“WAR WOULD BE FATAL”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 234, 15 September 1934, Page 5

“WAR WOULD BE FATAL”

Sir A. Chamberlain’s Views

"If ever war breaks out between Britain and France I shall be on my country’s side, right or wrong, but 1 am convinced that such a war would be iatal to both and a world calamity,” says Sir Austen Chamberlain in an article in "Figaro.” Sir Austen pleads ardently for Britons and Frenchmen to study more deeply their mutual points of view and temperaments, as a means to a better understanding.

"Britain and Franco, alone among the great European Powers, defend a common civilisation, comprising ideas deeply routed in the national character, which cdsewhere have lost their appeal,” writes Sir Austen. 'The first meeting between an Englishman and a Frenchman is us awkward as it is naturally cordial between an Englishman and a German, but that is a false cordiality. The more deeply Frenchmen and Englishmen penetrate each other’s natures, the more common qualities they discover, while closer contact between Englishmen and Germans reveals deeper divergencies in faith and spirit. “Englishmen whoso experience and knowledge of Germany is greatest sound a danger warning the loudest.”