“Perfidious Albion”

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 102, 1 May 1941, Page 4

“Perfidious Albion”

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The following comments are from the “Outpost,’' tho magazine of Americans in Bonbon. They are delightfully ironic:— (1) Tna.it wicked British Empire insisted on settling the Alabama claims by arbitration. (2; It followed the same policy in 1890 about V enezueia. (3) it gave the Boers so crafty a peace that the poor, deluded fools xougiit to stay in the Empire only a decade later. (4; Its loaders rashly warned the Versailles Peace Conference ox the danger of harsh terms to Germany. (5; It cruelly gave {Southern Ireland “Dominion {Status,” shown by this war to mean complete independence. (6; It stupidly presented India with economic inuepenaence so that India A now excludes British goods by a stiff nostile tariff! and by bounties on y Indian production. I (7) It had possession of Egypt and f Iraq and bungied tilings so baaiy that o botu arc now ireo. t (8; in the Ottawa agreement, which \ shut Germany out of some of its mar- s Bets, it had the presumptiou to copy l tho U.S. protective tariff wail. t (9) It offers India sexx-government as 1 soon as Hindu and Moslem will come to a working agreement. i (10) It treated the Arabs so brutally that tho minute war broke out the c Arabs took advantage of a preoccupied < Britain to make a truce witu the Pales- 1 tiuiau Jews. 1 (11) It is deluded enough to think J rignt-at-a-distance is wortn defending. J 1,12) It still has a naive faith m 1 religion, democracy and. the right oi < I minorities. (13; it has not the wit to shoot, or 1 , at least imprison, its conscientious o-o- '• , jectors. in many cases they are carry- : , on at their old jobs. , (14) It missed its chance to close down Parliament. The windbag institution is still functioning. ; (15)' It is so" simple t-uut it tells the 1 ; truth about, its losses in air battles, as ; our own United {States observers in • Britain testily. , (16) It refuses to use naval bases in • Eire which had been in its hands for • centuries ana which would be an enor--5 mous help against U-boats and raiders. • it allows a \itai part of its tiny islands • to contract out ox any struggle for survival, because Eire wishes it. 1 To which 1 might add: t It has unfeelingly found an asylum ' for every deposed French monarch since the days of Louis 16th. It has made a complete ass of itself by providing a refuge for every foreign 1 poli'ticai adventurer who sought one. It foolishly butted into tne Peninsula War, found the men, money and munitions and drove the French out of ■Spain. • it was mad enough in 3515 to guarantee the Allies £5,000,000 a month tor the ■ duration of the war against Ns.poleou, ! and when Waterloo was fought and won 1 and France lay crushed and bleeding it ’ refused to accept any of the spoils of 1 war. It. was inconsiderate enough to find a. home for Napoleon ill, the Empress 2 Eugenie and the young Prince Imperial during the disasters of the Franco- • German War, and when the French " .capital was besieged and its population • starving, it had the bad grace to send • large quantities of food to the hungry e It had the impudence to make representations to the Berlin Cabinet in couv nection with the war indemnity of £240,000,000 —an enormous sum in those v days —imposed upon defeated France L *' by the Germans, and had the amount r reduced to £200,000,000. n We ought to be ashamed ’of ourI s selves.-—I am, etc., 6 . J, A. WALSH. Pahiatua., April 29.