On the continent of Europe it has been a cardinal policy with Great Britain to maintain a balance of] power, that is to say it was clear policy to throw her weight in favour fof equilibrium. When France, under Poincaré, had developed a great] military power, and had been in occupation of' the Ruhr, British policy was such that it did not prevent a resurgence of Germany. But the politicd sky soon changed with {the super-rapid development of Germany. Sir Austen' Chamberlain attacked the Nazis in the House of Commons. Winston Churchill thanked God for the French Army, and in the words of a Labour member, "pro-German England had become pro-French England overnight.
In that same year, 1933, the German Foreign Minister declared that Germany would rearm, regardless of the outcome of the Disarmament Conference then sitting, which declaration brought forth a reply from the British War Minister that if Germany rearmed in violation of the 'Treaty of Versailles, she would be strongly opposed. But when Germany did rearm, Britain did nothing because she thought fit in the meantime that a negative attitude was still' necessary for maintaining equilibrium.
League Weakened Of course, this had the effect of] again weakenIng_the League, Anyhow, it served to indicate with emphasis that British policy was to avoid the use of force where possible.
The murder of Dictator Dollfuss, known as the "pocket Napoleon" of Austria, and the Nazi blood purge helped to make British opinion swing from pro-German to pro-French. Britain then commenced to increase her armaments. Lord Baldwin (then Mr. Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister) declared in the House of 'Commons:—"When you think of the defence of England, you no longer think of the chalk' cliffs of Dover, you think of the - Rhine, That is where, today, our frontier lies."
Again, over the matter of the Saar where, Nazi terrorists had been at 'These pictures show the principal share at Moreoska' Ostrava, work and in which matter Frante was on the point of sending troops, it was Mr, Anthony Eden, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, who per Jsuaded M. Laval to forego France's, announcement to send troops into the area, and thus assured a peaceful election under the neutral policing of an international force including [British soldiers.
It is well worth one's while patiently to trace the course of British foreign policy from stage to stage until one arrives at the grand climax, which transpired on September 20, 1938 at Munich, and note its ever-resent central line of conduct,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.