London, June 26.
"The apparent inability or unwillingness of those who guide public opinion in Germany, to take at their face value the plain statements of British statesmen, is indeed one of the most dangerous developments in the whole international situation," declared "The Times" today in an editorial.
"The astonishment of Dr. Beth-mann-Hollweg, German Imperial Chancellor in 1914, when Great Britain was ready to go to war for what he was pleased to call a scrap of paper, will be as nothing compared with the astonishment of the German people if a direct challenge to the interests of Great Britain or her associates should ever again compel this country to take up arms.
"Germans and Italians," "The Times" continues, "are perpetually being told that the British Empise is in a state of helpless decline. They do not realize that the bulldog, however much provoked, does not yap or bark before he bites, but when he bites, he does not let go.
"Their own press is so filled with strident challenges that quiet, moderate British speeches are being misunderstood.
"It will be a catastrophe for the whole world if the repeated warnings of Mr. Neville Cnamberlain and Lord Halifax, that force will be met by force, are ignored until proof has been given in action. Then; the day for—negotiation—an alternative which they have never ceased to offer—will have passed.
"Yet the happy day of understanding and great, prosperity for rations in Europe must remain a dream, as Mr, Chamberlain has said, until Germany drops her unjust suspicions and shows she is willing to talk reáson with reasonable
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.