The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-15

ture European peace depended upon a freely-negotiated agreement be- tween the Poles and Russians.
 'The Atlantic Charter has be- come a ghost that a ghost laid to- day." he said.
 In a sober, detailed review of the entire Russo-Polish controversy, Churchill told the House of Com mons that Russia had played the major role in liberating Poland and consequently was justified in de- manding safe frontiers" that would guarantee her against future Ger man aggression.
 HeSitant Leaders
 He warned the heSitant Polish leaders in London that further delay in accepting the Soviet terms might completely undermine their author ity inside Poland and might produce clashes between the Polish under ground and the Red Army similar to the Leftist-British hostilities in Greece.
 He interspersed his proposals for the postwar settlement in Poland with the warning that many months of hard and costly fighting perhaps the worst of the war, may lie ahead before the Germans have been de- feated and the projected territorial changes imposed upon them.
 We must expect that many more Germans will be killed in fighting which will occupy the spring and summer and which will involve the largest and fiercest battles of the war" he said.
 Churchill opened the government portion of the Commons debate on the Polish question with his endorse ment of the Russian territorial de- mands and asserted that the United States government has at least not opposition to the Anglo-Soviet posi- tion.
 He added that President Roose- welt has been fully informed of the entire Russian and British view on the question.
 Picks Words
 T am particularly careful not even to pretend to speak in the name of any other power unless so directed beforehand, and I hope the House will make allowance for the care with which I pick my words upon this point" Churchill said in discussing the American position"
 All I can say is yhat I have re- ceived no formal disagreement dur ing all these long months upon the way in which the future of Poland seems to be shaping itself, or is be- ing shaped
 Then, in tacit bid to Washing ton to make clear its own position on the matter, he said:
 "No doubt, when the time comes the United States will make their own pronouncenent upon these mat ters, bearing in mind as they will the practical aspect which these matters assume and also the effect which failure on the part of the three greatest powers to work to- gether would do all our hopes for the future structure of a world gov- ernment which whatever else it may fail to do, will at any rate be equip ped with all the powers necessary to prevent the outbreak of further wars.'
 Churchill urged the Poles to ac- cept at once the So-called Curzon line, as well as a proposed "Curzon line-A" which would also cede the Lwow region to Russia.
 In return, the Allies would guar antee Poland the acquisition of all East Prussia West and South of Konigsberg, including the Port of Danzig, giving postwar Poland a 200-mile coastal strip on the Baltic Sea, he said.
 Free To Move
 ''The Poles are free, so far as Rus sia and Great Britain are concern ed, to extend their territories at the expense of Germany to the west" he added.
 The Prime Minister acknowledged that this would require an immense shift of populations, involving mil lions of Poles and Germans. He add ed sardonically, however, that East Prussia's population is likely to be reduced considerably by the coming battles and predicted that Germany would be in no position to resist the peace conference decisions of the victorious Allied powers.
 Churchill reiterated Britain'S pos- ition that questions of territorial ad- justment should be held off until the end of the war and then settled by formal agreement of the United Nations as whole, but he recogniz- ed the right of nations to make im- mediate agreements on questions af- fecting their mutual frontiers. Polish Interest
 T am absolute convinced that 1t is in ''le profound future interest of the Polish nation that they should reach an agreement with the Soviet government about their dispued frontiers in the east before the march of the Russian armies through the main part of Poland takes place, he said.
 "This is a great gift they have to give to Russia, settlement at this time which gives a firm title on mutual agreement to what may otherwise be disputed at the peace conference
 Churchill began his address to the House by reviewing statements he made on the Polish question last October and after the Tehran con-