NAZI VIEW OF REPLY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 29, 14 November 1939, Page 5

NAZI VIEW OF REPLY.

"SABOTAGES MEDIATION.’ 1 (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, November 13. The official news agency at Berlin states that Britain’s reply to the peace appeal is a challenge’ to Germany and sabotages mediation in advance. CONSIDERING ALLIES’ REPLIES. BELGIANS AND DUTCH MEET. LONDON, November 13. The Belgian Foreign Minister (M. Spaak) and the Netherlands Foreign Minister (Mr Kleffens) met at Breda and talked for three hours before adjourning for lunch, says the Amsterdam correspondent of the Daily Mail.” The talks will he resumed in the afternoon until midnight. According to the Belgian Foreign Office, the talks at Breda exclusively dealt with the mediation offer. At The Hague, Queen Willielmina received the United States Minister (Mr George Gordon) and, it is believed, discsissed the mediation offer. The Berlin radio said that Herr Hitler had not replied do the appeal in his speech at Munich, hut he had clearly announced that Germany demanded Britain’s abstention from interference in Central Europe as a condition for peace. The stalemate on the Western Front would continue only so long as the diplomatic game concerning the mediation offer continued.

The Brussels correspondent of the ,News-Chronicle” says it is suggested in some quarters that if Herr Hitler answers and does not close the door, King Leopold may produce liis own plans. Before he left Brussels, M. Spaak saiv the German Ambassador (Herr von Buelow-Schwante).

The German Minister at The Hague has acknowledged the peace appeal by Belgium and the Netherlands, and has promised that his Government will give it careful examination. REPLY BY FRENCH PRESIDENT. THE DUTY OF GERMANY. LONDON, November 12. The British and French replies to the peace appeals by the King c;f Belgium and the Queen of Holland have been published. The British reply was In the form of aNotei from the King. His Majesty said that Britain had already made, it clear that she was willing to give consideration to any proposals which would free Europe from the menace of Nazi, aggression and lead to a lasting peace. He added that it was his desire, and that of his Government, that the war should not last one day longer than was absolutely necessary. The President of France (M. Lebrun), replying on behalf of France, praised the noble character of the appeal, hut said that it was for Germany, .rather than for France, to de.clare herself for or against real peace.

The following is the reply dispatched by the President of France: “The Government and people of the French Republic are unanimous in paying homage to the sentiments which inspire the message which Your Majesties addressed to me. They fully appreciate its lofty and noble character. No nation is more peaceloving than the French nation. No nation has made greater sacrifices in the cause of European peace. Franco already, and on frequent occasions, has made known, and she does so once more to-day, that she. has been and remains determined to welcome every possibility of assuring a just and durable peace of all peoples. “Only a. pence founded on justice really endures. France has taken up arms to put a definite .end to the methods of violence and force which, for the last two years, in defiance of the most solemn engagements and in violation of the pledged word, have already enslaved or destroyed three hat-ions in Europe and to-day menace the security of all nations. “A durable peace, therefore, can only be established by repairing the injustices which force lias imposed on Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Moreover, it can only be established to the extent in which the effective guarantees of a political and economic nature assure in future respect for the liberty of all nations. “Mankind will only bo delivered from uncertainty and anguish if it is sure that new attacks against justice will henceforward be outlawed. Any solution which legalised the triumph of injustice would only secure for Europe a precarious truce bearing no relation to a just and stable peace to which Your Majesties look forward. To-day it is the duty of Germany, rather than of France, to declare herself for or against this kind of peace, for which every country,, menaced as it is in its security and independence, is waiting.’’