AIMS ARE CHANGED

GERMANY & EUROPE

PUSH TOWARDS LATVIA

The Austro-German agreement is a temporary abandonment of the- German effort to achieve the Austro-Ger-man Union, but it is also a step towards the union, writes the diplomatic correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian." The Austrians will be left.alone for some time to come; the open efforts of the Austrian Nazis, encouraged or supported by the German, to over-.-throw the Austrian Government will, cease, and the Austrian Legion barracked in Germany will disappear, at least from the su.-face.

It is paradoxical that the Austrian Nazis, while remaining "illegal," will be admitted' to the Austrian "Patriotic Front," where they will be able to carry on a more effective propaganda than anywhere else. Nor is the idea of the Austro-Gewnan Union abandoned even temporarily. In fact, it is proclaimed to the world at large in the new agreement. Austria being declared a "Germanic State."

What has been called a "moral union" has been thereby achieved. The (importance of such moral conceptions lor "rights" in German politics has be-" come abundantly familiar of late. The "moral union" would show, even if nothing else did, the physical union has only been postponed, and there' can be little doubt that it will serve to initiate the physical union when the time comes. , A NEW DIRECTION. The new agreement means that German imperialistic expansion has taken a north-easterly instead of a. southerly; direction. It has all along been the hope of the Polish Government that Germany would concentrate on Austria and leave Danzig and Memel alone. The defiant attitude taken by the NaziPresident of the Danzig Senate, Cap--tain Greiser, was approved of in advance and in principle by Colonel Beck, the Polish Foreign.: Minister (though Greiser s actual manner was more provocative than Colonel Beck seems to have bargained for).

It seems to have been Colonel Beck's idea that there could be a GermanPolish arrangement by which the Free City of Danzig would retain her independence, but that this independence would be guaranteed not by the League; but by Germany and Poland.' The Danzig Nazis would then have taken control, there would . have ■ been a Danzig dictatorship parallel to the German, but Poland's special right in. the Free City would have remained. This arrangement, so Colonel Beck; seems to have believed, would have satisfied Germany for a long time to come and would have caused her to, leave Nortn-eastem Europe alone and concentrate on the south. >

The agreement between Berlin and Vienna has upset these calculations.": Germany fears Italy more than she-.; fears Poland. She is convinced; (rightly or wrongly) that if she were , to force the "Anschuss" Italy would-.; take drastic action. This might, ac?l cording to the German argument, open;; a general conflict for which Germany;) is-not yet prepared. But Poland isunable to keep pace with: German re^ armament, and the chances that the Western Powers would intervene oil her behalf are considered very small" in Berlin. , DANZIG AND MEMEL. ' To act in Danzig and in Memel and-' then to push on towards Latvia isK now German policy (which is not say--irig that it will remain so, although ■ Hitler is so convinced that Austria willbecom'e German in any case that he is£ willing to postpone the union for years^ if necessary). That such a policy, if; it is carried out, means a conflict with! Russia is clear. But this conflict i 3 being sought rather than being avoided by Germany. '

] There can no longer be any doubt that the action taken by the Danzig Nazis—that is to say, the general attack on the Danzig "Opposition," the efforts to discredit and boycott the League High Commissioner, Mr. Scan. Lester, and the speech of * Captain Greiser—was prepared in cb-operatiori with the German Government and the National Socialist Party, or more particularly with the German Ministries of War, of Propaganda, and of Foreign Affairs and with the bureau of Herf Hess, who is the leader of the party.

'The Danzig Nazis are losing popularity. If there were an election now it is almost certain that the "Opposition" would win if the balloting were free and secret and there were no tampering with the returns. , The mere existence of an "Opposition" is intolerable to the German Government, fox* it consists of parties'that have been, exterminated in Germany. It ha» shown great tenacity—much more, indeed, than the "Freedom ■ Front" in the Saar. Its main strength lies in its trade union and Conservative members (of.the latter many belong to the Stahlhelm).

The: aim of the Nazis is to destroy; the "Opposition" altogether, to eliminate the authority of the League, and ,to establish a dictatorship which, would conform 'with: Hitler's own. These aims had: the support of Colonel Beck, though ultimately ■ the purpose of the Nazis—both in Danzig and in the Reich—is the return of the Free City to Germany, an aim whiclt Colonel Beck hoped to defer by a compromise. AN OUTSPOKEN PKESS. "The Dan%ig papers have been quite* outspoken on this subject. Thus the "Vorposten" wrote on July 7 that Captain Greiser's speech "was not a chance affair but the deliberate, even> if passionate, beginning of a clearlydefined course."

The demonstration of the German, cruiser Leipzig—for the refusal of the captain to call on Mr. Lester was : a demonstration and perhaps as signifit cant as the dispatch of the Panther t<c Agadir in 1911—-could only.have taken place under ' instruction from the German Ministry of War. . The German military and naval authorities look upon Danzig as their principal future base for operations in -Northeastern Europe. If Danzig were, fortified the Polish base of Gdynia would become untenable in a conflict with Germany (it would come under longrange fire from Danzig batteries). As a future air base Danzig is also considered of greatest importance by the German military authorities for thai defence of island bases such as Bornholm and Rugen.