Evening star., 1935-07-14
ANGLO:U. 5. UNITY
SOUGHT FORPEACE
Britain Turns to America
in Search for Bar to
Catastrophe.
BY A. G. GARDINER.

BY A. G. GARDINER.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
LONDON, July 13.-It is natural
that in the desperate search for for
eign policy that will check the present
helpless drift to catastrophe the mind
of this country should turn across the
Atlantic as ask: Can Anglo -Ameri-
can cooperation do nothing to throw
up a breakwater for peace?"
No one doubts the sincerity Of the
British governments efforts in Eu-
rope to avert disaster. II that sin
cerity were doubted the government
could not exist a week, for as the ex-
traordinary ballot organized by Lord
Cecil and the League of Nations Union
shows. the cause of peace has become
the paramount obsession of the public
mind. More than 100000 votes OF
electors were cast, and of these some
thing like 81 per cent declared for the
policy of collective peace under the
sanctions and authority of the League
OF Nations.
Results PitiabIy Poor.
But the governments attempts to
give effect to this emotion have had
pitiably poor results. Its naval pact
with Germany has aroused the gravest
suspicious in France, and Mr.. Eden's
mission to MuSSolini has resulted in
a snub, the directneSs Of which Mr..
Eden did not conceal from the House
Of Commons. He was made to under
stand that nothing short of a pro-
tectorate of AbySSinia will divert II
Duce from the great adventure on
which he has embarked. Then the
problem became whether the ma
chinery of the League of Nations would
be set in motion or whether. as in the
case Of Japan, the League would take
the blow lying down. If 1t does, the
curtain will for all practical purposes
descend on the stage of Geneva. The
prestige Of the League has suffered
too much already to survive another
fragrant outrage.
1t is in these circumstances that
public opinion is turning, little for
lornly, in other directions for a gleam
of hope. If the reconstruction of Eu-
ropean civilization is at present i'm
possible, why, it is asked, should we
not look to Anglo-American co-opera-
ton as the first step toward the ulti-
mate ideal of world state?"
Schuster Presses for Action.
Among those who are pressing for
action in this direction is Sir George
Schuster, who after controlling the
finances of the Sudan has been India s
chancellor of the exchequer. and has
now returned to England. The essen
tial character of the British nations,
he said in a speech in London the
other day, is that they still maintain
and believe in representative democ-
racy. and have found means of work.
ing that form of government effective
ly." All other nations have failed,
with one exception.
There is," he said, "one other great
area of homogeneous government COM
parable in Importance with the Brit
ish area where the ideas of repre-
sentative democracy and liberty for
the individual still flourish-the
United States of America-and which
is for that reason equally great
force for peace in the world. The
powers of the British group for peace
cannot be fully effective in world
politics unless, as well as working in
harmony within itself, that group is
working in harmony with the great
American Nation"
U. S. Initiative Doubted.
And broadcasting an evening later,
Sir Frederick Whyte, who has been
in turn president of the Legislature
in India and financial adviser to
China, expressed the view that if the
United States and the British Com
monwealth of Nations together exer-
cised all their powers to outlaw war
in accordance with the conditions of
the Kellogg pact, they had sufficient
moral, material and financial strength
to make their action effective. But
Sir Frederick, unlike Sir George, en-
tertains little hope that America in
its present mood will be disposed to
take any active initiative. 1t has
reverted to the doctrine of isolation
and the more Europe sinks into chaos
the less disposed will it be to get en-
tangled in its quarrels again.
Lord Beaverbrook acclaims the
SchuSter idea and insists that Britain,
like the United States, should cut
itself adrift from the continent of
Europe and build up structure of
the English-speaking peoples But he
is a voice-journalistically, many
voiceS-crying in the wilderness, for
the public, unlike the artless mission
ary of empire, cannot ignore the facts
OF geography and Britain's ineScapa-
BILE concern in the affairs of Europe.
The Isle of Wight might as well talk
of isolating itself from England as
Britain of isolating itself from Eu-
rope.
The only available instrument of
a collective policy in Europe is the
League. If that breaks finally, then
we shall be driven back to the deadly
system of the balance of power with
its competitive armaments and it's
inevitable catastrophe. The immediate
issue is in the hands of MuSsolini and
no one here entertains hope of rea-
son or craftsmanship prevailing in
that quarter
Copyright. 1935)