It would be too early, as yet, to proclaim our
terms of peace. Any such pronouncement (and it should be made pragmatically, perhaps even unilaterally) should follow and not precede a water-tight agreement with Russia. It should aim, not at satisfying the aspirations of Germany and Italy (which are indefinable because unlimited) but at fortifying the conscience of the anti-Fascist world. The sacrifices which Germany would be asked to make are the restoration of Czech liberties and the acceptance of general disarma- ment. In return for two such fundamental concessions we should ourselves be prepared to offer the most remunerative alternatives to war. My German friends write to me about the satisfaction of their " just claims " What are those claims? They have got evacuation, the Lausanne cancella- tion of reparation, rearmament, the Saar, the Rhineland, the Anschluss, and the Sudeten Germans. They ask for Danzig today; tomorrow they will be clamouring for colonies, for repayment of sums received in reparation, for an equivalent of the ships surrendered at Scapa Flow. * * * *
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