PERSONAL ASPECT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 60, 21 December 1935, Page 5

PERSONAL ASPECT

TRIUMPH FOR SIR S. HOARE.

BLOW: TO SANCTIONS SYSTEM.

PREMIER DISAPPOINTS COUNTRY

United Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, December 19.

For the most dramatic debate for many years, the Houpe of Commons was so crowded that many were unable to find seats. Twenty members listened standing behind the bar. The Prince of Wales, who rarely visits the House, sat oyer the block, between Lord Athlone and the Soviet Ambassador, M. Maisky, to whom he occasionally spoke. Signor Grandi, otherwise impassive, ceaselessly twiddled his fingers.

It was not Sir Samuel Hoare who made an apology, but Mr Baldwin, whose speech, though not generally regarded as a success, made tho best of a bad business in the humblest confession ever, offered by a - .British' Prime Minister. •,

Sir Samuel Hoare, in an atmosphere, almost of high tragedy, played the leading, most moving, and certainly the most successful part. Though he stood a sick and wearied man, to defend himself at the bar of public opinion, his conscience was clear, and he did not recant, declaring the course he took was the only one he believed possible. He slowly added,: labouring against emotion, that when realised the country was not behind him he asked Mr Baldwin, without prompting, to accept his resignation. ; “The Times” says the Government in part disarmed hostility, first • by withdrawing without delay from the too hasty decision extracted from it by events; second by the unusual and wholly welcome candour with which it accounted for it. It acknowledged freely the part public opinion played in restoring the shattered substance of British policy.

The “Daily Telegraph” in a leading article, says Sir Samuel Hoare’s personal apology became him well,- but his restrained manly speech did not alter the general belief that his judgment was at fault. •

The “Manchester Guardian” says Sir Samuel Hoare had a personal success, but Mr Baldwin failed. Sir Samuel Hoare stated his case in a most dignified and lucid manner, but did not shake the conviction of Government supporters that lie had blundered. Nevertheless it was the best speech lie ever made. Many declare he made himself the future leader of the Conservative party. Mr Baldwin, on the contrary, disappointed woefully. Everybody wondered why he, too, should not resign. At the best ho had shown himself a potterer, and the opinion is sti'ongly expressed tha this days as leader are numbered.

The “Daily Mail” says Sir Samuel Hoare has been ordered three months’ rest, and will leave London, possibly for Switzerland, shortly. It also says that there is a possibility that he will be invited to rejoin the Government in the New Year. That Sir Samuel Hoare achieved a personal triumph, and dealt a severe blow to the sanctions system, is the summing up of the “Morning Post.” Ho may have failed to, make good his case, but it was everywhere conceded that he focused attention on the defects and perils of the sanctions system, which must now he squarely faced. The new Foreign Secretary is expected to be announced to-night. Sir Austen Chamberlain is still the first favourite.

BITTER AMERICAN COMMENT. .

• ‘DISGRACEFUL, DISTRESSFUL.”,

NEW YORK, December 19. “Europe’s statesmen may as well make up their minds that revent events in London and Paris have again widened the Atlantic for Congress and the State Department.” This is one wellknown Washington correspondent s summing-up of official reaction to the House of Commons debate to-day. American comment is notably .seyeie on the statements of Mr Baldwin and Sir Samuel Hoare: Even sgch- a usually staunch pro-British journal as the “New York Times” employs - terms or the heaviest censure, calling the .debate a. “sorry exhibition.” It continues: “The whole thing was done So ineptly and so clumsily as to seem almost unbelievable. The speeches of both Mr Baldwin and Sir Samuel Hoare succeeded only in: causing the matter to appear worse than ever. thino- in the British diplomatic record for years past equals this seemingly gratuitous tarnishing of the repute of the Government. The'whole thing is a most distressful and disgraceful- episode, and the position is more danger-, ous than before.” • ~ The New, York “Herald-Tribune iefers to the “Amazing and abject scene in the House,” and declares _ Sir Samuel Hoare was made the whipping boy for blunders that he was not alone in committing.” GERMAN PRESS VIEW. A DRAMA OF STRENGTH. PUBLIC OPINION v. STRONG MAN. LONDON, December 19. Penetrating comment on Sir Samuel Hoare’s resignation comes from Germany, where a leading Hamburg newspaper states: “We witness a drama of public opinion in Britain being stronger than a strong man.”