June 24.
Just for once in a while to get away from these interminable polities, today is Midsummer Day, St. John the Baptist's Day and quarter day to boot. There was a time in Merry England when the week or $0 around the summer solstice, which falls on June 21 was regarded as a period of festival in the rural districts, when farm hands and labour= ers gave themselves over to Midsummer Ale, not merely to quaffing that well-known beverage, but to all the revels and feasting which was permissible before work was to commence on the harvest and labour had a yest from the toil which husbandry demands, Naturally ale was the chief drink at such ojoicings, hence the name of the festival. There have, been all sorts of quaint beliefs "about midstimmer. Olivia says to Malvolio "Why this is very midsummer madness," making reference not so much the effect of the heat of the season upon the human frame but to the rabies of dogs, which, it was at one time thought, was brought on by high temperatures, " Thus people who were inclined to be somewhat crazy were described as "to have but a mile to midsummer." Then of course there were the Midsummer men, Orpine or Livelony set in pots and hung up in the house on midsummer eve to tell damsels whether their sweethearts were true to them, the leaves turning to the right answering inthe affirms. tive and to the left negative, "true love's) heart was cold and faithless." To tell a man "Tis midsummer moon with you" was to inform him that he was stark mad. Madness was supposed to be effected by the moon and to be aggravated by summer heat, so that it naturally followed that the full moon midsummer is infinitely dangerous for those whose mental equilibrium isnot of the most stable. 'There are those too who insist that to sleep in the light of the full moon is to invite at least a swollen face if not to bring on that instability of outlook which either geniuses or madmen have, that what with moons and midsummer' the world is passing through a very dangerous time of the year.
The endeavour to get away from politics is short lived, for the "world gone a-madding" as it has it is difficult to Jeave alone the one subject which invades the mind at. such times as these. The heat which Shanghai is enduring brings back the thought of those beleaguered in Tientsin, where the temperature is reported to be much higher than it is here, while the inconvenience caused by that fact alone is enhanced by the discomforts, and indignities to which a large section of the foreign community in the British and French Concessions in Tien-sin is being subjected. Despite Japanese allegations that the stories concerning the indignities offered to Britons are. exaggerated, and the contention that there is no discrimination being shown against British people there is not now the slightest doubt that quite a number of shorn have been so treated. In the telegrams which appear elsewhere further instances of this form of obscene treatment are cited, while in yet another column is the story of recent arrival from Tientsin, himself an eyewitness of the objectionable procedure which the Japanese military are meting out to those proud enough to hold a British passport. That resentment is rising in the northern port is inevitable, but it is necessary that a very natural indignation should be kept under control while His Majesty's Government seek to put an end to what must be an intolerable state of affairs. Matters are only slightly better in Kulangsu where the blockade is being steadfastly kept up and the island deprived of those supplies of fresh foodstuffs so necessary if the health of the overcrowded population is to be maintained, while the recent demand that foreign na-lienals should evacuate Swatow is but another example of how this Midsummer madness is operating in the Far East. The attitude of the foreign authorities is admire ably set forth in the American reply to that demand, that the American Navy would protect its nationals wherever they were to be found. It is the only possible reply which could be made in the circumstances and indicates a firmness of outlook which is more than a little satisfying in such uncertain days as these.
It that is the state of affairs in the Far East, it has to be admitted that in Europe things are very little better. It is true that for some time past there has been a cessation of otises and that a breathing space has been afforded while the dictator states consider what shall be the next move in view of the obstacles which are being presented against them by the formation of the anti-aggression bloc. There are signs that. in the not too distant future the Danzig issue will again be brought to the fore. Dr. Goebbels In his recent speech suggests that that time may not be far distant. It might have already passed, had it not been for the very definite assurances which have been given Poland by France and Britain, that if she seeks to defend her territorial integrity against aggression she will receive the full support of both of them, even to the extent of going to war. That undoubtedly slowed up the movement which was designed to grab Danzig some time ago, and the present indications seem to be that Germany will seek to manguvre Poland into such a position over the Vistula port that she will be. made to appear in the light of an aggressor. It is not to be believed that either Britain or France will be misled by any such attempt. The issue so far as they are concerned must. surely be that any attempt to wrest Danzig. from Poland, which forces the latter to take up arms in her own interests, will be just as much an act of aggression as if German troops marched into the port from East Prussia or across the Polish corridor, and it is not to be thought for one moment that, in their present temper, either Britain,' or France would avail themselves of some specious pretext afforded by German ingenuity to refrain from honouring the very definite commitments that have been made.
To do so would be the best possible symptom of that Midsummer madness which has existed all too long. No one wants war, for that would be the greatest insanity of all, bhut political heat is so high and moon struck ambitions so avid that only a return to a lower international temperature will save the leatastrophie results of that "unhappy combination.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.