Evening Post SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1939. POLAND'S REPLY

"Moderate and statesmanlike," the French view of the presentation of the case for Poland by the Polish Foreign Minister, Colonel Beck, in the Diet at Warsaw yesterday, will, we believe, fairly describe the general impression left by the speech. It is a reasoned utterance, firm in defence of Poland's legitimate interests in Danzig and access to the Baltic via the so-called "Corridor," yet conciliatory, leaving the door open for further negotiations with room for minor concessions to German claims provided the major principles of Polish rights are observed. Danzig is a Free City, one of the V old Hanseatic towns which has enjoyed a measure of independence under various suzerainties for centuries. It is not a creation of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations and there appears to be no reason why its essential freedom should not be maintained without disadvantage to either Poland or Germany. If Danzig is peopled largely by Germans, it is used and has been used for ages' as Poland's outlet to the sea for all her export and import trade. It is therefore essential to Poland that its character in this respect should be preserved absolutely. This was clearly expressed by Colonel Beck when he said that the population of Danzig was admittedly predominantly German, but the city's livelihood and prosperity depended on Poland, who stood firmly by her rights of overseas trade and maritime policy in the Free City."

What, then, does Germany want? That was the question the Polish Foreign Minister asked himself in a significant passage of his address:

When I hear the demand for the annexation of Danzig by the Reich, when I do not get a reply to our proposal of March 25 for a common guarantee of the rights of the Free City, and when I learn that it has been interpreted as a refusal to negotiate, I must ask what is the real aim of all this. Is it meant to bar Poland from the Baltic? Poland will not let herself be barred.

Colonel Beck suggested one concession to Germany in the nature of "an extension of the present road facilities through the Corridor," but he added, "we have no grounds for restricting our sovereignty over our own territory." This is another essential to Poland. The world will not forget what happened to Czechoslovakia soon after the concession of a motor-road, with territorial rights, across Moravia from Breslau to Vienna. A similar road across the Polish "Corridor"—a term which is a misnomer disliked by all Poles — might mean and probably would mean—as a corridor across a corridor—the complete severance of Poland's connection with the sea. No wonder Colonel Beck said: "The Reich seems to be demanding onesided concessions in these matters." To a peaceful settlement of those matters in dispute between Germany and Poland certain conditions were stipulated by Colonel Beck, in another important passage, as essential : Two conditions are necessary for peace to have any real meaning: First, peaceful intentions; and, second, peaceful methods of action. If the Reich is guided by these principles, he said, all conversations respecting the proposals I haye outlined are possible. If the conversations materialise, Poland would not refuse her good will. Poles do not know the conception of peace at any price. One thing without price is honour. Here is the whole position not only between Poland and Germany, but between all the democratic nations and the totalitarian States. It has been set out to the same effect, if in different terms, by the statesmen of the leading democratic Powers— Britain,, France, and the United States. There are no international problems which are not amenable to discussion between the parties, as a preliminary to a peaceful solution. It has been the refusal of the totalitarian States to concede such an approach, and enter into conferences, and their preference for unilateral methods of direct action that have led to the formation of a strong peace bloc to interpose resistance to any further aggression.

Colonel Beck dealt also at some length with the Anglo-Polish agreement, which had followed the

weakening of collective international institutions and the complete revision of the methods of intercourse between nations. The Anglo-Polish agreement was based on principles of mutual assistance, he said, in the event of a direct or indirect menace to the independence of either country. The Colonel's tribute to English, statesmen should reassure any who doubt the wisdom of British policy.

I found among British statesmen, he said, a profound knowledge of the general political problems of Europe.

Germany denounced her own pact with Poland without consulting the British and Polish Governments concerning the character of the AngloPolish agreement. This may, perhaps, be taken as an act of resentment^ against any British interference in Eastern Europe, which Germany has come to regard as her own particular sphere of influence. It has always been a part of German policy since the days of Bismarck to oppose any such rapprochement between the Eastern and the Western Powers of Europe. This brings^up the question of Russia, obviously vital in the present instance. Here the position left by the resignation of the Soviet Foreign Minister (M. Litvinov) is still obscure. The latest report, on the authority of the Moscow correspondent of the "Daily Express," is that "all the high officials of the Foreign Commissariat were summarily dismissed today after a fourhour conference at the Kremlin." No explanation appears to be forthcoming and comment from the European capitals is guarded." The attitude of Russia has never been quite clear, and the latest reported events certainly add no illumination. It is to Russia that all eyes will be turned in the immediate future.