Evening star., 1936-05-31

considered to represent good, honest
British philosophy like wait and see"
'muddle through" and don't talk
until you are ready to fight"
Strange to say these two-who seem
to foreigners to favor doing nothing. a
policy which is mathematically GER
tain to cause war in Europe. whereas
any other policy might avoid it-have
the support Of the greater part of
British public opinion-and Great
Britain sturdily remains a democracy.
There are other ideas in Britain.
There is a small group Of isolationist
Imperialists, who are favorable to the
recognition of real force and young
dynamisns" and therefore Of great
utility to Chancellor Hitler and Prem
ier Mussolini, which would have Brit
ain withdraw from Europe, rearm to
the teeth, cultivate American friend
ship and never fight unless directly
attacked But it Is the smallest group.
Pro- Germans in Group.
There is somewhat bigger group
of real pro-Germans. These people
have not recovered from the 10 years
damnation Of the treaty Of Versailles
and the unspeakable French. They
consider, first, that Germany Is not
really as bad as people say, not even
Hitler Germany: and, anyway, IL it Is
bad, it Is only because the French
have driven the Germans to it. Cease
mistreating Germany, they say, and
Hitler will become a good neighbor
and non-conformist deacon.
These pro-Germans are heteroge-
neous. They include conservatives
like Lords Astor and Londonderry,
financial circles around Montagu Nor
man, liberals like David Lloyd George
and laborites like Sir Stafford Cripps
and Lord Arnold.
Their unifying thread is perhaps
the belief that Hitler is moving away
instead of toward bolshevism in Ger
many.
A third group Is bigger-namely,
what is left of Lord Robert Cecils
peace balloters. They are outspoken-
ly pro-League, pro-sanctions and anti
Fascist; therefore pro-French. favor
able to an active policy in Europe and
conceivably ready to fight for the col
lective system.
But the vast majority Of British
opinion backs Stanley Baldwin and
Neville Chamberlain. To them, for
eigners, particularly European foreign
ers, are a bad lot. The French are
exasperating, untrustworthy and i'm
perialist; the Russians are barbarians;
the Germans behave like beasts; Mus
solini is a scoundrel, and the Italians
mistreat animals and gas poor inno-
cent Negroes, so the best thing for
God d-fearing, moral Englishmen to do
since they cannot really move the
British Isles into the far Atlantic-is
to stall for time, rearm to the teeth
and try to avoid complications by
feeding the tiger.
Catastrophe Is FOreseen.
They hope to tame him, and are
really making him strong while in
creasing his appetite. But until some
proportion of the people or cabinet
become converted to another line, Eu-
rope, unguided by Britain, will drift
straight for catastrophe.
The British foreign Office shares the
views Of Austen Chamberlain and
Winston Churchill, and wants to see
sanctions lifted. Leon Blum, sooP to
be premier of France, and the French
Army want to see sanctions lifted
Belgium, the Little Entente and the
! Russians want sanctions lifted-but
they cannot propose doing this lest
they give a mortal blow to the League
of Nations.
The English still are unshakably
true to the League in q vague, i'm
potent sort of way. Vaguely, too, they
realize that they are being steadily
Inundated.
Mussolini recently suggested feeding
the German tiger by pieces Of British
colonies-he has taken the Portu-
guese under his imperial protection,
SO their colonies are temporarily safe
from British generosity.
Mot" he explained, "that have