Evening star., 1939-07-09

tesgaden in September, 1938-that "the
world would be plunged into unbeliev-
able anarchy if Britain and France
should decide to fight for the Sudeten-
lands now being presented to Hitler
with less force
There is no doubt that the weakness
OF the British in dealing with the Japa-
nese at TlentSin has made a deep i'm
preston in Germany and Italy. Ac-
cordlng to American reports, neither the
Fuehrer nor II Duce believed that the
British would take it" from the Japa-
nese in such ChriStian-like spirit In
a conversation with a high American
official in Berlin, one of Hitlers right
hand men said: "Thirty-five years ago
the japanese won a great victory at
Yalu against the Cars armies 1t ended
forever RuSsia's dreams of spreading
into Asia. In 1889 at Tientsin the Japa-
nese won an even greater victory with
out firing shot against the greatest
colonial power in the world-Great
Britain. The fact that the British did
not dare take reprisals against the Japa-
nese-and there we're many they could
have adopted-indicates that the British
Empire is on its last legs. The London
government knows this, although the
majority of the British people don't.
We know it here now, too"
Washington seems to share-up to a
point-this German opinion. The State
Department and the White House might
at times be effectively informed about
what is going on in Europe, because our
principal sources of information are Lon
don and Paris, but they do know what
is going on in the Far East, The buster
ing attitude Of the japanese military is
considered here merely front. Under
meath this there still is grave concern
that some ill-advised conflict with
major power might end forever the
dreams Of japanese expansion on the
Chinese mainland. This is the reason
why the American Government has re-
Gently adopted an intransigent attitude
toward the Toxic government, fully con-
vinced that the stronger We appear the
less likelihood there is of an armed con-
f1ict in the Pacific.
Britain was urged at the outset Of
the Tientsin clash to stop arguing with
TOXIC and dispatch a feet Of 10 battle
ships to the Far East. Such feet. with
the usual auXiliaries-light and heavy
cruisers, deStroyerS and submarines
would have liquidated the British-Jap-
anese dispute within a few days. Britain
could easily have afforded to send such
a force to the Pacific, had it not been
for public opinion. The combined
British French navies would have a
three-to-one superiority over the Ger
manhattan naval forces. A feet such
as has been suggested would represent
less than one-third of the total Franco
British power. The British and French
naval staffs agree that the roll of their
fleets in the event of a European war
will be primarily the protection of their
lines of communication with small and
fast vessels and the heavy craft can be
spared in other zones of activities"
But the cabinet turned down this sug-
gestion because 'the dispatch of such
a powerful detachment from the home
waters might unduly excite public opin-
ion which is already on edge
1llC D1 4tlSIl I1Di14CI pAC4C4AClI W ulIS4
vain threats of reprisals which it never
intended to take, rather than to act at
the suggestion of those who know what
they are talking about
Repercussions in Europe.
The defeat suffered by the British in
China cannot be fully appreciated yet,
Its repercussions are felt not only in the
For To ct pl1f u-pll
The Germans who encouraged the
japanese to proceed with their challenge
to Britain did not themselves expect
such remarkable results. Whatever hes
itation may have been felt in certain
circles in Berlin and in many quarters
in Rome about preCipltatlng a conflict
if the "democratic' powers do not sub
nit to the dictates of the axis has now
disappeared The Germans look upon
the French with the same lack of con-
Germ with which the British and French
regard the Italians
Rome and Berlin, while not admitting
it publicly, were concerned over the po-
tential power of Great Britain. They
were worried for fear the British lion
might still wake up and fight with its
old determination. The TientSin affair
an dthe empty gestures of the London
cabinet in the last 10 days seem to have
convinced the two partners of the axis
that they can now proceed with i'm
punity; that when they enter Danzig
and the Poles prepare to put up a re-
sistance, the British will be on the coun-
selling side rather than in the fighting
faction.