ANGRY CRITICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 9

ANGRY CRITICS.

GERMANS ANNOYED. " Glaring Indiscretion " of British Minister. MR. DUFF COOPER ASSAILED. United Press Association.—Copyright. LONDON, June 26. "Friendship between Britain and France is not a question of sentiment, but of necessity; it is a question of life and death," said Mr. A. Duff Cooper, British Secretary of State for War, in a speech at the annual banquet of the Franco-British Association in Paris. "France's frontier Is ours," continued Mr. Cooper. "People elsewhere in Europe are teaching that liberty is a false ideal, that individuals do not count, that race alone matters and that obedience to a single man's will is the highest human virtue. "Such ideas are not new. They are as old as tyranny and are completely foreign to Western civilisation. "Finally, people are preaching that war is desirable and that death on the battlefield is the highest ambition. We consider such teaching in the highest degree detestable." Insulting to Germany. The Berlin correspondent of the "Daily Mail" says Mr. Duff Cooper's speech is angrily criticised in the German capital. A Foreign Office bulletin describes it as insulting, saying that the co-operation and understanding which Germany desires will not be furthered if influential circles are allowed to continue to stir up animosity toward Germany and to declare that legitimate German interests are a source of danger to the rest of the world.

The political correspondent of the "Daily Herald" says grave disquiet has been created in political circles over Mr. Duff Cooper's speech, which is generally regarded as one of the most glaring indiscretions committed by a Minister of the Crown for many years. Germany must regard the speech almost as a declaration of war. It is bound to make Mr. Eden's position at Geneva more difficult.

Mr. G. Mander (Lib., Wolverhampton East) will ask the Prime Minister, Mr. Baldwin, in the House of Commons next week whether Mr. Cooper's speech represents the settled policy of the Government.

By a number of remarkable statements this year, Mr. Duff Cooper has aroused criticism in Britain and aboard. In a Birmingham speech late in March he rebuked tiie Dean of Liverpool for omitting the usual prayer for guidance of Cabinet on the ground that the proposal to send British troops to the Rhineland was monstrous and unjustifiable, asking: "Who ale these ignorant clergymen who presume to advise on foreign affairs?" and adding that the attitude of clerics who "barged into" the political arena made him sympathise with King Henry 11., who, in a moment of haste, expressed an opinion which led to an unexpected vacancy at Canterbury.

At Manchester on April 21 he told his listeners that "in the whole history of Christianity there have been no finer Christian heroes than soldiers," and attacked advocates of the theory that it was contrary to the Christian religion to fight for anything. He could find no authority in the Scriptures for that theory. Arguing that the Church's entire history sanctioned fighting, he said that the time had come when preachers of such doctrine should be denounced for heresy. "Church leaders," he added, "should 6ay boldly that it. is a man's duty to defend his country."

At a London trade luncheon twelve days ago, he said: "Nobody with the slightest knowledge can deny that the situation in Europe i 6 far worse than in 1914. Then, empires hung in the balance; to-day, civilisations. We allow people to preach that it is wicked to defend women and children from gas attacks. We are told we are frightening people, but I think it is the duty, of those in authority to frighten people." This drew forth bitter comment from the pacifist leader, Lord Ponsonby (formerly Mr. A. W. W. Ponsonbv), who told a peace meeting in Cardiff, amid applause and shouts of "That's the stuff to give him!" that if he were Prime Minister he would have Mr. Duff Cooper arrested as a deliberate, dangerous and disgraceful scaremonger. "Mr. Duff Cooper," lie went on, "is not the only one talking in this way, but owing to his responsible position he ought to be ashamed to talk like a whose only place is in a criminal asylum. BALDWIN INFORMED. Speed arid Growth of German Air Strength. EX-MINISTER'S DISCLOSURE. (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 26. The Marquess of Londonderry, speaking at a meeting of the County Down Conservative Association, caused astonishment by declaring that it was surprising that Mr. Baldwin had announced in tlie°House of Commons in 1935 (when Lord Londonderry was Air Minister) that he had been misled l egarding Gei - man disarmament. He added: "Mr. iildwin was not misled. I continually informed him both of German aerial rearmament and the approximate rate of it. I had no reason to revise tlie approximate figuies with which those responsible had supplied me in order to place my colleagues in possession of the facts. • » '