Professor Toynbee's Masterpiece
TIIE Survey of International Affairs for 1935 is divided into two volumes. The first contains the annual surveys of the Far East, by Mr. Hubbard, and of World Economic Affairs, by Mr. Hodson, which is appropriately devoted to the problem of raw materials. The rest of the volume describes affairs in North-East Europe. the Disarmament Conference (1934-35), and negotiations for an East European Pact of Mutual Assis- tance, a Franco-Italian Pact, and an agreement between Germany and the Western Powers. These chapters, excellent in themselves, give a clue to the events of the year, which was dominated by the rearmament of Germany. t'lder its shadow, the Disarmament Conference and the negotiations for an Eastern Pact ended in failure : the Franco-Italian and the Anglo-German naval negotiations ended in success ; according to Professor Toynbee, Germany's rearmament also fixed the date of Italy's invasion of Abyssinia.
The first volunie shows us a Europe which has rejected disarmament ; where France. without making comparable concessions, has obtained great advantages from her agree- ment with Italy ; where Great Britain has antagonised France by her naval agreement with Germany. In these circumstances Signor Mussolini invaded Abyssinia. The second volume describes the antecedents, the causes, and the results of his invasion, which is examined in every aspect, diplomatic, politicaL, military and economic. Treated on this scale, the subject is worthy of the greatest historian ; it has every element of a great- histeeical tragediy:' HS characters live up to. the,,parts they have to play and are involved in an evil fate much greater than any of them. The virtues of Signor Mussolini are thOse of Satan crying " be thou my good " ; now Abyssinia is conquered, it is not for English- men to sneer at them: The virtues of M. Laval are his ingenuity and resource in pursuing apparently incompatible ends. The virtues of British statesmen are honest, or dis- honest, doubt.
Professor Toynbee describes the situation with admirable clarity. He shows the powerful forces behind the Covenant in Great Britain ; the pledges of every kind dishonoured in the course of Italy's invasion ; the dangers implicit in Signor Mussolini's success ; the evil of the methods he employed. In some respects, I think, his account is incomplete. He does not show the strength of the opposition to M. Laval in France ; nor explain the motives of the British Government's inconsistent policy ; and he is, to his credit perhaps, incapable of appreciating the impulses actuating Signor Mussolini. Nevertheless, these are only minor defects in the case he so clearly presents. The results are equally clear ; Signor Mussolini triumphant, M. Laval assured of his ends, Great Britain humiliated, her wretched politicians revealed, momen- tarily, for what they are, the League in ruins, binding obliga- tions dishonoured, the Abyssinians gassed into defeat. One cannot read this story without profound shame and disgust, and one cannot help wondering what would have happened if the British Government had pursued its professed aims with the same determination and sincerity with which Signor Mussolini pursued his. In this struggle all the virtues were on the side of evil, all the vices on the side of good. Professor Toynbee's opinion of British statesmanship is expressed in the quotation on the frontispiece " So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
He makes no attempt to conceal this opinion, and this has drawn upon him the condemnation of some who fear he has imperilled the famous impartiality of Chatham House. It is true that at moments one wishes this volume of the survey were written with more restraint, that it had more of the style du code civil, des regulations rnilitaires. The facts are such that they pronounce judgement on themselves. But to present facts so that they do themselves justice is the prerogative only of genius, writing at leisure, at a distance from his subject. It would have been absurd for Professor Toynbee to pretend to such dispassion in describing these events, hardly a year past. The virtue of history is justice, not impartiality, and justice is neither a pleasant nor a tolerant thing. Professor Toynbee has done justice to these facts, even if lie has not allowed them to do it for themselves. And he has tried to give every reader a chance to allow for the writer's prejudices. " In the first place, the writer is an English- man ; secondly, he believes that the English political tradition, as embodied in the present British commonwealth of nations, is n thing of .great value to the world ; thirdly, he believes that the British commonwealth cannot survive except within the fraineWork of an effective international regime of collec- tive security 'of the kind intended in the Covenant of the • Leagne of Nations ; ,fourthly, he believes that in the inter- national crisis of 1935'-36, " the hbnour and vital interests " ofhia country (to use the old-fashioned phrase) alike demanded of the United' Kingdom that she should carry out her obliga- tionp under the Covenant completely, whatever the conse- quences ; fifthly, he considers that this standard of conduct has not been lived up to in the foreign policy which has actually been purined by the United Kingdom in the inter- national transactions 'that are recorded in this volume ; and lastly (to complete. the tale of contentious. points in his posi- tion), he considers that the shortcomings—as they appear to him-6f the actual conduct of British Foreign policy in this- ordeal have been due to a lick of sincerity and courage." I think he should have added to this lit that he jai Christian Who does not believe that rrituder ceases to be murder " because perpetrated by white then 'On black men," and foresees in these events a doom to come. These are violent prejudices, disconniged in demoeracies today. They are always evident in Professor Toynbee's narrative. They have allowed • him to see the evil of what he has to say, and to write an account of the Abyssinian war which 'Will 'be of permanent historical value.
Gono?rWY Sri s.
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