Cabinet Meeting Conclusion on Constitutional Relationship Between India and UK

8/7/2019 Cabinet Meeting Conclusion on Constitutional Relationship Between India and UK

1/9

(c) crown copyright

Catalogue Reference:CAB/128/15 Image Reference:0029


2/9

- 109T H I S D O C U M E N T IS THE P R O P E R T Y Or HIS BRI TANNI C MAJ ES TY' S GOVERNMENT

Printed for the Cabinet. April 1949

S E C R E T C o p y No. 4 4C M . (49)29th Conclus ions

C A B I N E T 29 (49)

CONCLUSIONS of a Meeting of the Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street, S.W.1,on Wednesday, 27th April, 1949, at 9-45 a.m.

P r e s e n t :T h e R i g h t Hon. C. R. ATTLEE, M.P. , P r i m e M i n i s t e r (in the Chair).

T h e R i g h t Hon. HERBERT MORRISON, T h e R i g h t Hon. E R N E S T B E V I N , M.P.,M . P . , Lo r d P r e s id e n t of the Counci l . Secre tary of S ta t e for Fore ignAffa irs .Th e R ig h t Hon. Sir S TAFFORD CRI PPS , T h e R i g h t Hon. A. V . ALEXANDER,K . C . , M.P. , Chancel lor of the M . P . , M in i s t e r of Defence .Exchequer .

Th e R ig h t Hon. H U G H D A L T O N , M.P., T h e R i g h t Hon. VI S COUNT J OWI TT,Chancel lor of the D u c h y of . Lo rd Chancel lor .La n c a s t e r .Th e R ig h t Hon. J . CHUTER EDE , M.P , T h e R i g h t Hon. P. J . NOEL- BAKER,Secre ta ry of S t a t e for the H o m e M.P . , Sec re ta ry of S t a t e forD e p a r t m e n t . Commonwea l th Re la t ions .The Right Hon. A . WOODBURN, M.P., The Right Hon. G. A. ISAACS, M.P.,Secre ta ry of S ta t e for Scot land. M in i s t e r of La b o u r and N a t io n a lService.Th e R ig h t H o n . A N E U R I N B EV A N , M.P., The Right Hon. T. WILLIAMS, M.P.,M in i s t e r of H e a l t h . M in i s t e r of A g r i c u l tu r e andFishe r ie s .The Right Hon. J . H . WILSO N , M.P.,P r e s i d e n t of the B o a r d of T r a d e .

The fo l lowing were a l so p resen t :Th e R ig h t Hon. THE E A R L OF I The R i g h t Hon. Sir HARTLEY

LISTOWEL, Minister of State for SHAWCROSS, K.C., M.P., Attorney-Colonial Affairs . ! Genera l .Secretariat.

Sir NORMAN BROOK.Mr. A. JOHNSTON.Mr. S. E. V . L U K E .

36962-3 B


3/9

CABINET 29 (49)

CONTENTSMinuteNo. ' Subject

1 Commonw ealth Rela tionsConstitutional Developme nts in India.

2 Syria


4/9

CommonwealthRelations.ConstitutionalDeve l opm ent sin India; : 'C !^PreviousReference:-C M . (49) 17th5Conclusions,-Minute 2.)

1. The Prime Minister made a report to the Cabinet on thecourse of the discussions at the Meet ing of Commonwealth Pr imeMinis te rs which had been cons ider ing India ' s fu ture re la t ions wi ththe Comm onw ealth. T he discussions ha d shown th at there wa s ageneral desire to f ind an acceptable basis for India 's cont inuingassocia t ion w ith the Com mon wealth; but i t ha d not been easy tosec ure common agreem ent on the con st i tut iona l issues involved. Therep rese nta t ives of a ll the Comm onwealth Governm ents ha d in theend agreed to adopt the fol lowing declarat ion :

