Evening star., 1940-04-20

States, should try to put before you
why we are against q patched-up
peace, and the kind Of peace we
are fighting for. -
In making such speech I may be
accused Of propaganda. II propa-
ganda means the telling Of lies or
the making OF suggestions and In
nuendoes designed to mislead or
prejudice other nations into doing
things which they would otherwise
not do. there will be no propaganda
in this speech. But II it means tell
ing you the real facts about the way
my countrymen think, and that is
what I am going to do. then I am
performing an essential function in
the international relations of de-
mocracies. For how can free ma
tions arrive at sound policies in in
ternational affairs unless they are
honestly told what the others think?
Why do the allies 60 on fighting?
Why are they uninfluenced by the
many peace offensives" which di-
rectly or indirectly come from Ber-
lin? They are fighting, OF course,
hrst TOR their own existence. But
they are also fighting because they
are convinced that not only a VIC
tory by Nazi Germany but a truce
with Nazi Germany now would be
the end OF most of the values which
Christianity and western democratic
civilization have laboriously built up
in recent centuries.
A great many people in England
thought at first that Hitler was
f1ghting for equal rights for Ger
many-was fighting to remedy those
clauses Of the treaty of Versailles.
which implied discrimination against
Germany-such as unilateral dis
armament.
Domination, Not Equality,
Declared Hitler's Aim.
But gradually it became clear
that Hitler and the Nazi regime were
not concerned merely with equal
rights for Germany: that what
Hitler really wanted was not
equality but domination. 49,
1t was the conviction which
daWned on everybody after he tore
up the Munich settlement and
marched into Prague, that what he
was really after was not equal rights
Tor Germany but the political and
economic domination of Europe that
stlf1ened Polish resistance to his
demands and made Poland itself the
test case on which France and
Britain decided that they had to
malt Nazi aggression, if need be, by
war. 'ss
The underlying motive of western
civilization has been the extension
OF human freedom. The first step
was to secure to the individual the
right to freedom from arbitrary
arrest, to freedom of religion. to
freedom OF political opinion, and to
a share in responsibility for the laws
ne is called upon to obey-that is.
to the principle that government
shall be with the consent of the
governed. Nowhere have these
Ideals, based upon the rights of man.
neen more fully worked out, in the
internal sphere. than in the United
States. 80
We in Britain are still profoundly
convinced that the Great Wer of
1914. which it is now often the FASH
ion to regard as blunder, was a
successful war Of liberation. AS a
result OF it every nation in Europe
obtained its freedom, including Ire
land.
Reasons for Breakdown
OF Peace Settlement.
The real reason for the break
down of the peace settlement was
not the defects in the peace itself,
but the fact that the democracies,
while they were right about national
freedom, had not yet thought cut
now the new order of national free
dom was to be effectively main
tanned. They did not realize that
the condition of freedom is unity
and the reign of law and freedom
Tor trade and that without them
freedom and prosperity rapidly dis
appear.
II was not enough to multiply
the number Of free nations. to raise,
for instance, the number of Euro
pean nations from II to Is, and
the total number of nations in the
world to over TO. That had to be
balanced by some form of organic
unity. II 1t was not to degenerate
into anarchy. imperialism, unem-
ployment and war. The
League of Nations was a gallant at
tempt to supply the element Of
unity and order, but as you all know,
it failed
The conception for which Hitler
and the National Socialist regime
stand Is something entirely foreign
and opposite to these basic ideals
OF the great stream of western civili-
cation.
The Nazi program recognizes hone
OF the basic individual rights. free
dom of person, freedom of speech,
freedom of political association,
freedom of religion. The citizen is
given no responsibility for law and
government. He Is held to exist
for the aggrandizement of the state
to which he belongs. His main duty
is to obey without question the
orders of the rulers of the state. It
Is the same with nations. Nations
have no rights as such. The rights
Of nations derive wholly from their
strength. Small nations have no
rights as against powerful nations.
1t is their duty to yield politically
and economically to the demands Of
their stronger neighbors. We have
seen the idea operating recently in
Scandinavia. The Nazi system is a
system Of empire building by the
forcible subjection of the labor and
resources of weaker neighbors for
the benefit Of the German ruling
race.
The Germans have always been
attracted by the dream of becoming
the successors of the old Roman
Empire.
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