4 INTELLECTUAL COOPERATION IN WAR-TIME AND PLANS ... 397European IPR councils served as a ‘conduit’ between the IPR and gov-
ernment and ‘perhaps in both directions.’^190 He observed that the role
of the European IPR councils as conduits became especially clear dur-
ing the war years against a background in which the French, British and
Dutch governments were eagerly seeking to ensure that their outlooks
on their colonial administrations and the future of their dependencies
were appropriately understood by the Americans.^191
Holland pointed out that the British Foreign Office and even the British
cabinet attached such importance to the IPR as a forum for putting across
the British point of view, that they covered the cost of sending British dele-
gations to attend the Mont Tremblant and Hot Springs conferences when
it became apparent that Chatham House could not afford to do so.^192 The
argument in favour of government assistance was that ‘it was necessary to
have a group of knowledgeable people present to refute what they consid-
ered to be the irresponsible views of some of the Americans.’^193 It was not
only the ill-informed American views of the colonial system that the British,
Dutch and French IPR Councils sought to counter: they were also highly
critical of much of the research work commissioned by the International
Secretariat of the IPR on the subject under the leadership of Carter.^194
The Americans were far from alone in pressing the question of
future colonial policy at Hot Springs. A Canadian delegate, Hugh L.
Keenleyside, who would later be appointed a member of the Canadian
cabinet, declared at one meeting that ‘no people is morally good enough
to rule another; that such rule led to the corruption of both ruled and
rulers.’^195 According to Holland, whereas Keenleyside’s strong words
greatly pleased the Indian delegation, the British, French and Dutch del-
egations were considerably angered by them.^196
(^190) ‘Appendix 2: Holland-Hooper Interviews,’ in Hooper, ed., Remembering the Institute
of Pacific Relations, 229.
(^191) Ibid.
(^192) Ibid., 353.
(^193) Ibid., 353–54.
(^194) Ibid., 111.
(^195) International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, Security in the Pacific, 93. See
also ‘Appendix 2: Holland-Hooper Interviews,’ in Hooper, ed., Remembering the Institute
of Pacific Relations, 354.
(^196) ‘Appendix Two: Holland-Hooper Interviews,’ in Hooper, ed., Remembering the
Institute of Pacific Relations, 354.