BRITISH POLICY NOW
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
SIR,—You would not thank me if I went all over the ground again in replying to Mr. Ramsay Muir.. Whether my view or his is the right one, whether, as I think, the best, or, as he thinks, the worst, was made of an admittedly bad job in the matter of Czechoslovakia, will only be known when we have full knowledge of the behaviour and intentions of many. others besides ourselves.
But in any case it seems to me gratuitously unfair to place on British shoulders the burden of everything that went wrong, as if we, and we alone, were in control of these events. Mr. Ramsay Muir quite rightly mentions the names of five Governments as responsible, or at least deeply concerned. Of. these France and Russia had given special pledges to Czechoslovakia, and by their Franco-Soviet pact had placed her in a position of great danger vis-d-vis a rearmed Germany. Yet in passing judgement Mr. Ramsay Muir does not say France " betrayed," France " surrendered," Russia " be- trayed," Russia " surrendered" ; he says " Mr. Chamberlain betrayed," " Mr. Chamberlain surrendered." Judgements. of this kind are, in my opinion, better avoided, or at least post- poned; but if they are to be passed, I see no necessity for placing this country and its Prime Minister in the dock as the sole criminals. This depth of self-abasement is not required of us, and is unnecessarily damaging to our reputa- tion in Europe and the world.
Nat less important, the idea (on which this judgement is based) that we can or ought to be in a position to play the part of a principal in Central Europe is, I believe, dangerously misleading, The highest flight of pre-War imperialism stopped short of this. There are, I know, a large number in these times who think it ignominious to qualify hopes and wishes by any estimate of the means of fulfilling them, and who habitually talk as if the power of this country were unlimited and available equally in all parts of the world. Those of us who ask that the immense liabilities of the British Empire and the special difficulties it would have to meet in the event of war should be borne in mind are liable to be told that we are counselling betrayals and surrenders.. There could, nevertheless, be no greater disaster to good causes than a miscalculation of these material factors.—Yours, J. A. SPENDER.
P.S.—If Mr. RamsaY Muir will look up what Mr. Lloyd George has said about Czechoslovakia, he will not think my description of it immoderate.
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