March 21.
If there were ever any misgivings amongst Britons as to the ultimate outcome of the war, the plain businesslike statement on the situation given by Mr. Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons on Tuesday should serve to allay them. The speech was a model in understatement, and was couched in terms of great restraint, so vastly different from the loud-mouthed rantings in which the Nazi leaders indulge every time they fancy the German populace needs a little oratorical stimulation. The Prime Minister's reply to those who are urging a more energetic prosecution of the war is most convincing, for from the very commencement of the hostilities it was made clear that the British Government expected a long war, and his refusal to permit the Government to be hustled into unduly precipitate action was a very necessary reminder to those who appear to have forgotten how the dissipation of strength in too many theatres during the ast war contributed so greatly to its pro-Iongation. The tribute to Finland was well deserved, and did honour to a nation which has covered itself with glory, while the outline of the fimitations which circumstances placed upon the amount of aid it was possible to give that country needs to be borne in mind when endeavouring to assess the responsibility for the fact that it was not greater. Mr. Here Belisha's criticism of the Government's policy vis-a-vis of Finland docs not present him ina very fortunate light. He appears completely to ignore the difficulties there were in the way of despatching the assistance in men and materials which he avers was necessary, and leaves the jeutarly sound when it comes to assess nas it was when the chance of ass inland was likely to have proved productive of good. The very fact that both Norway and Sweden were reluctant to permit the passage of troops through their territory was of itself sufficient to render any such plan unwork~ ble, and to suxyest that willy-nilly reinfer ments should have been sent regardless of the Scandinavian attitude is wholly to dis regard the potentialities of the situation, Despile these facts Mr. Chamberlain has made it quite clear that the Allies were pre~ pared to do their utmost to meet Marshal Mannetheim's requirements, and were ready to give him not the 30,000 which he stated he would require in May, but a force more than three times that number. Whether it would have been possible ultimately to have sent such a force to Finland must always
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.