Probably one of the most dramatic moves which have been made since the outbreak of the war is the sensational offer by the rulers of Belgium and Holland of their good offices "at this time of anguish" for mediation in the struggle which has-now been progressing for over two months. Dramatic because the two countries concerned see for themselves,—in the recent threats to which they have been subjected by the German Government, which would seek to make them fellow-conspirators in an endeavour to circumvent the economic control employed as a weapon of warfare by the Allies,—the serious position. in which they may be placed if apparent German designs are carried into effect. This is not to suggest that either the King of the Belgians or Queen of the Netherlands is animated by any other desire than to bring to as early an end as possible the present struggle, for they have the paramount duty of doing their utmost to see that their people shall continue to live out their lives in that peace and quietness which neutrality in times such ab these should undoubtedly. secure for them. They ate; however, also serving the wider aspects of peace in exactly the same manner as when they made their appeal prior to the commencement of hostilities, and the offer of their good offices has to be welcomed with all the respect which it most certainly deserves, and also the wish that it might be a possible event at this late hour to negotiate a peace which might secure justice all round. The significant passage of the appeal bears upon just that one point. It says "The belligerents declared some time ago that they would not refuse to examine a reasonable and safe basis for an equitable peace," and it is in the last six, words of that sentence that the wishes of the Allies are succinctly laid down. It would be the height of folly to reject any offer which would make it possible to establish such a peace, and it can safely be said that if it were possible to conceive of a safe basis. for an equitable peace the Allies would most certainly not reject it. But an equitable and safe peace means that justice shall be done to Poland, and other victims of Nazi aggression, ana that they shall be made whole from the damage which has been inflicted upon them; a safe peace necessitates that never again, whether six months, one year or two years hence, shall Europe be again subjected to the power diplomacy which Herr Hitler has used, and which Russia is enthusiastically adopting against smaller neighbours.
It is fortunate that this appeal comes simultaneously with a broadcast speech by Lord Halifax, British Foreign Secretary, in which he gives the real purpose of the Allies in the present war We are fighting in defence of freedom. We are fighting for peace. We are meeting a challenge to our own security and that of others. We are defending the rights of all nations to live their own lives. We are fighting al against the substitution of brute force for law as an arbiter between nations, and against the violation of the sanctity of treaties and disregard for the pledged word. We have learned that there can be no opportunity: for Europe to cultivate the arts of peace until Germany is brought to realize that recurrent acts of aggression will not be tolerated.
On the other hand it is notorious for what Herr Hitler is fighting. He is engaged in a struggle to consolidate his temporarily successful efforts to reduce bordering, numerically inferior nations to the helotry of a hegemony which has crushed Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. He is fighting to be able to retain ability to continue his policy of power diplomacy with which to redraw the map of the world according to his own desires, and his alone. Can any groups of potions be farther apart than Great Britain and France on the one side, and Germany on the other? It is difficult to believe that they can. They are as far apart as respect for law, and its complete and utter disregard. It is in the circumstances by no means easy to perceive what progress can be made towards the re-establishment of -peace until that gap is closed. It can be closed in only one of two ways; either by the vindication of the rule of law, or the submission of Europe to the misrule of the freebooter. It is apparent from this statement of the case that the task of bringing the warring countries to terms will be attended by more than a little difficulty, and it is no less clear that, unless there is a very considerable modification on one side or the other, prospects of an early cessation of the war are remote in the extreme.
There will be every possible sympathy with the Belgian and Netherlands monarchs in their attempt to secure an early peace. They are menaced by the German armies in exactly the.same manter which led to the sufferings of the Belgians a quarter of a century ago, and the possibility of either of their countries, or both of them being over-run, is, despite all the assurances which Herr Hitler has given, something which they cannot disregard. They are caught between the upper and nether millstones of war, and their lot is by no means likely to remain enviable. But unless there were a very considerable change in the political outlook of the present rulers of Germany any peace which might be arrived at now would in all probability be of the most temporary nature, in which event both Belgium and Holland might at some future date again be faced with exactly the same problems which confront them now. It is one of the war aims of the Allies that these continual threats to European peace shall be ended once and for all, That is as much to the benefit of the European neutrals as it is to the Allies themselves, and it is no exaggeration to say that the Allies in this war are not fighting their own battle alone, but the battle of every nation in Europe which has any respect for the sanctity of international understandings and for the territorial integrity of its neighbours. It is not likely that Herr Hitler has yet been so militarily convinced of the fate which awaits him that he is ready to make those concessions and afford those guarantees for future good behaviour without which it is impossible to reach an early settlement. The. Allies on their side are noe prepared to sacrifice all those principles which have obliged them to enter the arena of war. It is unthinkable that they should do be. The situation no longer requires that: Herr Hitler should be afforded a means of gracefully extricating himself from a position into which he has manceuvres himself; unlikely indeed that he would wish to do so, for that would be an admission of failure, and he does not yet believe that he has failed. So with all the sympathy in the world for the appeal 50 dramatically put forward by the rulers of Belgium and the Netherlands it would be unduly optimistic to believe that it will lead to a solution of the present difficulty. Herr Hitler has resorted to the sword, It is for him to lay it down.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.