THE BASQUE CHILDREN
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I raise a very practical point in relation to the horror which we are all feeling. at the ceaseless bombardment of Barcelona and Other towns in Catalonia ?
AMong the many hundred thousand refugees suffering under this bombardment are the parents of the majority of the Basque children now in this country:. We have this week sent home to Bilbao the final party of children whose parents are there, free and able to take care of them. We have now left in this country just over 2,000. Apart from the majority "whose parents are refugees in Eastern Spain, the remainder either have parents divided between two different parts of Spain, or have parents in prison in Bilbao or have parents untraceable. So far as these 2,000 children are concerned, therefore, we have to maintain them in this country indefinitely.
The seriousness of the situation is_ that the valiant efforts
of the self-styled " Spanish Children Repatriation Committee " run by Sir Arnold Wilson (which has not repatriated a single child) have, in past weeks, had the triumphant effect of per- suading many people either that 'the children- have all gone home and need no further support, or alternatively can all and should all go home, and are taking the bread out of the mouths of British children in the distressed areas.
The only answer decent-minded people can give to this sort Of thing,' and a very practical answer also to Franco's hail of death, is to increase to the greatest possible degree the guaranteed support of the children. May I, Sir, beg The Spectator to support this appeal and urge its readers to join in the " adoptions " scheme for the Basque children ? It is only by getting these regular contributions of ten shillings a week from individuals or groups that we can make the Basque children safe.
If we do not get this increased support it seems that there will be only two alternatives : (a) to return the children to join their parents beneath the hail of Franco's bombs ; (b) to return the children to the Basque country, there to be brought up in reformatories or seminaries, permanently separated. from their parents, taught to believe that everything for which their parents have stood is criminal and deadly sin, probably never to see their parents again.
53 Marsham Street, London,-
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