In acknowledgment of his services to the cause of freedom,in admiration of his outstanding qualities of leadership evidenced by his command of the Forces of the British Commonwealth of Nations and of the United States of America in the European theatre of war; and in testimony of the profound gratitude of the community for his arduous labours and his accomplishments in the momentous war operations now brought to a successful conclusion.
"I shall treasure this distinction the more because I know it is not intended as an individual reward for personal accomplishment, but rather as a tribute from you to the unity achieved among the fighting men of democracy with whom I had the privilege to be joined in the days of war. From the depth of my gratitude for your choice of me to represent them here, I thank you. Among your choice of me to repress them were the fighting sons of Scotland, who sustained unblemished the world-wide military renown of this warrior race, They fought like Scots - I cannot add to that in expressing a soldier's admiration for their soldierly characteristics.
The freedom of Edinburgh is a precious gift, associating its possessor with a rich, illustrious past. This ancient city, in its more than a thousand years of recorded history, has witnessed man's emergence from the Dark Ages - his laboured steps towards a society governed by law and ethics rather than by the whim of an autocrat.
Edinburgh is neither the oldest nor the largest of the world's cities, but it typifies, better than most, man's age-long search for peace and betterment of his lot and his tortuous progress on the path toward it.
Cities like Edinburgh, far from being mere structures of brick and stone, are living symbols of mankind's fundamental need of and faith in co-operative action.
Edinburgh stands as witness that barriers of opinion, discordance of religious creeds and political opinions, all the accidental divergences among men that set one group or one people apart from another group or people, can be overcome without armed conflict, and to the resultant betterment of the whole. The intensity of passion that two centuries ago separated Lowlander from Highlander was perhaps far less susceptible to friendly solution than any rivalry separating men today. Yet for generations Highlander and Lowlander have been one Scottish people. What you of Scotland and Edinburgh achieved, the world can achieve.
We have come far along the road to a co-operative world. We must not turn back now. And here at Edinburgh I cannot feel pessimistic about the outcome. For this city, in its centuries, has seen mankind advance farther on the road to unity than we have left to travel."