Aggression Will Be Resisted

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 153, 1 July 1939, Page 5

Aggression Will Be Resisted

Britain's Warning to Europe

Senseless Multiplication of Armaments

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 29. Declaring the immediate purposes of British policy in vigorous and unmistakeable terms, the Foreign Minister, Lord Halifax, to-day delivered an mportant speech before the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He entered into detailed discussion of a number of problems fundamental to the recontruction of an international order, including those issues of livingspace and expansion which are to-day raised as challenges by the Totalitarian States. British policy, Lord Halifax made clear, rests on twin foun dations of purpose. One i 3 the determination to resist force, and the other is recognition of the world’s desire to get on with the constructive work of building peace. But to-day, he said, the threat of military forces was holding the world to ransom, and therefore he insisted that the immediate task for Britain was to resist aggression. Only in a different atmosphere, and if she were convinced that all nations really wanted peaceful solutions, would it be possible for Britain to enter upon a discussion of the matters to which so much of his own speech was devoted. What was now fully and universally accepted in Britain, but might not even yet be as well understood elsewhere, was that, in the event of further agression, the British were resolved to use at once the whole of their strength in fulfilment of their pledges to resist it. To that Lord Halifax returned more than once. Dealing with the colonial question, Lord Halifax said that the British Commonwealth was fully aware of its heavy responsibility. Britain recognised that self-government should be the ultimate goal of colonial policy. ? The benefits of the relatively low cost of production of certair commodities in the colonial territories would be shared more widely lander an international system in which trade barriers were lowered. He had no doubt that, if others were prepared to make a contribution to a better world, “we, in the conduct of our colonial administration, would be ready to go ns far upon the economic side as we have already gone on the political side in making wider the application of the principles which now obtain in the mandated territories, including, on terms of reciprocity, that of the open door.”

Lord Halifax referred to Britain's commitments in Europe, such as her mutual defence agreements with Poland and Turkey and the guarantees against aggression given to Greece and Pumania, and to the negotiations with the Soviet, and said that such great changes in British policy could not have been brought about had they not been backed by the deep conviction of the British people.

i world would soon find an incentive , to work together for a common good. The nations would then be in a position to discuss with a real j promise of success, both political grievances and economic difficulties whether in the international or colonial field.’' Dealing with the questions of living space, colonies and raw materials, Lord Halifax recalled the principle enunciated in Article 22 of the League Covenant, that the well-being and development of the people not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, is the sacred trust of civilisation. He proceeded to sketch the application of that 'principle of trusteeship in the mandatory system and in the latter-day administrative practice of the British colonial I empire. The same principle had in effect been applied in broadening freedom in the case of India, Burma and Lire. On Eire Lord Halifax observed: “For many years we tried as the phrase went to hold' land under a mistaken belief which is to-day invoked to justify the subjection of Czechoslovakia and that it was indispensable to our national security but we have now realised our safety is not diminished but immeasurably increased by a free and friendly Ireland. ’' LIBERTY GREATER THAN LIFE LABOUR WILL FIGHT Received Friday, 9.30 p.m. LONDON, June 30. Rt. Hon. A. Greenwood, in a speech in Loudon, pledged the Labour Party to light in the event of a German challenge. Ho said British labour was ever ready to try to understand the problems of other people, particularly the German people, but if the challenge came they w.uld fight. There were greater things than life itself and one of them was liberty. “We arc prepared to fight to keep liberty alive in this country," he declared. GERMAN COMMENT Received Friday, 7.53 p.m. BERLIN, Juno 30. The semi official Deutsche Dieust rejects Lord Halifax’s speech as emphatically as the memorandum of June 28. It refers to the speech as “hypocrisy,! high sounding phrases and empty words. “Britain should cease attempting to make her policy appear peaceful in the eves of the German people while awaiting the conclusion of negotiations for further encircling Germany." ITALIAN VIEWPOINT Received Friday, 7.55 p.m. ROME, June 30. 1 he semi official news agency characterises the speech as “devoid of any constructive proposals whatever."

Turning to the “mischievous representations “ of Britain’s actions and motive?. Lord Halifax declared that neither those statements nor the provocative insults offered their fellowcountrymen farther afield had passed unnoticed.

“I can say at once,” he added, “that Britain is not prepared to yield cither to calumnies or to force. Every insult offered our people, e\ ery rude challenge to what wc value and are determined to defend only unites vs. increases our determination and sticngtkens our loyalty to those others who share our feelings and aspirations. ’ 1 Coming to his re statement of the British aims “boldly and with such plainness of speech as I can command,” Lord Halifax declared emphatically: “Our first resolve is to call a halt to aggression. I need not recapitulate the acts of aggression which have taken place, or the effect they have had upon the trust European nations feel able to place in words and undertakings. For that reason, and for that reason alone, we have joined with other nations to meet the common danger.”

Answering the charges of “encirclement,” Lord Halifax said that everybody knew Germany was isolating herself* and doing it most successfully and completely. “Sho is isolating herself from other countries economically I/’ her policy of autonomy; politically by a policy that causes constant anxiety to other nations, and culturally by her policy of racialism,” he said. The last thing Britain desired to sec was the individual German man, woman or child suffering privations, but, if thev did so, the fault did not lie with Britain, and it depended on Germany alone whether the process of isolation continued or not, for any day it could be ended by the policy of co-operation. “Unless all countries desire a settl*ment, discussions would only do more harm than good,” Lord Halifax continued. “Moreover, it is impossible to negotiate with a Government whose responsible spokesmen brand a friendly country as thieves and blackmailers and indulge in daily monstrous slande r s on British policy in all parts of the world. “But if that spirit, which is clearly incompatible with any desire for peaceful settlement, gave way for something different, his Majesty's Government would be ready to pool its best thought with others in order to end political and economic insecurity.” “Our next task would be reconstruction of the international order on a broader and firmer foundation.” “No society of nations could be built upon force in a world which lived in fear of violence and had to spend its substance in preparing to resist it. It is idle to cry peace where there is no peace or pretend to reach a settlement unless it could be guaranteed by a reduction in warlike preparations and by an assured recognition of every nation's right to a free enjoyment of its independence. At this moment the doctrine of force bars the way to a settlement and tills the world with envy, hatred, malice and uncbaritableness. But if the doctrine of force were once abandoned so that the fear ot war that stalks the world was lifted, all outstand ing questions would become easier to solve. If all efforts now devoted to the senseless multiplication of armaments with consequent increase of distrust, were applied to a common peaceful development of the resources, the peoples of the