" T h e Governmen ts of t he Un i t ed Kingdom, Canada ,Au s t r a l i a , New Zea land , Sou th Af r i ca , I nd ia , Pa k i s t an andCeylon, whose countr ies are uni ted as Members of the Bri t ish. Com mo nwealth of Na t ion s and owe a common al legiance to theCrown, which is also the symbol of their free association, havecons idered the impending cons t i tu t iona l changes in Ind ia ." Th e Go vernment of In d ia have informed the otherGovernments of the Commonwealth of the intent ion of theIndian people that , under the new Const i tut ion which is about to- be adop ted, In di a sha l l become a sovereign inde pen den t republ ic .Th e Go vern m ent of In d ia have, however, declare d and affirmed. In d ia 's de sire to con t inu e her full mem bership of the Com monweal th of Nat ions and her acceptance of The King as the symbol- Of the free associat ion of i ts independent member nat ions andas such the He ad: of th e Com monw ealth." Th e Gov ernm ents of the other cou ntries of the Com monweal th, the basis of whose membership of the Commonwealth isnot hereby changed, accept and recognise India 's cont inuing' ! membership in accordance with the terms of this declarat ion,- i . : "A cc ord ing ly the Un i t ed Kingdom, Cana da , Au s t r a l i a ,Ne w Zealan d , South A fr ic a , I nd ia , Pa ki s ta n an d Ceylon hereby' ' declare that they remain uni ted as f ree ar id equal members ofthe Commonwealth of Nat ions, f reely co-operat ing in the pursui t; of peace, l iber ty an d pro gre ss ."The Prime Minis ter of South Afr ica had found diff icul ty inaccep t ing the descr ip t ion of The K in g as " H e a d of the Common

weal th , " s ince , he feared t ha t th i s migh t be m is in te rpre ted asim ply ing th e exis tence of some sor t of sup er-S tate . H e had , however,subscr ibed to the declarat ion on condit ion that i t was placed onrecord, in the minutes of the Meet ing, that the designat ion of TheKing as " Head of the Commonwealth " did not connote any change. in the con st i tut io nal re la t ion s exis t i ng between the mem bers of theCommonweal th and , in par t icu la r , d id not imply tha t The Kingdischarged any cons t i tu t iona l func t ion by v i r tue of tha t Headship .The Pr ime Minis te r o f Pakis tan had a t f i r s t hes i ta ted tosubscr ibe to that par t of the declarat ion which aff i rmed that thebasis of membership of countr ies other than India was not changedby this declara t ion. H e ha d made i t a cond i t ion of his agreem entthat i t should be placed on record, in the minutes of the Meeting,that i f another member of the Commonwealth wished to cont inue hermembership under condi t ions ident ical with those which had beenaccepted in respect of India, i t could be logically assumed (thoughit was not possible to bind future Meet ings or Governments) thata fu ture M eet ing would accord the same trea tm ent to any o thermem ber as ha d been accorded to In d ia by the presen t M eet ing. I thad at one t ime been feared that , i f India were al lowed to remainwi th in the Commonweal th as a republ ic , Pakis tan would a l so adopta republ ic an form of cons t i tut ion. I t now seemed possible th at i twould be sufficient for the Pakistan Government to be able to saythat i t was open to Pakistan, if she wished, to become a republican d rem ain with in the Comm onwealth. I f they could say that , i tm ig ht not be necessary for them to tak e any s teps towa rds ad op t ing

na republ ican form of government .36962-3 -a '0


5/9

In addi t ion to the publ ic declara t ion which was to be made, the-Meeting had also agreed to place i t on record that ( i) all Commonweal th countr ies would cont inue to regard themselves as not fore ign ,in re la t i on to one ano the r ; an d ( ii ) each Com mon weal th Gov ernme ntwould take any necessary s teps , whether by leg is la t ion or o therwise ,to enable i t to m ain ta i n the r i gh t to accord pre fer en t ia l t rea tm ent tothe c i t izens and t rade of o ther Commonweal th countr ies , thougheach Government would remain f ree to determine the extent of tha tp re fe ren t ia l t r ea tmen t and the p rec i se me thod o f accord ing i t .

