The good, homely words of Mr. Herbert Morrison, Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security, in the subject of the fugitive Hess are indeed timely. In the absence of authentic information as to why the man flew from Germany to Scotland, many rumours are current, some of which tend to place him in a more favourable light than he can ever deserve. The rumours range from stories of an alleged attempt to prevent the destruction of Britain by bringing about a negotiated peace to one of a breach between Hess and the Nazi leaders as a result of which Hess sought to save his head by flight. and there has been a tendency on the part of some to look rather more kindly upon him than his past history justifies. Mr. Morrison in declaring that he had no "Hess guess," pointed out that the man was a brutal thug whose hands like his master' were stained with some of the worst political crimes of modern times. The main thing was that no matter what kind of animal he was, whether Trojan horse or rat number one, he was caged. If proof were wanted of the aptness of Mr. Morrison's remarks itis surely to be found in the reports giving details of the thousands of women and children killed by German bombers during the month of April.
It is essential that the greatest care should be taken to prevent Hess appearing to the world as anything but what he really 1s, It is all very well to speak of his passionate devotion to the alleged principles of Naziism, to describe him as a fundamentally honest man. The fact is that he is a Nazi. that no matter what his own personal character may be he is tarred with the same brush as his fellows, It has been argued that in any consideration of Hess's escape the simplest solution is probably the correct one, namely, that he knew he had fallen from favour and was determined to get out of the country while the going was good. There is danger inherent in this story. Tt may help t" clothe Hess with qualities which he has not been shown to possess, and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.