Theirs was the correct attitude of good patriots and of scrupulous experts in international law. But apparently so engrossed were they in the legal aspect of their policy, that they omitted to realize that the' very foundation of neutrality, the condition sine qua non of its existence had disappeared.
We mentioned before that the prerequisite of neutrality is an ibrium of power. This no long-existed, Germany's armaments had become so overwhelming in comparison with those of other powers, that even the breathing space accorded by Munich could by no means suffice to re-establish even a semblance of equality if war were to break out within a year or two after September, 1938, Consequently the former nent. could no longer rely on an equilibrium of power.
They were at the mercy of the German aggressor. And now arose the tragic situation that the very policy which formed the cornerstone of honest and decent neutrality became ts greatest danger. Dictators only understand one language and that is brute force and therefore any attempt to spare the feelings of a man like Hitler w: bound to have the opposite effect and to convince him that he could with impunity dispose of all neutrals, one after the other, in his own time, in a series of consecutive rape:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.