It is inevitable that at intervals the demand should be made that Great Britain, and her Allies should state the aims for which they are fighting. The argument seems to be that, because Hitler has made it perfectly plain what his war aims are, his opponents should do the same thing. It is not a particularly good argument for the principle object which Great. Britain has in view is known, namely, the destruction of Naziism and the liberation of enslaved Europe from the bonds with which Hitler has bound it. Mr. Randolph Churchill, son of the Prime Minister, in his maiden speech in the House of Commons on November 27, made avery telling point in this connection:
With regard' to the question of war aims, did anyone really think that war was going to solve all our problems? We went into this war very reluctantly as a last resort. The idea that at the end of it one had only to wave a wand and all problems would disappear was not true, In the Army barracks One did not hear much argument about war aims. The men there knew that they were fighting for their homes, their lives, for|freedom, and the right to determine their own future, Europe knew that our victory would bring peace to all anda new chance of liberty. Of all those liberty was the greatest. Neither Hitler nor Mussolini dared offer that priceless blessing. It was England's greatest and most historic offering to a Europe enslaved. Some of the people who spoke about war aims seemed more anxious to procure some fad of their own out of victory than they were concerned in the victory itself. In some people's minds the talk of war aims sprang from a hope that there might be some easy and undiscovered way, by stringing words together and uttering pious phrases, whereby the end of the war would be brought much nearer. That was a wholly illusory view.
We had nothing to depend on in this war except our own strong right arm. To suppose that by a few polite phrases we could persuade captive nations to break their bonds and rise against their masters was a complete de-lusian. The nations of Europe today were ground down under a most bitter and efficient tyranny, and we had no right to expect that they would rise in any effective way until victory was already emerging above the horizon. We should certainly be very wrong to count upon it. How could we tell what the situation would be when the war was over? Who would still be our Allies and who our enemies?
That is the voice of the young generation plunged into this struggle by the grievous errors of its predecessors, just as much as by the. overweening ambitions of criminally minded nen. and it is a voice which has to be! li "to. This is no such war as most of those which are now history. It is a world revolution, a struggle between two widely separated ideologies, between which there can be no compromise. Can it be believed for one moment that by stringing 4 -words together and uttering pious phrases a basis can be found for the reconciliation of the irreconcilable? /The question has merely to be put to suggest the only possible answer. This fight must be carried on until the evil thing with which the world is threatened has been finally crushed, and mankind is given an opportunity to take stock of the position which will then have been created.
The only present aim which should be enunciated is to salve what is good out of the inevitable wreckage—toleration, liberty, free speech and a broadening standard of living. It is well that men of good intention are quietly seeking to discover what sort of world can be rebuilt on the ruins which Hitler and Mussolini have created. Yet there is no guarantee that whatever plans they may be preparing will be applicable to conditions brought about by a victorious peace for Great Britain and her Allies. It follows that there can in fact be no statement of war aims at the present juncture which could possibly be productive of good. It might indeed only produce evil results, and the conclusion to be drawn is the same as that generation for which Mr. Churchill was speaking, namely, that immediate concern is for the prosecution of this struggle to victory. If Great Britain and those with her concentrate in taking care of this war, the peace can be left to take care of itself. Obviously it is highly undesirable to make any pronouncements now which would at some later time enable Germany again to claim that she was tricked into defeat by some document similar to the famous "Fourteen Points." What is wanted is as complete a military defeat inflicted upon Germany as that of 1918, without any inducements to surrender save the threat of continued resort to arms, and the opportunity which that will create to rebuild the future on the ashes of the past.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.