Evening star., 1938-02-20
By M..C.R X.
ADY ASTOR Is . leading figure
in an article which appears In
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in An article which appears In
the February issue Of Current
IL History. The name Of the piece
Is "Britain's Cliveden set' and the au-
thor Is Claud Cockburn.
According to Mr.. Cockburn, Lady
Astor Is the center Of q group whose
political purpose is to make England's
foreign policy favorable to Germany.
To quote him:
"Cliveden Is the Thames Valley
country residence of Viscountess
Nancy Astor, sometime of Virginia
and now wife Of Viscount Astor, owner
Of the weekly Sunday newspaper, the
Observer. Her brother n-law, Maj.
the Hon. John Jacob Astor, owns the
controlling interest in the London
Times Both are profoundly infiu-
enced, directly or indirectly, by the
enormously energetic and sprightly
Lady Astor.
I'm q country where 80 much of
the most important politics is played
at week ends In large country houses,
Cliveden, by reason of the passionate
political interest Of its hostess, and
the enormous power which her family
wealth and newspaper connections
represent. has been one of the most
politically important Of British coun-
try houses"
As Mr.. Cockburn sees it, the Give
den group wishes to influence British
| politics in favor of Germany for rather
paradoxical reasons. On the one hand,
he says, England is'afraid with fear
amounting to panic Of a possible Ger
man attack upon Britain" And on
| the other hand, there Is great dis
like OF the Communist and popular
front governments on the continent.
They regard, correctly" he writes,
Germany as the greatest potential
menace to Britain. They acknowledge,
theoretically, that the means to neu-
tralize that menace are ready to
hand in the shape Of closer. al
lance and cooperation between Brit
ain, France, Czechoslovakia and the
Soviet Union.
But they are in the awkward
position of feeling bound to reject, for
the most part. the very defenses which
offer themselves, since they cannot
bear the notion of an association with
the Soviet Union or a strengthening
Of the alliances and pacts of the Soviet
Union in Central and Western
Europe"
That the influence exerted by this
group is great, Mr.. Cockburn asserts
with positiveness. He lists as mem
bers Lady Astor, Lord Astor, Maj.
Astor, Lord Lothian, Lord London
derry, chief of the Conservative party
organization; Mr.. Geofirey Dawson,
editor of the Times; Mr. Darlington
Ward, one of his principal assistants
there and q close protege of Lady
Astor; Sir Neville Henderson, British
Ambassador to Berlin; Lord Halifax
himself, and a whole string of satel-
| lites
The Aga Khan" he adds, occupies
a somewhat eccentric position close to
the Cliveden set.
THE cabinet ministers most closely
associated with the set are Sir Samuel
Hoare. the present Home Secretary
and Sir John Simon, Chancellor of
the Exchequer. -.
1T would be hard" says Mr.. Cock
burn, somewhat unnecessarily consid-
ering this array Of names. Ito exag-
gerate the ramincations Of the power
and influence Represented by the Give
den Set in politics, newspapers and the
City, W, ,-.-, "a
| A S A contrast to the routine type Of
war story sent out from the Span
ish front. Current History publishes
series Of Spanish War Profiles" by
| Nina Belmonte, in which there is
shown IAN aspect Of the war which has
heretofore received scant attention:
the ties that still bind both sides to-
gether" Miss Belmonte is a writer
affiliated with the nationalist faction.
Her "profiles" have been gathered from
personal observation at the fighting
front,
She writes that it is her impression
that when finally the fight has ended
there will be neither victors nor van
| pushed, but brothers, all united and
eager to help create great united
| country"
| As evidence Of this state of mind
among the Spanish people, she quotes
such striking incidents as the follow
ing:
Things had been very quiet on the
Aragon front late last spring. Opposite
us, hardly 500 yards away, was the
enemy trench; IN between a vineyard.
Grapes were ripe, asking to be picked
and eaten The strong heat made the
sight of those fresh grapes 4 perma-
nent torture for fighters on both sides.
Finally one of the loyalist militiamen
could stand 1t no longer. We heard
him calling:
| What about truce while we pick
them up?'
"A few minutes of silence. Then:
why not'' replied q nationalist
soldier.
"Out Of their trenches came the op-
posing armies, unarmed this time.
Together they gathered the grapes.
chatted aimably with each other and
exchanged jokes. -.
"The work finally accomplished, the
grapes were equally divided. Then
each group took its share to its own
trench. The shooting was resumed
shortly afterward."
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