The Wilmington morning star., 1940-07-19
Editorial Comments
From Other Angles
WRESTLING FOR A
New York H~eraId-Tribune

By talking of peace just after Mr.. Winston
Churchill has made palmer than ever Great
Britain's determination to fight it out to the
very end, Mr.. Hitler places himself before his
people in the light of being supremacy reason
able. The intended deduction is that if the
British refuse to accept his offer they are be.
ing unreasonable-so unreasonable that Ger
many has no alternative but to punish them in
order to bring them to reason. If this takes
time and costs many lives it is, nevertheless,
a sacred duty imposed on the German people
not by their leader but by the selfshness, stu
pidity and blindness of the British leaders.
The moral is obvious: That Mr.. Hitler feels
the need of forestalling the disappointment. of
his W people and of his ally in the event that
the British resistance to the expected German
attack proves effective. The presumption is
that his master propaganda, who has shown
such extraordinary skill in moulding the Ger
mar people to his needs, is of the opinion that
the German people are in even greater need
of being stiffened to resistance than are the
British. AS for the Italians, having already
sunk the entire British Navy several times,
only to find that many of the units of that Or
ganization have an unpleasant way of not stay
ing sunk, they are doubtless in need Of new as
surances that they have backed the winning
horse. It should certainly comfort them to
learn that if the war does not end quickly the
fault will not be that of the axis partners but
solely of the unreasonable and stiff-necked
British. Obviously, Great Britain deserves to
have its feet Gunk fifth and sixth time in Or
der to bring it to its senses.
The Germans are reported to have been sur
prised that the British declined to listen to
their offer of peace last October, after the
Poles had been successfully annihilated. The
real reason was, of course, that the British
well knew that Hitler would not offer any
terms except on the basis of German suprem-
acy of the Continent. Today that supremacy
has been achieved by military victory. That
Germany now would forego any of its advan-
tage is even less likely than it was nine
months ago. But the very success of Germany
since the last offer has made it more impossi-
BILE than ever for Great Britain to accept any
compromise so long as Great Britain remains
undefeated. The British are fully aware that
they are fighting not only for their lives but
for the preservation of the empire, and that
both these detectives can be achieved and as
sured by one thing alone, the defeat of Ger
many. So long as Great Britain retains COM
mand of the sea and is not overwhelmed IN
the air, the defeat of Germany is not only pos
sible-it is probable. In offering peace teelers
now, sMr. Hitler is fully aware of this fact.
Great Britain is the only power on earth that
can deprive him of the fruits of victory. If he
can call off the British dogs of war by talking
peace he will achieve his objective at far less
cost than by Invading England. 1t may well
be that the ghost of Napoleon has risen to point
out to him that this cost may well be much
greater than he thinks, and that failure would
spell defeat and, perhaps, even disaster. !