Evening star., 1943-10-11
Critics of Allies
Assui|ed for Distrust
By Maj. George FIELDING Eliot


observer must wonder how 1t is possible
for war ever to be won at all by
coalition. Napoleon was wont to say:
Give me an alliance for an opponent"
Hitler has said the same thing in other
words from time to time. Yet Napoleon
was destroyed by an alliance, and Hitler
Is in the process of being destroyed by
another. Possibly the Napoleons and
the Hitlers of this world have never re-
t1ected on the fact that they themselves,
with their vast ambitions and their
ruthless use of unified power have pro-
vided the compelling reason for a CO.
hesion among their enemies, the mortar
of a common fear which has held to-
gether in a common fabric the nations
they would have destroyed.
But the alliance which finally brought
Napoleon to ruin might surely have done
SO earlier, and thus saved many bright
young lives and much suffering and
treasure, had it been possible to main
tain a greater degree of unity of policy
and purpose among it's members. The
alliance which is in the process of de-
stroying Hitler may surely accomplish
that purpose earlier, at an even greater
saving, If 1t can now achieve a greater
degree Of unity Of policy and purpose:
unity which may give some promise
of enduring after victory is won, to the
end that the fruits of victory may be
assured IN the form Of lasting peace.
That, surely, is the intent which un-
derlies the forthcoming meeting OF the
foreign ministers Of Britain, Russia and
the United States. Even that meeting
can be only exploratory. preparation for
the greater meeting which all the world
awaits; the meeting which shall wipe out
forever the stain of Munich and cause
the Brenner Pass to be remembered only
as rendezvous Of criminals; the meet
ing between Churchill, Stain and Roose-
velt at which the future Of the world
for our time may be decided.
The great question which these two
meetings must deal with, and on which
the hopes OF mankind in generations
yet unborn Is to be staked, is whether or
not 1t will be possible for the three
common purpose and a mutual conf
dence, to keep the peace of the world
once the present disturbers Of that peace
have been crushed.
In the face of that tremendous fact,
that towering hope, the little words Of
the little men among us who seek end
lessly to stir up jealousy, suspicion, dis
unity, playing upon all our old preju-
dices and all our former ignorance, seem
Insignificant indeed. But they are not
insignificant at this moment, which may
we'll be the moment of the greatest
opportunity in history. Opportunity is
notoriously tickle and f1eeting 1t knocks,
but it must be opened to. 1t knocks now
in a form and splendor never before
known to man, but great and glorious
as it Is, 1t can depart, perhaps not to
return until another generation or a
dozen generations of the human race
have been blighted and blasted by war.
Yet even as the echoes of its knocking
arouse an instructive and eager response
in the hearts Of men and women every
where throughout the United Nations,
there are to be found those who are deaf
because they will not hear There are
to be found United States Senators
who can find no better words to utter
on their return from tour of our far
flung battle fronts than a series of petty
criticisms of our Allies There are to
be found newspaper publishers who
nave no better use for their editorial
columns (and indeed for what they are
pleased to call their news columns than
series Of inuendoes, invectives and in
ventions all tending to SOW in our hearts
hatred and distrust of the peoples whose
sons are dying at the side of ours on
many stricken field today and those
surviving sons and daughters must-if
the world is to be at peace when this
war is won-stand beside us in the pres
erVatlon OF that peace against whomso-
ever may seek to disturb it. There are to
be found politicians who seek to wrest
partisan advantage from the old distrusts
and dislikes of bygone days. to keep alive
the spirit OF national isolation and the
lack of confidence in other folk upon
breeds war has fattened for so centuries
1t seems impossible that this should
be so. 1t seems impossible that now, at
long last, when victory over the war
makers is about to be bought at so ter
riole price and when there seems to be
fair and shining hope that for space
OF time, at least, the human race NAV
turn its genius to the arts of life in
stead of the arts of death, that there
should be found one single American to
utter a word or write a word which
should be subversive of ends so magni-
f1cent with promise for all living human
beings and all those who shall come to
life within the next generation.
Copyright, 1943. New York Tribune. 1ncl