GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY.
[Tothe Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
Slit,—If the mischief done were not so great and the dan- gerous effect of their tactics were less terrible, there would be no little humour in observing the warm advocacy of a Russian alliance in those sections of our war-mongering Press which not so very long ago could find nothing too bad to say about the wicked " Reds "! There are certain unpalatable facts which people not wholly bereft of love of fairness need to hang on to, as cant and lies increase in time of crisis.
From the time of the Armistice down to the preknt day we have not done a single important act of practical helpful- ness either to the German nation or to the Italian nation, sometimes from political spite, sometimes because our finan- cial system, which did not permit us to relieve our own distressed areas, also did not allow us to remove the economic causes of war.
We have not tried disarmament ; although we promised to disarm down to Germany's level, we never did so. At no time since the War has our expenditure on armaments been other than greater than it was before 1914. What wonder that Germany at length grew tired of waiting for us to keep our promise and began rearming, especially as her economic position was desperate and we did nothing to help? We have not tried appeasement. Directly the Prime Minister returned from Munich, instead of proposing an Economic Conference and a Disarmament Conference, which would have been wise strategy even if Hitler had been the most untrustworthy ruffian on earth, he proposed an increase in rearmament. Nor was that all, for provocation was offered in the economic sphere. By loans and other financial tactics, not only in Eastern Europe but in South America, the demo- cratic nations strove in selfish folly to deprive Germany of the means of satisfying her need for imports through the channels of legitimate trade. Finally, we are shocked by totalitarian acts of aggression, but remain conveniently blind to the fact that the ugly mess we are making of things in Palestine has caused more bloodshed than any totalitarian coup with the exception of the conquest of Abyssinia. Two wrongs may not make a right, but the commission of one at least calls for a becoming degree of humility in the offender when he judges the perpetrator of the other.
Now we have President Roosevelt's offer. We live in an age when it is well to be thankful for small mercies, and must hope that Hitler and Mussolini will not send too unfavourable a reply. If, however, they do not prove forth- coming, let us at least remember that the method of present- ing the offer was not distinctly tactful ; while the dictators may reasonably feel not too optimistic of the results of a Trade Conference organised by a statesman who has failed so signally to solve the economic problems of his potentially wealthy country in a way commensurate with its resources.— Yours very truly, TAVISTOCK. Barrington House, Haywards Heath, Sussex.
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