Evening star., 1941-12-30
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Continued From Page A-9D

ment was giving every kind of guar
antee and assurance, were overrun
and trampled on. The hideous
massacre of Rotterdam where 10000
people persisted showed the ferocious
barbarism in which the German air
force revels when entering Warsaw,
and later, in Belgrade, it was able to
bomb practically undefended cities.
On top Of all this, came the great
French catastrophe. The French
Army collapsed and the French ma
ton was dashed into what events
hence have proved so far irretriev-
able confusion. g.
The French government had at
their own suggestion solemnly bound
themselves with us not to make a
separate peace. 1t was their duty
and it was also their interest to 60
to North Africa, where they would
have been at the head OF the French
Empire. In Africa, with our aid,
they would have had overwhelming
sea power: they would have had the
recognition of the United States and
the use of all the gold they have
lodged beyond the seas.
Behaviour of the Dutch.
If they had done this, Italy might
have been driven out of the war
before the end of 1910 and France
would have held her place as ma
ton in the councils of the Allies
and at the conference table of the
victors.
But their generals misled them.
When I warned them that Britain
would fight on whatever
they did-their generals told their
Prime Minister and his divided
cabinet lin three weeks England
will have her neck wrung like a
chicken"
Some chicken!
Some neck!
What contrast, sir. has been
the behaviour of the valiant, Stout
hearted Dutch who still stand forth
as strong, living partner in the
struggle. Their venerated Queen
and government are in England.
Their princess and her children
have found asylum and protection
here in your midst.
But the Dutch nation are de-
Tending their empire with logged
courage and tenacity by land and
sea and in the air. Their subma-
rines are inflicting q heavy daily
toll upon the Japanese robbers who
have come across the seas to steal
the wealth Of the East Indies and
ravage and exploit its fertility and
its civilization.
The British Empire and the United
States are going to the aid of the
Dutch. We are going to fight out
this new war against Japan togeth-
er; we have suffered together and
we shall conquer together.
But the men of Bordeaux, the
men of Vichy, they would do MOTH
ing like this. They lay PROSTATE at
the foot of the conqueror. They
fawned upon him. What have they
got out of it? The fragment of
France which was left to them is
just as powerleSs, just as hungry as,
and even more miserable, because
more divided, than the occupied re-
gions themselves.
Hitler plays from day to day a
cat and mouse game with these tor
mented men. One day he will
charge them a little less for holding
their countrymen down. Another
day he will let out a few thousand
broken prisoners of war from the
million and a half or million and
three quarters he has collected. Or
again, he will shoot a hundred
French hostages to give them
taste of the lash.
Warning to Vichy.
And on these blows and favors. the
Vichy government has been content
to live from day to day, but even
this will not 60 On indefinitely. At
any moment, it may suit Hitler's
plans to brush them away. Their
only guarantee is Hitlers good faith
which, as everyone knows, biteth like
the adder and stingeth like the asp.
Some Frenchmen there were who
would not bow their knees and who
like their Gen. De Gaulle have con-
tinued to fight at the side of the
Allies. They have been condemned
10 death by the men of Vichy but
their names will be held and are