A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
and Mussolini was a journalist before he became a politician. The only time I met him was as a professional colleague. He was reprisenting his paper and I mine at the Cannes Conference at the beginning of 1922, eight months before the march on Rome (when the Duce led his forceS by following them). Fascism was already getting known, and I naturally asked him about it, receiving the assurance that no disorders were to be looked for beyond " a few tavern brawls." What Mussolini grew into was simply a bombastic bravado, revealing his character accurately by his windy words about the sky being so black with Italian aeroplanes as to obscure the sun, by his attack on the defenceless Ethiopia, and his treacherous assault on a defeated France. His principal achievement was to have provided a model for Hitler—who is said to have conceived a peculiar dislike for him. But, as I have just time to add in proof, Hitler, too, appears to have gone where neither likes nor dislikes prevail. (I write this subject to correction by theologians.) * * * So one more of the four men of Munich disappears. It is not unprofitable to reflect on their varied fates. On Mr. Chamberlain's part in the affair there will no doubt always be diversity of opinion, though he did a good deal to ensure himself an adverse verdict by unwise words after his return. But he lived to carry a united nation into war ; it was he who, on resigning, advised the King to send for Mr. Churchill ; and Mr. Churchill was insistent that his predecessor should be a member of his Cabinet. Considered history will not judge Mr. Chamberlain over-harshly. As for Hitler, he may at this moment be alive or dead. There will be time enough to make com- ment on him when the facts are known—and the basis for a reliable death-certificate may be hard to come by. Finally, there is Daladier. He had his faults as a Prime Minister, but his vigorous and successful defence—a defence based mainly on attack—when he was put on trial by Vichy left his reputation sensibly higher. He ought soon to be recovered from Germany, and at 61 should still- have a part to play in the politics of his country.
* * * * One of the pieces of information one will be glad to get from Germany is as to the real state of Berlin. Long ago we were told that four-fifths of it was destroyed, or even that only one house in ten was left standing. That may well be true of parts of the city, but it cannot apply to the whole vast area. None the less, the damage may well be such as to raise the question whether Berlin will remain the capital of Germany. There are two reasons for entertaining some doubt about that. In the first place there will for years be such a deficiency of the three essentials of reconstruction —men, materials and money—that rebuilding on such a scale as would be needed on the site of Berlin might be a task beyond the country's depleted resources. There are other less ravaged cities that could be made the seat of government. The other reason is Ger- many's new geography. If, as now seems certain, Poland is to extend to the Oder, Berlin will be no more than thirty miles from the frontier, a singularly inconvenient position strategically—if military strategy is still to dominate the German mind, as there is all too much reason to believe it will. Either Hanover (someone, I see, has launched the fantastic idea that the province should he re- united with the British Crown) or Brunswick, or, further south, Weimar, would be roughly between the two great rivers, the Rhine and the Oder, that are likely to form Germany's new frontiers. * *
It would not have occurred to most people to turn the horrors of Buchenwald to the uses of party propaganda at home, but that bright idea did strike Mr. Ness Edwards, one of the Labour M.P.s who visited the foul spot a fortnight ago. Speaking at Bargoed on Sunday, Mr. Edwards declared (according to the Daily Herald), "I shall never forget the eyes of dying men following us around: Czech eyes that seemed to accuse us of Munich ; Spanish eyes that seemed to accuse us of having denied them constitutional rights." I should be sorry to suggest that Mr. Speaker had erred in any respect in his choice of the ten delegates from the fifty or more volunteers, but the suggestion is, in effect, prompted by Mr. Edwards, not by me.
* * * * On the principle, no doubt, that few things_are secured in this world without complaining, hotel-keepers are agitating because no relief is given them in the recent Budget, and emphasising the importance of the tourist-traffic and the necessity of being in a position to attract it. All that is incontestably sound, and it is always well to be prepared betimes ; but where, I should be glad to know, do the optimists suppose any considerable tourist-traffic is coming from, except from the United States? And even Americans will be suffering enough from war-taxation to be under the necessity of restricting their movements somewhat. There must be a certain coming and going of business men, but the picture of an extensive influx of tourists from ruined Europe in the next few years seems more plausible than convincing.
* * * * The game of unearthing "old and true" quotations to fit present situations can be carried too far, and I would do nothing to en- courage it. But with the general attitude of the German people towards the Nazi leaders so fresh in mind I cannot refuse right of entry to two lines quoted by Chateaubriand from de la Harpe:
" Mais s'as ont tout ose, vous avez tout permis:
Plus l'oppresseur est vil, plus l'esclave est inffirne." * * * *
" Mr. de Valera, accompanied by Mr. J. P. Walshe, secretary to the Department of External Affairs, called on the German Minister in Dublin last evening to , express his condolence on Hitler's death."—The Times.
May I respectfully offer my own condolences to Herr de Valera in his affliction?
Jesus.
Previous page
