A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
NOTHING better exemplifies the contrast between this country's attitude today and a year ago than a compari- son between two speeches by the Prime Minister. Last week, on August 24th, Mr. Chamberlain declared with deep emotion in the House of Commons that if we were forced into conflict despite all our efforts, " we shall not be fighting for the political future of a far-away city in a foreign land. We shall be fighting for the preservation of those principles the destruction of which would involve the destruction of peace and liberty for the peoples of the world." That is separated by almost the distance of the poles from the Prime Minister's broadcast on Czecho- Slovakia on September 25th, 1938. What he said then was " How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing." We have travelled far in eleven months ; and in the right direction.
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