In d iscuss ion the fo l lowing poin ts were ra ised :(a) I t was un fo r tun a te th a t the dec la ra t ion m ade no re fe renceto the im po r ta n t ques tion whe the r In d ia wou ld s tand a t the s ideof o ther Com monw eal th countr ie s in peace an d in w ar . T heconcluding words of the declara t ion might even be thought to throw

some doubt on the quest ion of India ' s co-opera t ion in t ime of war .In reply i t was poin ted out tha t these words were taken f romthe rep or t of the Ba lfour Com mit tee wh ich formed p a r t of the rep or tof the proceedings of the Im pe r ia l Conference of 1926. The re was .no reason to doubt the s incer i ty of India ' s des ire to co-opera te with ,o the r Com mon weal th coun tr ies . I t wou ld not have been possib le ,however , to ask her to enter in to formal commitments for mutualco-operation in defence of a kind which none of the older Commonw eal th coun tr ies ha d ever been w il l in g to a ccept .(b) India would , however , cont inue to be inc luded with in the

scheme for Commonwealth co-operation in defence, as described inP a r t V o f the W hi te Pa pe r on the Ce n t ra l Or gan isa t io n fo r Defence(Cmd. 6923 of 1946). T hi s contem plated regio nal or b i la tera la r rangemen ts be tween Commonwea l th Governmen ts on de fencequest io ns . I t would be necessary th a t b i la t era l nego t ia t ion s shouldtake p lace be tween the Un i ted Kingdom Governmen t and the -Go vernm ent of In di a . T he agreem ent now reached on the const i tut ional issue would , however , c rea te a favourable a tmosphere for theconduct of those negot ia t ions .(c) In v iew of India ' s recogni t ion of The King as Head of the-Commonweal th , would The King have any funct ions in re la t ion to-

In d i a? In rep ly , i t was s ta ted th a t The K in g wou ld no t be H ea dof the In d i an Repub l ic . In d i a wou ld , however, r ecogn ise The K in gas the symbol of the Commonweal th associa t ion , to which sheadhere d . For the p resen t , the K in g wou ld have no cons t i tu t iona lfunct io ns as H ea d of the Com monw eal th . B ut i t m igh t wel l be th a t ,by the process of evolu t ion which had character ised the developmentof the Commonweal th , new funct ions might a t some s tage become, exercis able by the Cro wn in th a t capac i ty . Th is recogni t ion byInd ia migh t be a t l eas t the founda t ion on which some newconst i tu t ional s t ruc ture might , as t ime went on , be bui l t .(d) The Attorney-General sa id tha t , f rom the legal poin t ofv iew, there was l i t t le content in the concept ion of the Crown as thesymbol of the association of the Commonwealth peoples, once theelem ent of common allegian ce ha d been removed. If the con stitu t ion al bas is of ln d ia ' s mem bership of the Comm onweal th w erechal lenged before the In ternat ional Court , i t was by no means cer ta inth at th e 'pos i t ion could be successfu lly uphe ld .(e) A communique" announcing the conclusions reached at theM eet in g of Comm onweal th Pr i m e M inis ters was to be re leased forpubl ic a t ion in the Pr es s on the m orn ing of 28th Ap ri l . Th ere wouldbe s imu ltaneous publ ic a t ion in a l l Com mon weal th capi ta ls . Th is

was not an occasion on which the announcement ought f irst to bem ade to Pa rli am en t. I t seemed likely, however,, th a t the Op positio nwould ask for an opportuni ty to debate the subjec t mat ter of theanno unce me nt; and the Lord Pr es id en t should be able to g ive some


6/9

1 67 C M . 2 9 ( 4 9 )indication, in reply to the questions which were l ikely to arise onhis S ta te me nt on Busin ess on the fo l lowing day, of the da te on wh icha debate m ig ht be held . " .

T h e C a b i n e t -Approved the terms of the declaration, set out above, to bemade by the Un i ted Kingdom Governmen t jo in t ly wi tho the r Commonwea l th Governmen ts rega rd ing Ind ia ' sfu tu re re la t ions wi th the Commonwea l th .

Syria. 2. The Foreign Secretary said that he was satisfied that the(Previous t ime had now come to accord formal recognition to the new Govern-Reference: me nt of Syr ia . H e ha d been in consu l ta t ion on th is m at te r w ithC M . ( 4 9 ) 4 t h the Governmen ts of F ran ce and the U n i te d S ta te s ; and i t wasConclusions, proposed, subject to the views of the Cabinet, that the recognitionMinute 2 . ) should be accorded tha t day .

T h e C a b i n e t -Agreed tha t the Un i ted Kingdom Governmen t shou ldformally recognise the new Government of Syria.

Cabinet Office, S. W. 1, 27th April, 1949.


7/9


8/9


9/9

Documents

Cabinet Meeting Conclusion on Constitutional Relationship Between India and UK