Nov. 3.
The various pronouncements of Herr Hitler and his supporters on the subject of the] return of the former German colonies, and the perturbation which is being shown in Africa taken together are sufficient to indicate the very thorny nature of the question. By Article 119 of the Treaty of Versailles} Germany renounced in favour of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers all her! rights dnd titles over her overseas possessions. It was probably ill-advised of the victorious Powers to have insisted upon this surrender in the first instance, but the parcelling out of those colonies to various nations under the; mandate system served to throw a cloak of dignity over something which was after all} the spoliation of the vanquished by the victors. There is plenty of precedent to justify such a course, if the teachings of the past were to prevail at the conference table, Dut in face of the attempt to produce a new order in the world it was a mistake, and one which will give an enormous amount of trouble before it is rectified. It does not matter what were the arguments justifying] the mandate system at the time of its institution—and there are those who contend! that those arguments represent sheer hypocrisy—there can be no doubt that while: some nations regarded the mandated territories as delivered over to them in trust. for posterity, others frankly regarded them as permanent additions to their possessions. That view is not accepted by the British Prime Minister, for, when Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1936, he differentiated between colonies and mandated territories in a manner which should permit of no misconception, "As far as I know," he stated, "no one has ever asked or suggested that the British Empire should give up any of its colonies, and I need hardly say that, if such a demand were made, it could not possibly be entertained for a moment. Mandated territories... are in a somewhat different category, and. are only part of the British Empire in what I may call a colloquial sense."
He added that Great Britain did recognize definite obligations to the people inhabiting those territories, and. they could not think of surrendering those obligations, or handing. over the territories to any other Power, even for the sake of obtaining a general peaceful] under Japanese auspices. settlement, unless they were satisfied that the interests of all sections of the populations inhabiting those territories. were fully safeguarded.
During the years since the establishment of the mandate system, changes of importance have taken place in the mandated territories, not the Jeast of which has been the settlement therein of people regarding the particular government as favourable to their interests, and looking forward to a permanent) continuance of that form of rule.
'Thus, especially in Tanganyika, there has grown up 'a large body of opinion' which favours continuance of the British mandate, does: mot desire to be placed under German control. The situation was made quite plain in December, 1935, when Mr. Baldwin, then Prime Minister, was asked in the House of Commons for an assurance that "neither Tanganyika, nor any other British colony jor mandated territory, would be transferred from British sovereignty save with the con-gent of all classes, creeds and races within the territory primarily affected. He replied The Right Hon. gentleman can hardly expect me to give such a categorical assurance in reply to such a purely hypothetical question. I can, however, assure the Right Hon, Member that no British territory and no territory under British protection or mandate would be transferred from British sovereignty without the fullest regard being had to the {interests of all sections of the population in the territory concerned, There are, therefore, two factors to be taken into consideration "when considering the German desire for the restoration of the former German colonies. The one is the very obvious justice and necessity of doing something to meet German demands in this matter, and the other is the very plain and freely admitted duty of the British Government to the inhabitants of the territories concerned. It may be possible to reconcile the two, but it is quite plain that the task of doing so is beset with all manner of intricacies, which removes the whole question from the category of simple issues.
In approaching this question, which concerns. other nations as well as Great Britain, it is essential that full recognition should be given of the fact that the generalization from Particular instances, such as the virtual extermination of the Herrero tribe in South-
West Africa, that Germany's pre-war colonial policy showed her to be unfit for the! Jadministration of native territories, has long since been abandoned. At the "most the argument that these colonies had been misgoverned was greatly exaggerated: it wa certainly' not sufficient to justify the "colonial guilt lie" which was alleged against the Germans. Once that is disposed of, it would seem that the best means of reaching a solution of the whole problem would be through a meeting of the Mandatory Powers to examine the whole question, for it is apparent that while German eyes look mostly to Great Britain in this matter, it is one which Involves other nations as well. It is just as necessary if there is to be a final settlement of the matter that the Japanese mandate shall be equally considered with those of other Powers, and if justice is to be done to the German claim, it is necessary that Germany should make it quite plain that she demands the return of the whole of her colonies, and not merely those of her own selection. But it has already been said, in this respect, that Japan's attitude is that "Maintenance of Japan's Mandate over South Sea Islands which formerly belonged to Germany is the established policy of this Empire" (The Vice-Minister of Overseas Affairs, November, 1937). It is readily admitted that the German demand for the removal of those injustices inflicted by the Versailles Treaty should be met, But it should be met by everybody concerned, and that despite the fact that changed conditions in so many of those forther colonies imports considera~ tions which were not visualized when the system of mandates was first conceived. Prima facie it is clear that unconditional return will be difficult, because of those changed conditions, but some way will have to be found to satisfy German aspirations, if the world is ever to make that progress towards a general settlement which is impossible so long as matters such as this remain outstanding,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.