24 MARCH 1939, Page 14

Prominent in this initial mood was bewilderment. It seemed unthinkable

that the leader of an honourable nation could thus flout the principles of honour. It seemed incon- ceivable that the initiative should have passed so blatantly from the hands of the democracies into the hands of anarchs. It was bewildering to hear sane and experienced men asking each other whether the next blow would be struck in Rotterdam or Zurich, against Croatia or Khartoum. The centre of human gravity seemed to have shifted in a single night.