THE WAY TO VICTORY
Sta,—The strength of the Allied cause lies in the fact that so far Germany has been the sole aggressor. The present situation doubtless demands firmness and an imposing display of force. But for France to attempt to invade Germany would merely imply moral surrender, apart from the risk of losing Alsace-Lorraine and perhaps much more besides. Happily neither Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. George Lansbury, Sir Stafford Cripps, Sir Oswald Mosley, nor any other of our leaders of political thought hugs the delusion of a punitive war. And certainly Mr. Chamberlain does not. And if, as is sometimes alleged, the younger generation are mostly Communists or Fascists (at least in embryo), it is noteworthy that all alike reject such a puerile notion as that aggression can be cured by more aggression.
A Peace Conference must therefore at least be projected and its scope and constitution could now be determined, although its actual functioning may yet be long postponed.
The case of Poland, for instance, can only be settled by neutral arbitration. Nobody would wish to see the Poland of the Versailles Treaty re-habilitated. But a more or less puppet State which might suit U.S.S.R. and Germany is equally impracticable and would only revive the evils of former partition. There are said to be some zo,000,000 authentic Poles, and these, in the interests even of their neighbours, must be allowed to constitute themselves an adequately sovereign State. It is improbable that any proposals advanced by the aggressors would be fair and equitable, but it is also unlikely that any put forward by the chief authors of Versailles would be acceptable to Germany, and she would doubtless fight to the last man rather than submit to another dictated " peace." An arbitrator must then be found, and Signor Mussolini would seem adapted to this role, if he would accept it ; otherwise a neutral tribunal should be set up, meeting on neutral territory—e.g., Switzerland—with powers to make proposals and to ratify, reject or revise any that may be put forward. To this tribunal Great Britain, France, Germany and U.S.S.R. could send delegates, and the tribunal itself might consist of the Presidents of Lithuania and Esthonia, as States contiguous to Poland, together with two or three statesmen of world repute such as President Roosevelt and Signor Mussolini, and perhaps also the Kings of Sweden and Belgium. This tribunal should be competent to settle most of the questions at issue and so develop into a genuine Pan- European Conference.
War of itself settles nothing and unsettles everything. The world must not get the impression we are less anxious for peace than Germany. Now is the time to prepare peace plans before civilisation has been laid in ruins, myriads of lives sacrificed in senseless slaughter, and the atmosphere en- venomed by that spirit of invidia which always renders a just settlement impossible at the end of a war.—Yours faithfully,
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