Aprit 5.
Out of the welter of speeches which have been made on the international situation in Europe two important facts emerge, the one that Mr. Chamberlain has become convinced of his original mistake in placing too much confidence in the assurances of Munich, and he other that by his change of policy he has seated himself so firmly in the saddle that he may regard the possibility of a general election at the present time, ox perhaps, tater in the year with the utmost confidence. His speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday Is not to be taken as a recantation of his earlier convictions. He is still a map fof peace, will sock peace by every means within his power, but he has made it as clear as day that he will not tolerate any attempt by the dictator powers to create a hegemony in Europe, or to secure further expansion by the utilization of force against the smaller countries, That has been a traditional British policy, as completely applied during the Napoleonic era as it is to be hoped it. will be applied in the event of developments in the future which it is to be hoped will be averted, It has never suited the British book that any one State should dominate the Continent, and what has happened during the months since September last, is that Britain has been obliged to revert to an old policy, which it was at one time thought had been abandoned once, and for all. Therein lies the strength of Mr. Chamberlain so far as domestic politics are concerned. The adoption of the same policy as that of Pitt in the early years of last century has deprived parliamentary Opposition of its ability to oppose,—at least on the question of Britain's relationships with the rest of Europe. The Prime Minister has enunciated principles in this connection which are wholly acceptable to the official Opposition, and those numerous orities who have been so clamant against him since the betrayal at Munich, when Mr, Chamberlain was cozened into a sense of false security from which, fortunately, he has been awakened by the actions of Herr Hitler himself.
The opinion was widely held that Mr. Chamberlain's retention of office depended Imost entirely upon the success of his ap~ easement plan, which in turn depended completely upon'the degree of good faith with which Herr Hitler fulfilled his assurances.
was even thought that 2 betrayal of those assurances might lead to the disappearance of Mr, Chamberlain from British polities. 'The reverse has happened. 'The National Government hias behind it the support of all parties in Britain, the rest of the Empire, and the moral support of countries which' still believe in the inherent good qualities in the doctrine of democracy. There has been no more: significant a development in British polities for many years past. It is a pity that the question of confidence was not in~ cluded in Tuesday's debate on foreign-affairs. That not having been raised there could be no question of a division, Had there been, it would undoubtedly have been one of the most important political gestures which a legislative body could possibly have made the picture of a practically unanimous House 1 into the Government lobby would ye served to dispel whatever few remain= ing doubts that might exist as to the compleleness of the support which is now being] given to the Prime Minister. And more it would have spoken to the world at large as no one person ever can, and would have sup~ ported the Prime Minister's expressed belief' that the whole nation is now united in op-' proval of what he hes said and the aim' and purpose which lie behind it. Not that there can be any doubt about how matte: now stand. Nothing has been more clear cut, and straightforward than the speeches which have been delivered by the Prime' Minister and Lord Halifax. There is no question of Britain following any aggressive policy, but. it will most certainly offer every' possible resistance to any further attempts: fat aggression which may be made in Europe, and it is not improbable that in the not too' distant future Great Britain will find herself pledged to assist any European country which may become the vielim of such action.
It is an unhappy fact that these latest developments do not at the present time tend towards the perfection of a peaceful under~ standing amongst the European Powers. By that it is not meant that there has been any. more appreciable advance towards hostilities than ever before. That is patently not true, for in view of all that has happened whatever progress towards appeasement it was thought had been made at Munich was entirely iMusory. The situation has consequent ly not worsened in this respect since Septem~ Ver last, Indeed it may be said to have: improved by reason of the fact that Great Britain, France and the rest of the non~ totalitarian states are no longer living in that fool's paradise, which the undoubted ingenuity of Herr Hitler had devised. That docs not render the situation any the less serious. While it is hoped that the world is still a long way from war, it is nevertheless obvious that it is also a very long way away from peace, and the problem which still con~ fronts Europe is as to how progress can be made towards that delectable destination. At the moment it docs not appear that much of an advance can be made. There is, unhappily, at the moment no definite stable point from which it is possible to progress, for until it is again practical to place some reliance in the good faith of the dictator sys-fern there is no foundation upon which peaceful structure can be erected. In the' atmosphere of suspicion, and distrust, which at present exists, the only guarantee for: peace is a healthy respect for the other: fellow's strength. That this means a peace: based upon force has regretfully 10 be ad~ mitted, but things being as they are what! other alternative is possible? The sum total of all that has happened then is that the: initiative for war still remains where it has always been, in Herr Hiller's hands, but it is also clear that in the minds of Mr. Chamberlain, his Ministers, Parliament and_ the Empire at large there is no question of cowardly surrender to aggressors,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.