Evening Post SATURDAY, AUGUST 16,1941. SEA POWER'S REPLY TO HITLER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 41, 16 August 1941, Page 8

Evening Post SATURDAY, AUGUST 16,1941. SEA POWER'S REPLY TO HITLER

The world-shaking clash not only of two political systems, but of twp power-elements, land and sea, is symbolised in the Atlantic meeting of the leaders of Western democracy. The two Axis Caesars, when they meet, inevitably have a land rendezvous, which hitherto has been the Brenner Pass; with equal inevitableness, the two men who not only lead Western democracy, but who also [ typify it. meet at a sea rendezvous. Their conference somewhere in the Atlantic, besides reneAving democracy's Magna Carta, confirms Britain's sea-command. It is true that her sea-command is not raid-proof against the hit-and-run tactics of Axis aeroplanes, U-boats, and surface ships; but it is so near to being raid-proof that the Western leaders can meet at sea to hurl back the "New Order" challenges of Hitler, Mussolini, and Petain with a i reaffirmation of the democratic faith. In this document the West replies to Nazi-Fascist Europe; i established order accepts the • challenge of the "New Order"; the sea j ansivers the land. A Hitler walks in the footsteps of Wilhelm II and Napoleon I. If the Atlantic declaration symbolises the struggle between sea and land, between democracy and Nazi-Fascism, the two men who carry. the responsibility for that historic declaration are equally representative of the Anglo-American West. Neither of them claims to personally command his army, as Hitler and Mussolini do; nor does either of them claim to be independent of his Parliament or Congress. But both Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt do personally reflect, and to a remarkable degree, that peculiar power-witti-brakes-on-it that is distinctive of j democracy, and which contrasts so with the unlimited will of a dictator. Let it be remembered that war is a power competition. I Rated in nominal horse-power, a dictator registers higher than a President or a Prime Minister. But while Hitler as a dictator rages against the Russian front with no critical Senator or Representative in Germany who dare say him nay, Frankljn Roosevelt and Winston Churchill have led their free peoples to the point at which they can meet at sea and build up a power combination, which, while possessing at present little of the Napoleonic grandeur of Hitler's European armies, will nevertheless overthrow Hitler in the decisive stages of that power competition which we call the war. Which is the greater personal achievement —to be a dictatpr hurling armies to an Armageddon, or to be a democrat who, at long last, and with infinite patience, can lead (not drive) a conquering counter-host? All those qualities of true leadership summed up in Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt have their consummation, their historic tableau, in the Atlantic declaration, sea power's reply to the land-fury of the totalitarian hordes. Democracy prefers a Churchill or a Roosevelt in mufti to a Hitler in uniform. Democracy prefers a power-with-brakes-on-it to unlimited power. A Hitler can perform efficiently as a dictator. As a democratic leader, he could not perform at all. Democracy now sees that these two men who met somewhere-at-sea are greater men than Hitler. They stand before the world in greater grandeur, on the deck of a British battlesliip or on the deck of an American cruiser, than Hitler can boast of in his army headquarters on the Ukraine front. Theirs is a far greater personal achievement than any dictator can possibly offer. Out of their more limited official scope they are producing greater results: and in the last analysis a Churchill and a Roosevelt, in the power competition of war, will overpower a Hitler and a Mussolini, and will hurl dictatorship into the discard. "The tumult and the shouting" with which the Atlantic declaration has been received do not obscure the fact that Western strategy, as well as the Western objective, was under discussion. The landing of President Roosevelt may, or may not, fill in some details. The presence of expert staffs suggests that no major strategical problem was over-

looked; and major strategical problems would include the question of a land-war (to be or not to be?) in Western Europe, its likely date, .whether it is to be envisaged as a help to Russia's resistance this year or next year, what other help can be given to Russia"either in Europe or in Asia, and how Britain and Russia may divide American supplies. As this is being written, news arrives that— Mr. Cordell 'Hull, U.S. Secretary of State, has announced the possibility jof a. meeting between American, British, and Russian experts to consider ■ Russia's war needs. The discussions between President Roosevelt and Mr j I Churchill about the supply of war I materials to Russia may be followed Iby conferences between experts from all three countries, the United States,' I Russia, and Great Britain. Mr. Cordell Hull said that there might soon be an announcement about such a conference, and some of the New York newspapers splash a report that Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill intend to propose to M. Stalin that British and American officials should go to Moscow. The Hitler treachery that suddenly made Russia the Continental spearhead of our land-war against the Axis gave a new turn to the whole strategy of the struggle on land. Possibilities of defeating Hitler, as Napoleon was defeated, were suddenly opened by Hitler himself. That Hitler shall not by main force break out of this Russian trap that he elected to enter is supremely important, and Mr. Cordell Hull's utterance indicates America's sensitiveness to this major contingency, and a keen desire to make every possible strategic profit from the opening that the enemy himself has provided.