BRITAIN AND DANZIG.

Twenty-five years the British Government was obliged to-leave if doubtful whether Britain would intervene on the side <n France against Germany, and it has since been contended that if no doubt had existed there would have been no war. That contention can never be proved or disproved. To-day Britain's position, judged by the utterances of her statesmen, is crystal clear. If Germany strikes and Poland resists, Britain fights. It would be the height of tragedy if, tflis time, the British resolution tOc4nt® rvene on the side of Poland were to have no influence in preventing a war, because it was not believed. As Mr. J. L. Garvin wrote after Viscount Halifax's speech, a British surrender on Dnnzig is "impossible in decency" and "unthinkable in the view of consequences." Yet Britain's unequivocal position in no way excludes the possibility of .negotiations. Herr Hitler until last April guaranteed the maintenance of the status quo in Danzig. He has since denounced that guarantee, on the asserted ground that the circumstances in which it wa* given have been changed, by Poland. Circumstances have changed, but not so greatly as to warrant the pretence that a situation which was tolerable to Germany until three months ago has now become so intolerable that war must be risked to end it. To press this point of view upon Germnny, and to continue pressing it, in the hope that it will yet evoke a response making peaceful settlement possible, is part of the duty of British statesmanship, and it would be m poor compliment to that statesmanship to believe that the duty is not being discharged.