Evening Post.

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 40, 15 August 1941, Page 4

Evening Post.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1941. '

DEMOCRACY REAFFIRMS FREEDOM

On the initiative of the President;, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill met

somewhere at sea and agreed on basic principles of a peace-of-victory, which is to be by no means a peace s of-vengeance. They were aware that victory is yet to be "won, and they were equally aware that the Axis would throw back gibes based on the futility of cooking the hare before it is caught* or of counting unhatched chickens. But they also realised that pre-victory agreed-on principles would exercise a determining influence not only on postvictory terms but also on the achieving of victory. The Americans, who are not actively in the war except in the matter of arsenal services and of certain naval patrolling, will be brought closer to a deeper participation in the task of securing victory if they know that Britain's basic peace aims also America's basic peace aims. That the President and the Prime Minister should be in agreement—in a secret and official way—on an Eight Points peace prospectus is not enough. Its complete publication is not only of world concern, but is of special concern to the sometimes divided House of Representatives at Washington, and to those Americans who are either -aloonst or hesitant. They can no longer feel that Britain is afraid to put her cards on the table. The cards are also the United States President's cards, and to them no true democrat can take exception. They include disarmament, selfdetermination, and checks on aggression, and they disavow territorial aggrandisement. But it may be remarked that these expressions recall President Wilson's Fourteen Points of 1918, and the disappointing sequel. It is true that post-war experience after 1918 was melancholy, but it possesses today an outstanding' value as something to be avoided. Even the Versailles position would not have been incurable had the United States retained its partnership in the execution of Versailles decisions. The break between President Wilson and Congress, with its. results to the League of Nations and its all-round demoralisation, was the greatest of the post-war disasters; and teaches Britain and America the importance "of keeping in objective step with each other, not only after victory but before and during victory. Judged from this standpoint, the objective unity between the two Governments disclosed by the Eight Points is a mighty weapon of war and a mighty weapon of peace. All the gibes that Berlin and Rome can invent will not destroy the profound influence of the Eight Points in America, in France, and in the world at large. Berlin seeks to outmatch the Eight Points with about eighty local victories in Russia, but the Eight Points will outlast those fleeting military successes, and will have a permanent place in history as democracy's counter-challenge to armed force. I

This meeting of President and Prime Minister somewhere at sea had its military side also; and though military decisions are covered by the fog of war, it is clear that neither Vichy nor Tokio can bring off any surprises. On the one occasion on which the radio of the President's yacht broke silence it announced that "the fishing was good." Clearly the whole story is not disclosed in the Eight Points.