Evening star., 1934-07-15

are the indispensable safeguards of
justice and which are sacroSanct in
every modern civilized State.
All this has shocked the public
mind of Europe as no other event even
in these disturbed times has done. 1t
has thrown a fierce and sinister light
upon the breakdown of democratic
government and the meaning of die
tatorShip. The case of Italy conveyed
the same lesson, but not on anything
approaching the same scale. And
though the horrors of Russia transcend
all that has happened in Germany
they have not made anything like the
same impression on the mind OF
Europe. Russia has never been quite
on the political map of Europe and
her civilization has not belonged to
the European system. She has passed,
without any interval of self-govern-
ment, from one despotism to another
and her agonies are remote and seem
to belong to another plane Of exist
ence.
X X
I think the most widespread reaction
to the event in all serious quarters,
both here and on the continent, is the
deep sense of the new and ominous
shadow which it throws over the
future of Europe. That feeling is the
more acute because it is realized that
the postwar policy which Europe,
under the leadership of France, has
applied to Germany is largely respon-
a
has befallen that country, and through
that country has now befallen the
European structure itself. For what
ever the fears of a dominant and
militarized Prussia may have been,
there is no question that without a
stable and pacific Germany the Euro
pean system cannot hope to recover
its political prestige or its economic
prosperity.
Apart from this general and dispas-
sionate consideration, two main cur
rents Of thought arise from the events
in Germany. Dictatorship has made
a clean sweep of representative gov
ernment from the Rhine to the Sea of
Japan, and its fruits are before us.
They are -blooded murder, the
brutal prosecutions of all who are suS-
pected of diSaffection. the suppression
of all freedom OF the press, of speech
and of thought, government by a
tyrant through a pretorian guard, a
plague of spies who make every man
talk in whispers for fear of the con-
centration camp or the timber forest.
the punishment of all criticism, the
Saturation of the country with propa-
ganda in the interests of whatever
dictator has all the vehicles of COM
munication in his control and the re-
pudiation of religion or the invention
of some new pagan doctrine designed
to buttreSs up the tyranny.
X X X
Nowhere and at no time have these
fruits of dictatorship been SO start
lingly exhibited as in Germany dur
ing the past few weeks, and the effect
of the revelation upon the countries
which still rejoice in free institutions
is significant. There Is a marked
change of feeling here on the sub
ject of movements like that of Sir
Oswald Mosley, and a growing in
OlSDOSlLlOI 10 JOAcIdte any lIllllB III lA-C
shape of private armies or organized
threats to parliamentary government.
Even Lord Rothermere, whose press
has cOquetted with the Mosley move
ment. has scented danger and is now
bravely hooting dictators eff the stage.
So far MoSley has not dared to chal-
lenge public opinion by putting up a
candidate for fascism at any by
election. and in the present mood of
the public there is little likelihood
that he will be tempted to do So
The other current of thought re-
leased by events in Germany relates
to the question of disarmament 1t
is clear that for a long time to come
Germany is going to be preoccupico
with her internal problem Many Oh
servers take the view that the out
come of the present chaos will be a
long period of civil strife, issuing
probably in the disruption OF the
Reich. In any case. the menace Of
coherent and militarized Germany,
which has been the stumbling block
to disarmament. has shrunk and 1t
will be long before it can revive.
(Copyright 19341 ri