THEY NEVER LEARN

Grey River Argus, 26 November 1942, Page 7

THEY NEVER LEARN

Commenting' on the Burmese campaign, General Alexander is reported to have said that we should, of course, reconquer Burma, because it was “part of the British Empire.” 1 wish the General could hear the comments made on this by some of the Chinese whose compatriots came down to Burma to help our abortive defence. What possible excuse could there be for the reconquest of Burma by the British Empire? If one reads the story of Britain’s wars in Burma they are about the most aggressive and least-justified in the nineteenth century; Hitler has only a little enlarged and improved on the technique. Indeed I was amused to learn that in 1825 the British neatly anticipated Hitler’s technique by a proclamation which began by say- [ ing that the King of Burma “by his unprovoked aggressions and extravagant pretentions having forced the British Government to invade his Dominions.” As part of the strategy of the United Nations, the Japanese i must be defeated and the future of Burma must belong to the Burmese. The Chinese might claim some fights there, but we. as far as I can see, have none. One connects this statement of General Alexander’s with Mr. Duff Cooper’s broadcast, which .was surely the most comic piece of blimpery outside a Low cartoon. Is it really impossible to get these people, who belong to such a distant past to think in terms of:—A world in which coloured peoples can rule themselves and in which our role is not that of conquerors? I thought that after we had been “run out” of Burma, to quote General Stilwell, even Duff Cooper must have begun to understand that it might be better, a's well as more in accordance with the facts of our day, to acknowledge the end of Empire and to inquire into the possibilities 1 of friendship. New Statesman.