"GIVE RUSSIA A CHANGE"

Evening Star, Issue 25426, 6 March 1945, Page 5

"GIVE RUSSIA A CHANGE"

FIVE YEARS 1 SACRIFICES CANNOT IE ANNULLED CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP'S PLEA (Rec. 11.40 a.m.) LONDON, Mar. 5. •' Let me say frankly that no Englishman who retains a pride in*' his country's honour, can stand'to-day before a gathering of his Polish comrades without embarrassment," declared the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Dr Griffin, addressing the Anglo-Polish Catholic Association. He added: " 1 do not wish to exaggerate the gravity of- the present situation. I should not like to* accuse British statesmen otf infidelity towards Poland. I am willing and anxious to believe that Britain's representatives at the Crimea Conference did all in their power to save the integrity and freedom of Poland; all except—they did not break the grand alliance. They might have disrupted the unity of the •United Nations. " Before we condemn them for refusing to pay this price we must in justice be quite certain that Poland has actually been sacrificed. Before disappointment turns to anger and anger to bitterness, we must confront the realities of the RussoPolish tragedy. I' call it a tragedy because every honest man admits that there would be no dispute, no, cause for grievance, no tragedy, if Poland had to deal only with the Western democracies. The facts are that Marshal Stalin refused to yield to the persuasion of* his" British and American colleagues. There would appear to.be no word for compromise in Russian. Whenever the democratic statesmen make terms with Marshal Stalin they, and not he, must compromise. This being so—and no sane man denies the obvious—the alternatives before President -Roosevelt and Mr Churchill were either to accept the Russian solutions of the Polish problem or to take the first step leading to separation and ultimately to a state of war between Russia and the democracies. That is the brutal truth. "•A breach between Russia and-the West to-day would mean that all the sacrifices of the last five years would be made void. You are Christians. You are pledged therefore to forgive your enemies, however black may be the re--cord of their crimes. .Soviet Russia has done you a grievous wrong. Nobody, not blinded by political prejudice, would dare to deny that fact, but surely the greater the wrong the greater the grounds for forgiveness. I appeal to you in the name of your great Christian traditions to give the Soviet Union a chance to, redeem itself, and to give j.vour British Allies the last opportunity to honour the pledges which have been sealed by Polish and British blood."