Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir Walter Raleigh was a remarkable man, and I am glad that I have at least two things in common with him. He was a Member of Parliament; and he was also a chemist who went on to do other things. I hope the analogy stops there, since he finished his life in the Tower of London.
We have of course much to thank Sir Walter Raleigh for. He introduced us to potatoes and tobacco; sadly, many of us have to force ourselves to give up one or the other, during our lives. But there could be no denying their contribution to our modern way of life, and in the case of one, to the Exchequer.
We also have Raleigh to thank for something infinitely more precious. We have to thank him for the foundation of our close relationship with the United States of America. Exactly 400years ago, in 1584, helped to found the first English-speaking settlement on the North American continent.
For Sir Walter Raleigh and his companions, America was a land of new beginnings, of challenge and opportunity. It has remained so for 400 years. In that time, people from many countries have followed in Raleigh 's footsteps. Some have sought, and found, an escape from tyranny. Others, like Raleigh himself, have sought adventure and the chance to make their fortune. To them all, the United States has extended a warm and generous welcome—a welcome vividly caught by words inscribed on the Statute of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door!”
The United States is still a land of liberty. Its constitution is the written symbol of freedom. Together in the Western Alliance we defend this most precious heritage.
Sir Walter Raleigh also exemplified so much that is best in our own national character. He personified the first Elizabethan age and expansion. He was a ‘doer’: hungry for challenge, who needed— [end p1] as we all need—a sense of achievement and of pride in a job well done. These Islands were not large enough to contain his exploring spirit. He sought, and found, a new world. And in doing so he and his compatriots laid the foundations for our development as a great maritime power—outward looking, a nation of merchant venturers, building our influence and prosperity on international trade.
The enormous enthusiasm that we have seen today for Operation Raleigh proves, if proof were needed, that the spirit of Sir Walter Raleigh lives on. Young people today still search for challenge and commitment. Curious about their world, about its past and its present; concerned about the future and eager to shape it.
We pay tribute today to those who have organised Operation Raleigh, to those who have sponsored it, to those who will lead it, and above all to those four thousand young people who will take part. Whether searching for a lost city in the Honduras, or building a hurricane shelter in the Solomon Islands, or conducting scientific experiments in Chile, they will have adventure in plenty. They'll be fortunate; they will make friends with people from different backgrounds from many parts of the world; and they will have the chance to work with some of the greatest scientists and explorers of our age.
What a marvellous opportunity. The very stuff of adventure and leadership. And they will come back better equipped not only to lead but to serve their own communities.
Mr. Chairman, we thank you and we wish them, and the whole of Operation Raleigh, Godspeed.
Now may I ask you to rise and drink a toast to all who will take part but especially to the young people from all Nations.