Britain Accepts The Fait Accompli

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 65, 18 March 1938, Page 7

Britain Accepts The Fait Accompli

•‘NOTHING SHORT OF WAR CAN TURN BACK” LONDON, March 16. The Foreign Minister, Viscount Halifax, in the House of Lords, stated: “I have never, in any conversations with the German leaders, taken any line but that, while I did not supp fse that anyone in Britain would be prepared to maintain the status quo in Lurope for all time, we were concerned to see no changes made by violence. We arc confronted to-day with a fait accompli unparalleled in history. The world faces the ugly truth that in the sphere of Power politics forco alone decides.” Lord Halifax added that there waa nothing to be gained at present by bringing the matter of Austria before the League. "Nothing short of war,” he said, “can put the clock back. League members are not pared to go to war on this Issue." “The conclusion I reach is that the ,League, although it has a perfect legal right to interest itself in the question, cannot conceivably do anything at the moment which can compel Germany to turn back from the course on which she has embarked,” he added. "The British Government is therefore bound to recognise that the Austrian State has been abolished as an international entity and that the process of absorption In the German Reich as a result of the plebiscite is a foregone conclusion.” Lord Halifax recalled the German assurance to Czechoslovakia, adding: *W« naturally expect that Germany will abide by these repeated solemn assurances. If Germany desires to maintain European peace, there is no more vital quarter where her undertakings should be scrupulously respected.