Evening star., 1940-12-12
Lothian 5 Final Plea
Sees 1912 Victory
With Aid Of j. ).
America Must Save
Britoin or Foce War,
Form Federation Told

Britain or Foce War,
Form Federation Told
Britain's most fortnight and un-
qualified public appeal for American
aid barely short of actual participa-
ton in the war was before this Gov
ernment and the Nation today, the
final public utterance of the empires
Ambassador, Lord Lothian.
Delivered for him by Neville Butler,
counselor to the British Embassy, as
the diplomat himself passed through
his final illness, the plea was made
in an address to the American Farm
Bureau Federation in Baltimore last
night.
Confident, but thoroughly grave in
tone. the appeal predicted British
victory in 1912 if sufficient help is
forthcoming from the United States,
emphasized that 1941 is to be the
critical year in which the fate of
the democracies will be hung
delicately on our decisions and
Britain's powers to resist, and played
| repeatedly on the theme that to
| save itself from total war the United
| States must save the British COM
monWealth from destruction and
| disintegration.
Text in Officials Hands.
Undoubtedly carefully considered
and formal declaration of the British
government, the Lothian text al
ready is in the hands of State De-
partment officials and may even be
sent to President Roosevelt, along
with other material on the whole
subject of aid to Britain, by the
special mail pouch which is flown
to him daily aboard the cruiser
Tuscaloosa in the Caribbean.
The precise nature and extent OF
the aid desired was not defined in
detail, of course, but its all-in-
clusiveness was presented effectively
in the following words of the
Ambassador:
With your help in aeroplanes,
munitions, in ships and on the sea-
and in the field of finance now being
discussed between your Treasury
and ours, we are sure of victory.
1T is not for me to try to tell you
what you ought to do. That is
entirely for you to decide for your
selves. But it is my business to see
that you are informed of the essen
tiol focte booorca ,,rlacc vo,, ore co
Informed you cannot form a judg-
ment and I and not you would be
responsible for the consequences.
- you have already declared your
interest in the survival of Britain.
1t is for you to decide whether 1t is
to your interest to give us whatever
assistance may be necessary in
order to make certain that Britain
shall not fall
In his expressed fears of growing
| German strength at sea. the AM
| bassador remarked gravely that no
one can vet tell what the constant
pressure of Hitler both on the Vichy
government TO give him control Of
| the French feet and bases in the
, Mediterranean and on Japan to ex-
| tend the war in the Pacific, may
| lead to-"
Graphically, the Ambassador por-
| trayed a world in which the British
commonwealth of nations stands as
giant circle of fortresses around
that part of the world still at peace
the Western Hemisphere.
Part of young Nations" Stressed.
Reviewing the mobilization of this
| defensive front, Lord Lothian laid
particular stress on the part being
played by the young nations of
the empire - Canada, Australia.
South Africa, New Zealand.
You will soon hear of their
/ prowess on more than one front"
he promised. The Canadian train
ing scheme is rapidly coming into
output. You will be staggered at
what will come out of Canada
shortly in the shape of trained pilots
and men. And Canada produced
perhaps the best airmen in our
forces in the great war"
We he added in reference to the
beleaguered British Isles, for geo.
graphical reasons are in the firing
line But you and Canada and Aus
tralia and New Zealand and prob
ably South Africa have the chance,
if you take it. of saving yourselves
from being the theater of total war.
You are the center of that great
ring of fortresses, Britain, Gibraltar,
Capetown, Suez, Singapore and
Australia, I have mentioned, to
which 1 should add Hawaii and
Panama. So long as these fortresses
stand. the war, with its aerial
bombardment, cannot in any real
sense of the word roll up to your
shores or devastate your towns and
| cities.
Il do not believe that a liberal
civilization can develop under con-
| ditions of constant bombardment
and war Modern individual free
dom developed first in England
precisely because the channel pro-
tected Britain from constant war,
and later in America because the