There is hardly an issue on which the Fiihrer's attitude
falls short of intransigence. The colonial question can be settled only by the unconditional return of the German colonies ; M. van Zeeland's proposals meet with the simple declaration that Germany neither wants nor neeis credits. The League is once again vilified, the Rome-Berlin axis affirmed, and Germany's attitude to the Sino-Japanese war expressed in the declaration that Japan has Germany's entire support. Most important of all, for its relation to events in London and the prospects of an Anglo-Italian reconciliation, is the assertion that Signor Mussolini has Germany's wholehearted approval for his determination to oppose Bolshevism in Spain and can count on her material support in carrying it out. If the assertion gives any indication of Signor Mussolini's intentions, the future of Anglo-Italian relations is dark. But the very intransigence of Herr Hitler's speech belied its sincerity as a statement of policy. Not even Herr Hitler and Germany are as yet in a position to offer uncompromising hostility in every field, to reject any com- promise with Great Britain over colonies, threaten France and Czechoslovakia with force, help to suppress the Repub- licans in Spain, Chinese in China, Catholic and Protestants in Germany and Austria, reject credits, increase armaments. It is a programme too vast for any State, however powerful, and Herr Hitler knows it. The achievement of some of these ends requires the sacrifice of others, and in this remains a possibility of compromise which even so belligerent a speech cannot obscure.
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