POST-WAR EUROPE
SIR,—Mr. Richard Lee's reference to Poland's insistence en the preservation of the status quo in Danzig, the Corridor, and Upper Silesia, draws attention to one aspect of the Allied war aims to which insufficient consideration would appear to have been given as yet.
One of these aims, it is stated, is the restoration of the inde- pendence of all those nations overrun by Hitler's Germany— an aim which, in fact, amounts to the virtual restoration of the status quo in Europe before the war. But it would seem to be a matter of some doubt as to whether this would be a wise course for the Allies to pursue.
Granted that Nazism must—and, I think, will inevitably— be superseded by a more liberal way of living if we are to have peace in this sector of the globe, is it not conceivable that a stable, democratic German bloc extending over a large area of central Europe would be a better guarantor of peace than the pre-war conglomeration of small States, with their everlasting feuds and jealousies, and their over-developed nationalism? Now that, but for a hundred-and-one obsolete regulations and restrictions, we could cross the length and breadth of Europe in a day, the continued existence of numerous frontiers is not merely a nuisance but an anachronism. Mankind is clearly moving towards the deation of larger units—made practicable by his progress in the field of communications—and to seek to re- establish Europe on a pre-war basis would seem to be as foolish as, in the long run, it would be impossible to maintain.
The blunt fact remains that there are far too many frontiers in the world already, without adding to their number and en- couraging the growth of those nationalistic passions that are the cause of so much misery and strife. Let us work, therefore, for the creation of a new Europe, where the, size of a State bears some relation to the possibilities of modem communication, and where nationalism assumes no more dangerous proportions than the regional patriotism of the English county.—Yours, &c.,
Similarly, the suggestion that Germany should be split up once more into numerous independent kingdoms seems to invite failure. Only a vast Allied army of occupation could enforce
2 54 8 the carrying out of such a retrograde plan ; and with a continually
• 5 7 falling population and post-war impoverishment it is hard to see o 9 9 how we could support this army for any length of time.
" Southcot," Wilton, Salisbury. A. M. DENTON.
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