A Spectator's . Notebook George establishes his point that Mr. Baldwin
exceeded * * * * his instructions (which, till the evidence is produced; I refuse to believe), how on earth does that affect the situation to-day ? The Baldwin settlement was endorsed by the Cabinet and accepted by the House of Commons, awl there it is. What more is there to say about it ?
Moreover, while you may publish private documents, von cannot reproduce vanished atmospheres. Nothing could be more fatally misleading than to look at the events of 1923 through the eyes of 1932. No one can prove that some other negotiator would have got better terms out of America. That is, by the nature of things, pure conjecture. And anyone who has any memory at all of what the temper of America was in 1923, with with all America irritated by the implication in i Mr. Lloyd George'S Balfour Note that we were only demanding repayment from our Allies because we were being dunned for payment by America, with the belief generally current (thanks in the first instance to no one more than Mr. Lloyd George himself) that we should get quite enough out of Germany to be able to pay America comfortably—anyone who remembers that will be left * * * *
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