Evening star., 1939-09-10

tar, Sir John Simon and Leslie Hore.
When I reached London on August Z,
1914, from Berlin, where for the preced-
ing eight years was the correspondent
of the London Daily Mail and the New
York Times, England was alive with
enthusiasm-not over the outbreak of
the World War, but over the fact that
Earl Kitchener had been made secre-
tary of state for war in the Asquith
cabinet. *" idol of the army and Brit
ish public, supplanted the supposedly
pro-German Lord Haldane at the war
Office just as Kitchener was about to
embark for Cairo to resume his post as
Sirdar of Egypt.
With the hero of Khartoum in charge
of John Bulls then miniature military
establishment, the nation took instant
heart. 1t was by no means aware of the
desperate struggle it faced-my old chief,
the extraordinary Lord Northcliffe, pro-
prietor of the Daily Mail, at that time
occupied lonely eminence in Europe in
foreshadowing that the war would last
five years-but with Kitchener on the
job and the Grand Fleet already at
sea, Britain brimmed with confidence
that all was we'll, however dark the night
or long the fight.
Churchill and Eden Now.
News dispatches from London during
the past week have reflected the same
widespread spirit of national gratif1ca-
| ton over the recall of Won c>~~chill
and Anthony Eden to the government.
| The half American, 62-year-old Churchill
winston to his friends and Winnie
to the populace-was restored to his
World War post of first lord of the ad-
miralty That is the portfolio which
| corresponds to our secretaryship of the
| Navy.
The 42-year-old Eden was appointed
minister of dominions, including the pro-
! tectorates and crown colonies which do
not enjoy self-governing status like Can
ada, Australia, New Zealand and South
Africa While the brilliant former for
eign secretary is not in the inner cabi-
net which will collaborate with Prime
Minister Chamberlain in formulating
| policy, Eden is to have access to the
group of nine members who will form
the war council
This all-potent body consists of Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor
of the EXchequer Sir John Simon, For
eign Secretary Viscount Halifax, Minis
ter for Coordination of Defense Lord
Chatfeld, First Lord of the Admiralty
Winston Churchill Secretary of War
Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary for Air
Sir Kingsley Wood, Minister Without
Portfolio Lord Hankey and Lord Privy
Seal Sir Samuel Hoare.
Foes of Appeasement.
The inclusion of Churchill in the
Chamberlain government, and, to hardly
a less degree, the return of Eden to
Downing Street, are, of course, the out
standing aspects of the cabinet reor-
ganization. Both men have been con-
sistent and persistent opponents of the
Chamberlain Halifax-Simon policy of
"appeasement" of the relationships at
the price of concessions to what Church.
i'll and Eden have denounced as sub
mission to blackmail. Churchill was not
a member of the government in 1888,
when Eden relinquished the foreign Sec
retaryship as a protest against the ZAP
peasement" program. Events marched
fast to vindicate his position. The Su-
detenland was taken from Czecho-Slo-
vakia month later, and in September
came Munich. The rest is history.
Winston Churchill resumes the helm at
the admiralty, once again to supervise
Britain's war at sea against Germany,
after some, amazing prophecies that at
this very moment the western democra-
cies would find themselves at grips with
the Nazi aggressor. As recently as June
3, 1899, barely three months ago, Mr.
Churchill, writing in Golfers, ventured
the following uncanny forecast:
Unless some change of heart or
change of regime takes place in Ger
many she will deem it in her interest
to make war. and this is more likely
to happen in the present year than
later on. The summer and autumn
months must be period of intense
strain and anxiety to all countries.
Another Startling Prediction.
Even as late as the third week Of
August, just after Britain and France
were caught off balance by the Nazi-
Soviet pact, Churchill was flying home
from France. En- route in plane for
Croydon the former South African and
Indian war correspondent dashed of a
brilliant article for the London Daily
Mirror entitled "At the Eleventh Hour"
It was even more prescient crystal gaz-
ing than his prediction in Golfers. This
Is what Winston" wrote, apropos the