NEED FOR STRENGTH

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 14, 16 July 1936, Page 10

NEED FOR STRENGTH

BRITAIN'S OUTLOOK

COLLECTIVE SECURITY

PRIZE AND PRICE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, June 24.

The Government's decision that sanctions against Italy should be abandoned was defended by the Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, speaking at North Lanarkshire on June 20. He vindicated Mr. Anthony Eden, Foreign Secretary, declaring him to be a man of great ideals and of great courage; he made a counter-attack upon the Labour Party, which issued a manifesto denouncing the Government's decision.

Mr. Winston Churchill, who never hesitates to criticise the Government, especially on matters of defence, whenever the opportunity arises, speaking in Essex on the same day, declared his support for the Government's policy. He disagreed with those who clamoured for Mr. Eden's, resignation, saying that it was cowardly to demand, when things went wrong, the sacrifice of the subordinate.

'•The question we had to decide, not what the League should do but what our own action should be, was this," declared Mr. Baldwin in a full address. "Should we at Geneva say that we for our part, while always prepared to support the views of the League as a whole, thought it right to continue sanctions, or should we say that we thought it right to drop them?

"We think it right to drop them because we do not believe that their continuance, even if all the nations desired it, would serve any useful or effective purpose. Sanctions are put on to stop war. They .were not devised for purely punitive purposes. In my view there is ,only one way of altering the course of events as they have so far taken place; and that is to go to war. Ido not know a single country in Europe that is prepared for that, and I am quite certain that I should not cast my voice today for that course of action."

THE QUESTION OF OIL. Referring to oil, Mr. Baldwin said:

"The plain reason why the oil sanction was not put into force was that enormous quantities of oil come from a country that is not a member of the League of Nations, and which we have no reason to believe would prohibit the exportation "of oil. This country is the United States of America, and to put on a sanction which would be futile in its use merely for the sake of saying you have done it is a form of humbug, in my view, to which I will not lend myself."

If there was one way to drift to war, he said.' it was to. talk about putting sanctions' on and doing nothing to encourage recruiting of men who were wanted to man the searchlights and anti-aircraft guns if the time should ever come when Britain was once more raided from the air. "We earnestly appeal to all men and women of good will and certain organisations to rally in their millions. . What to? To the Army or the Navy? No; to the defence of collective security. Ask for an explanation how collective security can be defended by any other means than strengthening your own, defence forces.

"When you are dealing with sanctions today, .you are dealing with a fully-armed, or very nearly fullyarmed—at any rate, sufficiently armed —Europe, a .very different proposition. Now, imagine yourselves, any one of you, an aggressor nation. You don't become an aggressor nation until you have made up your mind to go to war with somebody or something; and you don't make up your mind to go to war until you are ready to go to war. Then, gradually, all the other nations of the League see what you are after, and they say they will impose sanctions to stop you going to war. They may perhaps put on some economic sanctions first; or they may try some very stringent sanctions at once. Now, if you were in the frame of mind I have indicated, what would you do? Would you sit still and let sanctions work and then wait for some more and say, 'I am very sorry; those sanctions are very unpleasant. What would you like me to do and I will do it?'- Not a bit of it! You will hit the other fellow in the eye and hit him hard. (Laughter.) NEED TO BE READY. "Remdmber, the aggressor is ready for war by the fact that he is an aggressor. It is perfectly obvious that no aggressor will be deferred unless he knows that ultimately there is a force that will be stronger than his. Collective security is worth trying to get, I repeat. It is incredibly difficult with the nations that are outside, but we shall try. I wish, indeed, we could get the countries outside the League back into it. If they would come, collective security cvild be worked tomorrow—if we have Japan, the United States of America, and Germany. But we .must not-give up hope to get the nations back; and we must not even give up hope that yet some form of disarmament may not be practicable. However difficult the situation looks, whatever the perils of the future may be, whatever may be" the ambitions locked up in the breasts of the dictators, they must know.as well as we know, what another war in Europe would mean. I believe the horrors of another modern war in Europe might lead to the revolt of the peoples against all their leaders,, and that you might soon find Europe in a state of completely barbarous anarchy from end to end.

"Prosperity can never have a real firm foundation until trade in other countries becomes better, until commercial progress is seen in all the countries of Europe. That cannot be seen so long as Europe is restless, uneasy, and frightened, and you come back once more to the need of peace and the removal of the terrors that are hanging over Europe.. And that should be the incentive to make us i try again to make this collective security function, and never forget that you cannot get collective security without risk and without danger to yourselves. Take it or leave it. If you won't face the danger for the sake of it, say so, and have done with it. But you cannot have security, collective or otherwise, on the cheap and second hand, or any system of limited liability. If war should come by collective security, every nation is in it up to the neck. And let the advocates of collective security who are unwilling to provide a single volunteer for our forces, or a single shell, or a single aircraft, let them think of that."

"R. CHURCHILL'S VIEWS.

"The prestige of Britain has fallen throughout the world, and especially in the Mediterranean. But I think it would be very unfair to throw the blame of all this upon our young Foreign Secretary, who has at every stage only acted in agreement with his colleagues," said Mr. Winston Churchill.

"I do not agree with those who clamour for his resignation. We have had already three Foreign Secretaries in nine months. It is ' wrong, it is cowardly—l believe that is the fashionable word—to clamour when things go