NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE Prime Minister was wise to sound a warning note at the close of his generally optimistic survey of the week in the House of Commons on Wednesday. The war in the air and on land has not seriously begun, and it would, to say the least of it, in Mr. Chamberlain's words "be unwise to assume that we shall always be as successful as we have been in these first exchanges." To have brought down at least eight German raiders out of thirty is eminently satisfactory, but if it is considered how narrow a chance and how few feet saved the Forth Bridge and several important warships from total or partial destruction the satisfaction will be still legitimate, but chastened. The submarine, too, even if a quarter or more of the original German fleet has been destroyed, is far from conquered, and it is a pity that the Prime Minister in dwelling on the triviality of our losses of merchant shipping omitted to mention—what he must have been aware of, since it was known in shipping circles several hours earlier—the sinkings of the 7,000-ton 'City of Mandalay' and the ro,000-ton 'Yorkshire.' All this, of course, is part of the cost of war and we were ready for it. And there could be no better correction to occasional questionings than to imagine the reflections of Herr Hitler, with all hope of Italy's support abandoned, Turkey holding military conversations with France and Britain, Russia almost more dangerous as ally than as enemy, and the choice in the West lying between a hopeless frontal attack on the Maginot line and the violation of the neutrality of Belgium, Holland or Switzerland.
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