GERMANY AND THE WORLD [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
Snt,—Your correspondent, Mr. N. F. L. Roberts, is a protagonis of the " Germany must never again rise " school—the same school that has dominated French policy (with disastrous consequences) for years. Does he really believe that a great people in the heart of Europe can be " held down " in perpetuity ?
Mr. Roberts entirely -forgets that when the Allies spoke of disarming Germany, and thus securing peace, they also promised to disarm themselves but did not keep their word. German rearmament thus became inevitable, and was com- pletely justified from a moral standpoint.
It is quite clear that if we were to go to war again with Germany on the issue : " Shall Germany have .a fair deal side-by-side with other Powers?" and our war-aim were to prevent this act of fairness taking place, we should forfeit the sympathy of the world and its moral support—that very support which morp than anything else secured victory in the late War ! Every enlightened man today knows that peace can result only from a securing of (not equal) but at any rate something like reasonable and fair opportunities of life and well-being for all nations in a scheme of world-settlement. Mr. Roberts thinks that we ought to sabotage this scheme in order to prevent a friendly neighbour:State from enjoying advantages far less than our own. What a standpoint ! It wool,:
be enough to rally every neutral State behind Germany, ,
Germany is not to get colonies " her present mood. ' Did Mr. Roberts advocate their, return when Germany was .1 detnocratic power ? Then, every request for revision of the peace treaties was-rejected with scorn.
My-views (it is suggested) are " not to be taken 'seriously. I have spent 18 months in post-Hitler Germany, I speak Germa.1 well, have interviewed hundreds. of people, and studied tl;-: question with care from every angle. Has Mr. Roberts devote,:
the same attention to the matter ?. Does he know modern Germany at all ? Those who do are almost unanimous in thinking that Germany is sincerely desirous of our friendship.
Are we to reject this friendship in favour of a policy of using force to prevent our neighbours from possessing reasonable conditions of development?—Yours, &c., MEYRICK BOOTH.
iii Norton Way S., Letchworth, Herts.
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