There are indications that, as a follow-up to Herr Hitler's speech of last Friday; there will be an energetic campaign for the purpose of endeavouring to persuade the democracies that, after all, their best interests, and those of Europe at large will he served by concluding a peace with the Reich as quickly as possible, and along the lines which have been indicated. Hence the talk that "if war continues Europe will be irremediably lost to Bolshevism; National Socialism will succumb, but the Western Powers also," and the argument, that is now being put forward, that "for the sake of the coramon salvation "of Europe," a speedy peace should be reached. Having betrayed everything ideological for which he stood, Herr Hitler is now faced with the fact that he has permitted Soviet Russia to come right up to the borders of the Reich, has given Moscow domination from the Baltic to the Black Sea in all those countries in which he proposed to be predominant, and has permitted to arise in eastern Europe.a Power which but a few weeks ago he would never have tolerated. The thirty pieces of silver for which all this was done consist of rather less than half Poland, the speedy conclusion of the Polish campaign and some problematical agreement concerning supplies which may or may not be forthcoming from Russia, dependent upon entirely how far that country is able to fulfil her agreement, and how Germany is.able to pay for what she receives. Communism, which was latent beneath the terror, begins to stir afresh, and the German Government will find themselves handicapped in dealing with it for fear of antagonizing their very odd bedfellow. The danger of Communism to Germany is a very real one; it may become more real as the weeks and months of warfare, which appear to be ahead, progress, and there are signs that in Germany itself there are those who sce the writing on the wall, and begin to realize the serious predicament in which the policies of Herr Hitler have landed the country. The situation is indeed serious for Herr Hitler and his following, for he has undone the work of the last six years and unloosed afresh in Germany the powers of Communism which he declared it was his holy mission to destroy.
All this is a measure of his own desperation. He fears the outcome of the struggle with the Allies, and, searching high and low for assistance to avoid defeat, has made the pilgrimage to Canossa. He has humbled himself to the Kremlin, and now seeks to impress the world that for the salvation of Europe from the menace which he has brought into it, it is necessary to make peace with him. The threat may be expressed in other terms. Unless Europe agrees to a new order of his determination, it runs the risk of another new order of communistic dictation. Acceptance of his latest fait accompli is demanded at the risk of plunging the whole-of Europe into the furnace of ideological destruction. But against this it must be remembered that the Allies'ate equally determined to establish a new order in Europe, one in which perfidy shall be replaced with good faith, an order in which it will be possible again for the potions to place some regard in the undertakings of one to the other, an order in which the rule of law shall again prevail. Shall such ideals be abandoned for a period While Herr Hitler seeks to digest what he has already bitten off and prepares himself for another onslaught upon the security of Europe, if not of the whole world? Is it not better to face the evils with which he) threatens Europe, and fight until they are destroyed as they deserve to be? A Europe of Herr Hitler's fashioning can be little worse than that envisioned by the Communists, and both of them from a democratic point of view are intolerable. One of the causes for Allied reluctance to take up arms against Herr Hitler was the risk that, should he be defeated, a revolution in Germany which would throw off his yoke might permit the establishment St a Communist Government, That risk has at all times been apparent. It was one which it was desirable to avoid; but since Herr Hitler has left no alternative it has now to be faced.
It is, consequently, too late now to threaten the Allies with the terrors of the bogey he has conjured up. It was to be foreseen from the very moment of the announcement of the Russo-German anti-aggression pact. It has grown at the expense of Germany with astonishing rapidity. Herr Hitler himself realizes it, must have realized it when he made so complete a bouleversement of his policy, probably understood it when he said that the signing of an alliance with Russia would be the precursor of war, which would mean the defeat of Germany. The facility with which he has made other prophecies come true must now inspire the anxiety, which he, and those close to him, apparently experience. He dare not yet mention the slogan "Peace with Germany for the salvation of Europe," within the confines of his own country, for it would be so complete an admission of the desperate lengths to which he has been forced in order to hang on to the spoils he has secured at the expense of the Poles. To the world at large he will stand confessed as a political bankrupt, with the list of his ruses and strategies rapidly nearing exhaustion. It may be expected that in the course of the next few weeks his endeavours to persuade the Allies to stop miliary action will be intensified. His need for peace is urgent. That way alone does the semblance of victory lie, for if he can emerge from the present impasse with his share of Poland still in his possession, it will look as something of a gain to those who will fail to realize for some time to come that this territorial expansion has been gained at the cost of the surrender of traditional German policies and the acceptance of a subsidiary role in the affairs of eastern and south-eastern Europe. But Herr Hitler is not going to be permitted to pose as the Little Jack Horner of Europe. He may have his thumb round the plum of half Poland, but he has not yet consolidated his possession of that fruit. Peace manœuvres such as these are doomed to failure. The Reich leader knows the Allies' terms. They are that he should either restore the status quo or fight. The choice is up to him, and not all. the chicanery in the world will absolve him from ultimately having to make the decision.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.