THE FAILURE OF PRESIDENT BENES
SIR,—In your issue of May 16 Mr. Eller entitles his article 'The Failure of President Benes.' It is, surely, singularly unfair to place upon the shoulders of this distinguished statesman the responsibility for the sacrifice of his country by those outside it who were bound by treaty to protect it. How could the Czechs fight on their own in 1938 when the Chamberlain Government in this country refused to carry out its obligations under the League of Nations?
On a number of occasions, both here and in Prague, Dr. Benes was good enough to explain to me the policy for which he stood. This was based in wholehearted sincerity on the belief that the members of the League, in particular Great Britain, would honour their• pledges. In this he was let down. Dr. Benes no doubt had his limitations, but he was a statesman of outstanding ability, sincerity and loyalty : his fault was that he could not conceive that a Munich was possible. He cannot be blamed for what was the failure of thc.British Government.
In 1948 successful resiStance.would have been im-
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