There are two very important points in Lord Halifax's speech in the House of Lords on Tuesday, in the course of which he dealt with Allied war and peace aims, Soviet aggression against Finland, and the protests of the neutral nations against the Allied blockade of German exports. The first of the two is the definition of war and peace aims, and the second is the revelation that Anglo-French-Russian negotiations prior to August of this year broke down because the Allies would not agree to formule permitting of all that Russia has now done and may be contemplating. On the subject of the war aims Lord Halifax is explicit enough without indulging in hard and fast definitions at a time when it is much too early to do so. It is sufficient that they should be defined in general terms, and as he has set them forth he informs the world at large that the Allies are fighting for just those things which the democracies hold dear, and which men like Herr Hitler and M. Stalin profess to despise. The general purpose for which the Allies have taken up war is perfectly clear. They desire that the peoples who have been deprived of their independence should recover their liberty; they desire to safeguard their own freedom and security, seeking no aggrandisement, nor to redraw the map of the world in their own interest. Still less are they imbued with any spirit of vengeance, though Lord Halifax very rightly pointed out the increasing difficulty of maintaining that attitude in the hearts of the Allied peoples as the war progresses. It is not the fact of war which may in the long run bring about a desire for vengeance, which does not at present exist, but the manner in which it is being pro-secured, and if the manner in which the Reich is pursuing the war does eventually bring about a change of heart it would be no matter for surprise. It remains for Germany to restore the confidence which Herr Hitler has destroyed. Once that is done then it will be possible to reach a settlement which will enable her to take her rightful place amongst the nations of Europe, in an international order in which all people will be able to determine their political and economic life, free from the interference of their powerful neighbour:
It needs but a very superficial glance round Europe to realize what the Allied Governments have in mind. The world has witnessed the anschluss of Austria, the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, the parti tion of Poland by Germany and Russia, and the subjugation,—peacefully, it is true, because they were in no position to resist—of Lithuania, Latvia and Esthonia, by the Soviet and finally the brutal invasion of Finland by the Red armies of the Kremlin. There can be no hiding the fact that not one small nation in Europe can count itself secure so long as men such as Herr Hitler and M. Stalin are permitted to wreak injustices on smaller and powerful less nations. So long as the law of the jungle, the rule-of the tooth and claw is allowed to hold sway, so long must the small neutrals of Europe fear for their very existences, for no system of international justice can possibly be based on a foundation of lying, hypocrisy and perfidy, and as long as the principles of international justice are denied by the possessors of considerable strength there can be nothing but insecurity and instability throughout Europe. There is left consideration of what is in reality the most significant passage in Lord Halifax's speech:—
We have tried to improve our relations with Russia, but always maintained the position that the rights of third parties must remain intact and be unaffected by our negotiations.
I think that events have shown that the judgment and instinct of the Brit: Government in refusing an agreement with the Soviet Government in terms of formule covering cases of indirect aggression on the Baltic States were right.
It is now plain that these formule might well have been the cloak for ultimate designs, and I have little doubt that the British people would prefer to face difficulties rather than feel that we had compromised the honour of the British Commonwealth on such an issue.
If, as it is suggested, the price of an understanding with Russia was the acceptance of arrangements whereby the Allies would consent to what Russia has already done and is doing in the Baltic countries, it is not surprising that the conversations at Moscow came to nothing, nor that Moscow went shopping simultaneously in Berlin.
This was no occasion for Great Britain and France to play the parts of Judases, it was a role for which previous performances clearly demonstrated Herr Hitler was more than fit, and the readiness with which he accepted it is, in the circumstances, eloquent in the extreme. Had the Allies consented to pay the price which M. Stalin demanded, Germany would indeed have been encircled so far as east Europe is concerned with a ring of hostility. That country even now is likely to find herself in the same state before very many years have passed, for while Herr Hitler has yielded to Russia before the press of circumstances,—and those circumstances of his own creation,—it is unlikely that he can witness the rising dominance of Russia in the Baltic and the reduction of that sea to the status of a Russian lake without a realization that sooner or later, Germany, if it wishes to exist, must eventually resist, That German military, and naval quarters apparently fully understand, Hence the disunion reported from Berlin. They see in Russian manœuvres in Scandinavia, the Baltic and south-eastern Europe the assumption of the role of paramount influence which they have come to regard as traditionally their own. The Allies, it is clear from Lord Halifax's statement, were offered terms probably not dissimilar from those whiçh Germany has accepted. It is regrettable that that fact was not made clear earlier, for a better propaganda point could hardly have been conceived. Rather than sell the smaller nations out, Great Britain and France abandoned hope of a defensive understanding with Russia, which turned to Germany and made that nation pay a high price for a benevolent neutrality, the full tale of which has not yet been reached. It is idle in the circumstances to accuse the Allies of being responsible for Finland's plight. They knew what M. Stalin wanted, and would be no party to the infamy which he was designing. About that Herr Hitler had no qualms, and it is he and he alone who is particeps criminis with M. Stalin in this cruel onslaught upon the dearly-won freedom of a youthful, and energetic nation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.