Evening star., 1941-02-10

DISTINGUISHED Americans have come
over to see things here at the front
and to find out how the United
States can help us best and soonest.
In Mr. Hopkins. who has been my
frequent companion during the last
three weeks. we have the envoy of
the President. the President who
has been newly reelected to his
august office.
In Mr.. Wendell Willkie we have
welcomed the champion of the
great Republican party We may
be sure that they will Doth tell the
truth about what they have seen
over here, and more than that we
do not ask The rest we leave with
good confidence to the Judgment of
the President, the Congress and the
people of the United States.
DwelIs Upon Darker
Aspects for England.
I have been so very careful since
| I've been Prime Minister not to
| encourage false hopes or prophesy
/ smooth and easy things, and yet
the tale that I had to tell today Is
one which must justly and rightly
give us cause for deep thankfulness
and also, I think. for sound COM
fort and even rejoicing.
But now I must dwell upon the
more serious, darker and more
dangerous aspects of the vast scene
of the war We must all of us
have been asking ourselves what
is that wicked man whose crime
stained regime and system are at
bay and in the tolls, what has he
been preparing during these winter
months? What new devlltry Is he
planning? What new small country
will he Overrun or strike down?
What fresh form of assault will he
make upon our island homes and
fortress? Which, let there be no
mistake about it, is all that stands
between him and the domination
Of the world.
We may be sure that the war is
soon going to enter upon phase of
greater violence. Hitler's confed-
crate, Mussolini. has reeled back in
Albania. But the Nazis, having alb
sorbed Hungary and driven Rumania
into a frightful internal convulsion.
are already upon the Black Sea. A
considerable German army and air
force is being built up in Rumania
and its forward tentacles have al
ready penetrated Bulgaria with what
We must suppose is the acqulescenSe
of the Bulgarian government. Air
fields are being occupied by German
ground personnel numbering thou
sands. so as to enable the German
air force to come into action from
Bulgaria.
NaZiS Are Preparing
To Move Into Bulgaria.
Many preparations have been
made for the movement Of German
troops into or through Bulgaria.
And perhaps this southwark move
ment has already begun. We saw
what happened last May in the Low
Countries. How they hoped for the
best, how they clung TO their neu-
trality, how aWfullv they were de-
ceived, overwhelmed. plundered, en-
Slaved and. since, starved.
We know how We and the French
suffered when at the last moment
at the urgent. belated appeal of
the King of the Belgians, We went
10 his aid. OF course, if all the
Balkan people stood together and
acted together, aided by Britain and
by Turkey. it would be many months
before a German army and air force
of sufficient strength to overcome
them could be assembled in the
southeast of Europe And in those
months much might happen
Much will certainly happen as
American aid becomes effective. as
our air power grows as we become
a we'll armed nation, and as our
armies in the East increase in
strength. But nothing is more GER
tain than that, if the countries of
Southeastern Europe allow them
selves to be pulled to pieces one
by one. they will share the fate of
Denmark. Holland and Belgium,
and none can tell how long it will
be before the hour of their deliver
ance strikes
One of our difficulties is to con-
vince some of these neutral coun-
tries in Europe that We are going to
win. We think it's astonishing that
they should be so dense as not to see
1t as clearly as We do ourselves.
I remember in the last war in July,
1915. we began to think that Bull
garia was going wrong. so Mr.. Lloyd
George, Mr.. Bonar Law, Sir F. E.
Smith and I asked the Bulgarian
minister to dinner to explain to
him what a fool King Ferdinand
would make of himself if he were
TO go in on the losing side. It was
no use. The poor man simply could
not believe it, or couldn't make his
government believe it.
Hopes That Bulgaria
Won't Make New Mistake
SO Bulgaria, against the wishes OF
her peasant population, against all
her interests, fell in at the Kaiser's
tail and got sadly carved up and
punlSned when the victory was won.
I trust that Bulgaria is not going
to make the same mistake again
If they do, the Bulgarian peasantry
and people, for whom there has been
much regard both in Great Britain
and the United States. will for the
third time in 80 years have been
made to embark upon a needless and
disastrous war.
In the Central Mediterranean the
Italian Quisling, who is called Mus
solini, and the French Quisling, COM
monty called Laval, are both in their
different ways trying to make their
countries into doormats for Hitler
and his new order, in the hopes OF
being able to keep or get the Nazi
gestapo and PruSsian bayonets to
enforce their rule upon their fellow