A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
IAM not surprised that The Times figured so largely in the foreign affairs debate in the House of Commons on Monday. No single factor contributed so much to the disasters of last September as The Times leader on the 7th of that month, suggesting that Czecho-Slovakia might be wise in her own interests to let the Sudeten-German areas go. And when The Times, in its comments last Saturday on Mr. Chamberlain's historic declaration in the House of Com- mons the previous day, appeared to set itself deliberately to whittle down the effect of the declaration—suggesting, for example, that there was no undertaking to defend Poland's " integrity "—immediate mistrust and alarm was created at Warsaw, and the suspicions aroused at Moscow are not dispelled yet, in spite of Lord Halifax's immediate repudiation of the construction The Times leader-writer seemed to be putting on the declaration. But critics can go too far. To assume that this Cabinet Minister or that must have been prompting The Times is quite gratuitous. Leader- writers and editors are human, and they are quite capable of committing errors of judgement without assistance. * * * *
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