The Press MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1939. The Door Still Open

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22800, 28 August 1939, Page 8

The Press MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1939. The Door Still Open

In proportion as the international tension ill—, creases it is more and more difficult for the peoples of even those countries which do not enforce a censorship to understand the significance of the diplomatic manoeuvres which are taking place. The actual trend of events is known only to a few officials in each capital, what the public reads in its newspapers and hears from the broadcasting service consists mainly of studiously general official pronouncements, of accusations and counter-accusations, and of innumerable reports of army movements and civil defence preparations. To judge by external appearances there have been no major developments during the week-end and the final phase of the crisis has not yet begun. The diplomatic signs are on the whole favourable. The German Government has apparently taken the initiative in proposing a peaceful settlement, since it is officially admitted in Berlin that the purpose of Sir Nevile Henderson’s latest visit to London is to communicate Herr Hitler’s proposals to the British Government. Semi-official pronouncements from Rome show beyond reasonable doubt that the Italian Government is working strongly for peace: and, although the Russian Government’s position remains wholly obscure, it may be significant that most American . newspapers cling to the hypothesis that a limitation of Herr Hitler’s objectives was the basic condition of the Russo-German Pact. It is obvious enough, however, that Poland has no intention of allowing Great Britain and France to impose a settlement upon her as they did upon Czechoslovakia; and for that matter it is equally obvious that Great Britain and France do not desire the responsibility of making decisions oh behalf of Poland. There can thus be little progress towards a peaceful solution until Berlin and Warsaw have opened direct negotiations of which there is as yet no sign. In his reply to President Roosevelt’s peace appeal, however, the Polish President has affirmed in the clearest language his willingness to negotiate all the questions how in dispute between the Polish and German Governments, The diplomatic facts seem to show that the door is still open to a peaceful settlement. The military facts are much less reassuring. The preparations being made by every European State invite the assumption that war is a few days distant.

The puzzle of the Russo-German Pact and the suspension of negotiations between Russia and Great Britain and France is not elucidated by the cabled report of the statement by M. Voroshilov, the Soviet Commissar for Defence. According to M. Voroshilov, Russia and the two democratic Powers deadlocked finally on the question of military assistance to Poland., Poland, he says, was unwilling to allow the Red Army to enter her territory, and in this attitude was supported by Great Britain and France; the Russian Government maintained that it could not assist Poland otherwise than by sending an army across Polish territory, since only by this means could contact be established with the aggressor. The proposal that" Poland should receive Russian assistance in the form of raw materials and war equipment, M. Voroshilov adds, did not .enter into the discussions because it involved purely commercial considerations. This last statement is transparently disingenuous. In modern warfare the supply of war materials and war equipment by a neutral to a belligerent could not conceivably be - a commercial question. Moreover, it will be noted that M. Voroshilov’s version of the basic difficulty encountered in the Moscow discussions is widely at variance with official British and French statements on the discussions and with all by newspaper correspondents in Moscow. According to these accounts delays were being caused 'mainly by ithe Russian demand for guarantees against “indirect aggression” in the Baltic States and by the British and French demand for guarantees for the small States of western Europe. Had Russia desired she could, without sending the Red Army into Poland, have rendered assistance which would have changed Poland’s military position from one of hopeless weakness to one of great strength.. It is as well to bear in mind, however, that the cabled version of M. Voroshilov's statement may be greatly condensed.