The debate in the House of Commons on the subject of Germany's colonial claims has at least the merit of producing a definite statement on behalf of the British Government, and there ought now to be no misunderstandings on the matter. Mr. Malcolm MacDonald has definitely stated that the German claim to the restoration of the colonies which she surrendered in 1918, and which subsequently came under the mandatory system of the League of Nations, is not now an issue in practical politics. It is interesting to trace the higher lights of the subject as it developed after the war. In the early post-war years the colonial question received very little attention in Germany, though the German Colonial Congress met annually. The question was raised by Dr. Stresemann at the Locarno Conference, and, in 1926, the Kolonial Reichsarbeitsgemeinshaft passed a resolution urging the German Government to make Germany's entry into the League conditional upon receiving guarantees for the return of her former possessions. In 1924, however, Herr, Hitler had written in his "Mein Kampf" "The cry for the restoration of the colonies is mere empty talk." There were other passages in his work to the same effect, as for example "We finally part with the colonial and trade policy of the period before the War and pass over to the land policy of the future." The words still stand in Herr Hitler's book but elsewhere things have changed. On November 22, 1935 Der Fuehrer announced "Germany will never give up her colonial claims." Three months later he said "Colonies are acquired by right of might." In September, 1937, he is reported to have said "We must have colonies. But they are worth nothing if an enormous armed force is to be maintained to guard them. Our interest is commercial." while on November 22, of the same year his declarations commenced to assume a more insistent note "We must raise the demand for colonial living-room. We must raise it louder and louder so that the rest of the world will not be able to refuse to hear it. What people don't care to hear today they will be unable to ignore in a few years time.
Dr. Bauer, in a National-Socialist Party pamphlet, has declared that the passage in "Mein Kampf" subordinating Germany's colonial claims to objectives in Europe has been misinterpreted, and the general result of the transition has been that it does not matter what Herr Hitler wrote fourteen years ago, but what he means now.
Since Munich the German Leader has stated Germany's colonial claims and has left the first move up to the Powers holding mandates over the former German possessions. Mr. MacDonald in a statement which it is reported was received with approval by all parties in the House should have set at rest any misgivings which might have existed concerning the British attitude, while his enunciation of the ideal animating Britain's colonial policies is about the very best justification which could be adduced. If it is admitted, as it must be, that very substantial injustices were done to Germany under the Peace Treaty, it must also be admitted that some means of adjustment should be found, but conditions have changed so greatly since Germany was deprived of her overseas possessions that they cannot now be met by the restoration which Germany demands. Those colonies have been developing since then through agencies not wholly German. other interests having confidence in the Mandatory Powers have taken part in that work, a new generation of natives has arisen, and it is quite clear that the British contention that the interests of all will have to be considered in any change which may be contemplated is the only one possible in the circumstances. Conditions have changed so much that, in any endeavour to remedy the injustices of 1918, further and equally serious wrongs might be committed. There are other important aspects of the matter. Should Great Britain return those German colonies over which she exercises mandatory powers in Africa the situation on that continent might be very seriously damaged, while the returning of territories from which a hostile Germany would be able to attack British trade lines, or upon which air bases could be established which would threaten South America cannot be thought of in view of present German tendencies.
Mr. Noel Baker's contention that recent events in Germany have demonstrated that nation's unfitness to be trusted with the fate of a backward people, should be regarded in the light of an utterance on the subject by Lord Noel-Buxton, in the House of Lords on
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