THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1939 MANOEUVRING AT DANZIG

Whatever the real trend of European policies at the moment, there is comfort in the fact that the Powers still confine their efforts to diplomacy. The soldiers are in the immediate background, too close for comfort, but not yet in active command. Meanwhile time passes. Half of that most dangerous period for Europe, from July 1 to September 30, has already elapsed without the presentation of any inescapable issue. National temperatures may rise in the next few weeks, as they seem to be rising now, but everywhere there is profound reluctance to accept the clear risk of war. The whole situation has changed since the last Northern autumn. Resistance to aggression was at that time unorganised ajid-Herr Hitler counted on being able to steal a march. Now the Peace Front faces the Axis. It could inscribe on its banners the old slogan : "Defence, not Defiance." The question is whether it will give Herr Hitler pause, cause him to abandon reliance on force and to submit Germany's claims to free and equal negotiation. Those claims are at present chiefly directed at Danzig and Poland, although Herr Hitler's abiding interest in South-East Europe should not be forgotten. As for negotiations, there is talk aplenty. No less than four sets of parlej's, in progress or projected, figure in this morning's news. The. doubt is whether any of these are being undertaken or contemplated in good faith. The world can scarcely forget how a year ago the Nazis played on several similar strings until every issue was confused, decision blunted, and opposition divided, so that in the end the Fuehrer got his way. In the case of Danzig he finds a similar set of strings ready to hand. But if the analogy is striking, it is far from exact, due to the different political status of Danzig from Sudetenland. Herr Forster may correspond closely to Herr Henlein, but Dr. Burckhardt, the League of Nations Commissioner, possesses a definite standing as go-between that did not apply to Lord Runciman's part of "honest broker." Nor could there be any parallel in Czechoslovakia to the Customs dispute between Poland and Danzig now submitted to negotiation. The legal complexities of Danzig's position are certainly baffling—where sovereignty resides is even disputed—but given goodwill and good faith, the Free City's destinies offer a better subject for peaceful settlement than Sudetenland seemed to do a year N ago. When all is said and . done, however, Dr. Burckhardt's reported remark to Herr Hitler puts the business in a nutshell: "The peace of the world is in your hands, Your Excellency." Nor is there any reason to doubt the sincerity of the Fuehrer's reply that he wants peace. The trouble is that he wants it on his own terms. There seems to be no dealing with the man. His idea of free negotiation is German dictation. In the past, to use Lord Halifax's words, he has held the world to ransom by the threat of military force. That bullying technique will not avail again. Britain has determined to "stand out against the attempt' by any single Power to dominate Europe at the expense of the liberties of other nations," and Britain is not standing alone. Danzig is the test case. If Herr Hitler seeks to force the issue, he will be met by force, j involving that war on two fronts j against • which "Mein Kampf" intones the most solemn warnings. !

So far Herr Hitler has adhered to his own written testament with remarkable fidelity. If now. the warning against war on two fronts be found to conflict with the urge to expansion, which is going to prevail 1 Possibly Herr Hitler himself has not yet found the answer. He combines within himself two persons, the realist and the idealist, the shrewd peasant and the aspiring leader, cunning and messianic fevour.. In his coups he has so far shown an uncanny sense of timing. Suppose now that he decides not to stake past achievements and all his future on Danzig and suppose that he decides to retreat —even thus the problem for Poland and the Pqace Front is not solved. There are already indications that an attempt will be made to use any conference for sowing seeds of dissession. The Axis would seek to exclude Russia, and maybe Poland, and so breed suspicion on the Peace Front. Those tactics are not likely to succeed, however, any more than the Italian proposal that Germany should be left to deal with Poland alone. And if all these objections were overcome, and a settlement reached by mutual concessions, the doubt would still remain whether Germany would hold to her bargain. Sudetenland was used as a stepping stone to Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia, and these with Memel have led on to the dispute with Poland. Austria was first of the series. "A clever conqueror," Herr Hitler has written, "will always, if possible, impose his demands on the conquered by instalments." If the German camel is once allowed to put its head into the Danzig tent, how is the whole body to be excluded 1 The answer is not apparent because Germany's word can no longer be trusted and something stronger than assurances has to be found to bind hoi* .