LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
DIVIDED EUROPE
Slit,—I have read, and many times re-read, the article " Divided Europe " in last week's edition of The Spectator. And, since this article states very plainly—and effectively—the vague and uneasy questions that lie in the minds of so many, I have reflected sadly that it is a great pity that your paper should reach only a proportion—instead of the whole—of the British people. If all had read the article that I have read, there would—there is little doubt—be a universal demand that Mr. Bevin should take the public into his confidence. We ought to be told whether Russia is our ally or whether she is an opponent only just beginning to show her hand. We ought to be told whether Russia has imperialistic ambitions. We must know whether she enthusiastically supports a great international organ- isation to secure peace or whether she prefers to base her own security on the existence of a vast sphere of influence. We ought to know what bar- gains, if any, we have made to secure Russian intervention in the war against Japan.
As it is, the public is almost completely in the dark. Reaction varies between complete confidence and complete distrust. It is time that our relations with our great ally Russia were brought into the cold light of clay and their intricacies explained by the man most qualified to do it— the Foreign Secretary. Complete disclosure of diplomacy will be a new departure—but if he does make it, Mr. Bevin will have won for himself something which will immensely strengthen his hand and support him at difficult times—the knowledge that the nation is aware of the com- plexity of the situation and that it will show sympathy based on complete knowledge if, through no fault of his, our relations with Russia do not become closer.—I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, " Chapmans," New Ranges, Shoeburyness. JOHN KENT.
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