10 AUGUST 1934, Page 19

GREAT BRITAIN'S FRONTIER [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

Sni,-It was surprising but interesting that Janus " in " A Spectator's Notebook " in your issue of August 3rd, should have made so elementary a mistake as to discuss Mr. Baldwin's statement that : "Since the day of the air the old frontiers are gone. When you think of the defence of England, you no longer think of the chalk cliffs of Dover, you think of the Rhine. That is where our frontier lies."

and to ponderously conclude that " the simplest way is to assume that the phrase means nothing precise at all."

Surprising, that any thinking person should have failed to understand that Mr; Baldwin, so far from " coining a loose phrase without thinking out its application," meant, as is his wont, precisely what he said. And in saying it was stating a truth that has long been apparent to every General Staff in Western Europe, and to anyone competent to understand the post-War strategic situation. Interesting, because it affords so good an illustration of the extent to which our former insularity has made us, as a nation, unmilitary-minded.--

[" Janus " is by no means the only person who has asked what " precisely " Mr. Baldwin meant. And Wing-Comman- der James does not explain. In no precise " sense is our frontier on the Rhine.-En. The Spectator.]