grandparents were born here and because they are white and think of this country as their home, and if the choice is to exclude those who do not seem to be of this kind, then that is this country's business and there is no reason why it should not thus choose. We need neither apologise for, nor explain, such choices. No country keeps open house with open doors.
The Bill may be regarded—and it is to be hoped it will become generally so re- garded—as a great triumph and a great vindication for Mr Enoch Powell. We hope that he, and everyone else, will come to regard it as a culmination, and as an end, and not a further step in a march which is yet to be finished. The Bill provides an ex- cellent opportunity for the removal of the • racial and immigration situation from politics. We suggest that everyone seize that opportunity, not excluding Mr Powell. He was not the first senior British politician to take note of the situation developing in certain of our industrial towns as a result of great local concentrations of coloured immigrants, but he was the first to grasp the nettle firmly enough, and, by articulat- ing the fears of those who felt their welfare to be threatened by such immigration, is more than any other man responsible for the present legislation. The country owes him a considerable debt of gratitude. Had he kept silent, the situation would have un- doubtedly deteriorated. There is nothing shameful when English- men Jiving in the decaying centres of ugly cities Come to fear that excessive local concentrations of immigrants—through no one's fault—may further reduce their localities' already low standard of housing, of employment and of education. Nor is there anything shameful in giving political expression to those fears. Despite the way a great number of people who ought to know better write and talk, Mr Powell was not responsible for creating the 'colour problem', or for exacerbating local pre- judices and hostilities. The racial question is not his invention. Had there been no problem, no prejudices and no hostility, had there been no question of race, all his rhetoric would have been airy and mis- chievous nonsense. It was because the problem was there already, it was because the situation in these particular decaying town centres was deteriorating, which made. his speeches so powerful, and his views so influential that it became poli- tically impossible for the Labour govern- ment, for the Conservative opposition, and now for the Conservative government, to ignore them.
Those who feel guilty at what they are doing, or at what is being done in their name, attack Mr Powell in language far less temperate than that which he em- ploys. Governments do what he suggests they should do, and blame him for it. Successive governments, and the public at large, are consequently doubly indebted to him : for he has not only greatly ameli- orated the situation by persuading gov- ernments to act in time, but he has also become a receptacle into which all feelings of guilt may be discharged. A double in- debtedness of this nature may continue to ensure Mr Powell's exclusion from office: but at least he is entitled to reflect that out of office he is likely to continue to bring about a good deal more political change than most men in office are ever going to achieve. This may. admittedly, be small consolation for an ambitious politician; but in the business of politics there is not much justice, and even less charity.
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