The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, May 15, 1941. THE HESSIAN PORTENT.

Grey River Argus, 15 May 1941, Page 4

The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, May 15, 1941. THE HESSIAN PORTENT.

From the Germans missiles as innumerable, as they have been various, have been aimed at Britain. The Germans have also threatened that- these would be followed up with human missiles in the shape of parachuting invaders. But it surely is just another illustration that this is a “phoney” as well as a totalitarian war when the first German coming with the single intention of parachuting into Britain should be none other than the right-hand man of the Nazi leader. Hess has focussed on himself the eyes of the world. He is a real windfall for Britain. No matter how his flight is regarded, it tells entirely in our favour and against Germany. The exploit has manifestly eclipsed actual war operations and even signs of new Avar developments. People think indeed Hess is himself the portent of the greatest prospective development. Everybody is interested both in a story and in a personality, and this trait of human nature doubtless magnifies the exit of Hess from the Nazi camp into an event of possibly greater importance than it may turn out to have been. Yet it is an authentic sign that the Nazi eamp is no happy family. This, perhaps, surprises nobody, and there is so far no great evidence that the personality of Hoss is going to prove a magnet for everybody. But the whole world is keenly interested because behind his strange “getaway” I hero is a story. I t is this story the unravelling of which may herald the news which all want to hear—news that the authors of aggression at last, are turning upon each other as well as upon the outside world, and may yet destroy each other into the” ’ bargain. * This conjecture is not far fetched when it is borne in mind that the Nazi-cum-Prussian philosophy is one of mere racial relativism, ami tliiri runs contrary to the spirit of man. However, it is rallier humorous to note how British commentators are reacting- to this

sensational episode. Some say that the propagandists must be super skilful in handling it — telling the world, in fact, beforehand, that, it is to be thus exploited. Others strike the “ca’canny” note, and have the- endorsement of refugees from Germany who presumably will include not a few of the Jewish race who have such reason to suspect the whole Nazi Party. They say Hess may have come to mislead the world outside. He may soon explain his motives, and it will be no more a surprise if selfpreservation prove the main one. If so, the question is as to how many more Nazi leaders are safe—or unsafe. The founder of Party, Strasser, a refugee for a decade in Canada, is quoted as saying that the Prussian militarists arc probably after the scalps of the Nazi bosses. It -would, however, be foolish for the British to put their money on the Prussians any more than on the others, despite Ihe former British admiration for Prussian military efficiency. Without the Prussians, Hitler could have got nowhere with his aggression, and if they now ditched him, it would be simply judging him no longer necessary in their plan of campaign. In fact, Hess might yet disclose Hitler as having less stomach for further warfare than Goering, Von Keitel, Von Brauchitsch, and Co. Anyway, whether Von Papon thought he cracked a joke at the Turkish capital this week when he said he returned there as an “olive branch,” there is no doubt that Hess is a good omen for Britain. He is the straw that shows the way the wind blows.