14 SEPTEMBER 1945, Page 10

The Commissions of Control in Berlin can do little without

popular support, and popular support will not be aroused unless the public are told the facts and warned of the consequences. There is no reason why the grim silence which hangs like a cloud over Eastern Europe should not be broken in the West. We should realise, for instance, that it would be an evil thing to send back to Germany those Germans who have sought refuge in our midst. We should realise that it would be an evil thing if we, in a mood of hatred which cannot last, were to provide comforts for ourselves when men are dying in Germany from lack of necessities. We should realise that hatred breeds hatred, and that cruelty breeds cruelty, and that if we discard all humane feelings, we shall in the end feel ashamed. In 1939 we took up arms unwillingly to fight evil things ; it would be sad indeed if, having triumphed, we committed evil ourselves.