The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1940. Chamberlain-Hitler Speeches

Northern Advocate, 26 February 1940, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1940. Chamberlain- Hitler Speeches

NOTABLE speeches were made during the week-end by the leaders of Britain and Germany. Mr. Chamberlain, speaking at Birmingham, set out Britain’s war aims and elaborated what has been done and is being done to~ ensure the accomplishment of those aims. Herr Hitler, speaking in Munich, on the twentieth anniversary of the rise of Nazism, also outlined Germany’s war aims, A comparison of the two speeches is as valuable as it is interesting.

The war aims of the two nations—and when Britain is mentioned, her great and gallant ally, France, is, of course, included—are wide as the poles. Mr. Chamberlain was able to show beyond the possibility of doubt that Britain had entered the war to protect small nations from the rapacity of _an aggressor whose ambition is undisguisedly world domination, and to safeguard the sacred cause of democracy. He was able to trace with telling force the history of Nazi duplicity and aggression since Herr Hitler and his party seized power in Germany. He revealed the unreliability of the Fuehrer’s word, which was broken without compunction as soon as it was expedient to do so. This was exemplified at Munich, when Mr. Chamberlain was grossly deceived by Herr Hitler. Following the rape of Czechoslovakia, there came the threat against Poland. This criminal move was so clearly part of Herr Hitler’s plan to secure domination of Europe that Britain and France, the bulwarks of democracy, had no option but to call upon Germany to halt. Regarding the order as another exhibition of bluff, Herr Hitler, with the assistance of his newlyfound ally, Russia, persisted in his attack on Poland, which immediately compelled Britain and France to accept the challenge. The course of the war so far has shown the success with which the challenge has been met. Mr. Chamberlain, while declaring the Allies’ determination to fight until the defeat of Nazism was accomplished, nevertheless made it quite clear that the destruction of the German people was not the desire of the Allies. They were prepared, if assured beyond question that the Nazis would relinquish their policy of world domination, and restore to Poland and Czechoslovakia what had been taken from them, to hold out the olive branch.

Herr Hitler, on the other hand, was able to make but a futile excuse for the perilous position in which he has placed the people of Germany. He was obliged to fall back upon the oratorical and spectacular methods by which he secured power, and to paint Britain as an arch enemy whose only purpose is to enslave Germany. Conveniently forgetting the obvious purpose of the Nazi regime, Herr Hitler emphasised that no single nation had a right to try to dominate the other nations of the world, which had always been the British desire. This contention is so absurd that even the German people themselves can surely not believe it. Herr Hitler failed to refer, as Mr. Chamberlain did on behalf of the Allies, to the policy which a victorious Germany would adopt after the war. He could not very well do so, for whereas the Allies have undertaken that all nations shall share in shaping a new world, with disarmament as an outstanding aim, Nazi Germany has nothing to offer. She has made it clear that domination and degradation would be the lot of conquered Therefore, the speeches of Mr. Chamberlain and Herr Hitler cannot but strengthen world opinion that Nazi power must be broken before there can be discussion of a new world in which small nations shall be able to live in peace and safety, and the principles of democracy can be given free scope.