Nov. 5
If indeed it was the hope of the dictators to subdue Greece in the space of a few days, in order to announce the completion of the "new order in Europe" combining it with a peace offensive in the United States for the purpose of influencing the presidential clec~ tion, the events of the Last few days have proved them to be unjustifiedly sanguine. If they really believed they could overrun} Greece in about a week they have badly) underestimated the worth of their opponents, and must also have taken it for granted that Great Britain would not immediately go to the aid of the country attacked. It seems to have been an article of faith that Britain] would not assist any of those countries to which she had given guarantees against Axis aggression, but when the facts are examined it is only'in the case of Poland—and that for perfectly obvious geographical reasons,—that Britain has not sought to aid victims Of aggression. In Norway it failed because the Germans had the advantage of the initia tive, and succeeded in seizing all the air buses in the country before the British had an' opportunity of reaching them. In the Low Countries the British Army was seriously imperiled when it was rushed together with French forces. into Belgium in the hope of stemming the German invasion of thi.t country, and indeed it may safely be said that it ran risks which subsequent events show should never have been run. The enemy appears to have misread these facts, and apparently Italy embarked upon the invasion Greece thinking to polish that country off within a week, presenting the world with another fait accompli, and permitting Hitler to get on with that peace offensive which it was hoped would influence the elections in the United States.
If that were indeed the plan, it has failed egregiously, for now it is much too late for anything that Hitler may do to have any effect upon the presidential election. Had the manqeuvre been successfully carried through, and the peace offensive begun it is doubtful whether the United States would have been greatly moved, because messages from Washington state that the declaration by the First Lord of the Admiralty, that Britain is not interested in any negotiated Peace, was particularly welcomed in view of repens that Hitler was sending new peace terms to America. This is most certainly not the time for Britain to talk peace with the enemy. As Mr. Alexander pointed out, in his broadcast to the Empire, the road to victory is beginning to define itself, and even if it proves a long and hard road the British can afford to take the time to win. That Germany and Italy cannot. It will be when that road has been travelled, when Great Britain will be in the position to do the necessary talking, that the time to discuss peace will have arrived, but no cessation of the war, which resolved itself merely into fan armistice during which preparations for another struggle were to be made by an undefeated enemy, can in the circumstances possibly be acceptable. Indeed it is doubtful whether even the pacificist elements in the United States would warmly espouse any such thing, for even they have been brought to a realization that the only chance of the world being brought back to sanity, and the rule of law, as distinct from the sway of brute force, lies in the complete defeat of the aggressor Powers.
The conclusion fs unescapable that even if Hitler could have put through the scheme he is alleged to have conceived it would have been an abject failure, not only because it fails to take into consideration the spirit of the British people, but also because it would have ignored the great hostility towards the Axis Powers which at present exists in the public opinion of the United States. If the Dictators can think up nothing better, than what they have been reported to have done, they must be politically bankrupt. They wantonly brought this war upon Europe because they thought they were powerful enough to get away with it. That successes were obtained in the early part of the struggle cannot be denied for one moment, but the enemy could not make them complete nor consolidate them in peace, and they now face a war lasting perhaps years—if that necessary to ensure a British victory from the results of which they would dearly ike to escape. They will not be allowed to. Posterity, nay civilization itself demands that the rule of law shall be re-established, that those who fancy that in these enlightened Gays free people will assent to the doctrine that might is right shall be thoroughly and permanently disillusioned, and that inter-ational morality, without which the world must surely degenerate, shall be completely vindicated. There is not a reasonably mind ed person in the whole world who does not wish that a speedy end shall be put to the slaughter and destruction that. this war has meant, and will continue to mean, but a shoddy peace made in Germany would indeed prove a bad bargain. Britain is prepared to pay a higher price for a more satisfactory article.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.