* * * * Sir John and Sir Austen
But the Foreign Secretary is still resolved to maintain at any cost his reputation as apologist for Japan, and his speech on Monday was in his best traditional vein. It contrasted strikingly with the wholly admirable contribu- tion made to the debate by Sir Austen Chamberlain. Sir Austen, like Sir John Simon, was true to character. He spoke as an honest man convinced reluctantly, by the logic of facts to which he refused to shut his eyes, that Japan must be opposed and China supported. While he accepted the Government's action as the best compromise in the circumstances (the only point in which, for reasons stated in the preceding paragraph, we differ from Sir Austen) he emphasized the injustice that would be done if in ordinary cases the victim were to be refused supplies of arms equally with the aggressor. Sir Austen's hope, like our own, clearly is that international action may be taken at Geneva for the refusal of arms to Japan alone, and that our own Government may concur in that decision. Everything, of course, will depend on the United States, whose Congress is not likely to take the necessary action till the new session is called by Mr.
Roosevelt. * * * *
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