Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27. 1939 THE DOMINIONS AND THE WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 27 October 1939, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27. 1939 THE DOMINIONS AND THE WAR

“CO-OPERATION in War-time“ was the subject of an impressive broadcast yesterday by the British Secretary of State for the Dominions, Mr Anthony Eden. He reviewed the war position and the Empire’s part and quoted as an important example of co-opera-tion the vast air-training scheme upon which the Dominions have embarked. The coming conference in London of Dominion Cabinet Ministers was referred to as another sign of the tangible ! friendship and co-operation that j exists. The conference will not j be of a formal nature and there j will be no agenda, but there will be informal and practical discussions which are expected to result in the closer co-operation aimed at. Almost as Mr Eden was speaking, news was being received of a decision by the people of one portion of the Empire emphasising the determination of the overseas Dominions to fully assist the Mother Country in her fight for freedom. This was in the Province of Quebec, where, in a Parliamentary election the major issue involved the extent to which the senior Dominion should participate in the war. In the election of 1936, the Liberals, who had held office in Quebec for 40 years, were defeated by the Union Nationale led by Mr Duplessis. The new Government had 75 members out of the 90 in the House of Representatives. In this month’s campaign Mr Duplessis had described the election as a fight for provincial autonomy and he opposed the powers taken by the Dominion Government at Ottawa to organise the man-power of the nation for war. Although he himself was elected, seven of his Ministers were defeated. The Liberals won 68 seats, the Union Nationale 15. The confidence expressed by Dominion Ministers that there would not be a verdict “acclaiming Berlin and Moscow’’ has proved to have been well-founded. The Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Mackenzie King, has stated that it was impossible to exaggerate the significance of the voting, “which has shown that the people of Quebec share the determination of their fellow Canadians that a united Canada shall co-operate on the side of Britain and France in the war to defend freedom and resist aggression. To revert to Mr Eden’s broadcast. it will be noted that the Dominions Secretary has summed up the international situation in Europe by saying that Herr Hitler has lost the initiative on the Western Front, that Russia and Turkey have blocked his road to the East, that attacks by air against the British Navy and mercantile marine have failed utterly in their purpose; that the submarine, on which the Germans depended for success, “is an indecisive weapon,’’ since “the total of merchantmen sunk is below 1 per cent, of our (British) tonnage.” The British statesman spoke for the heartening of his fellowcountrymen, by letting them see in how many respects the war is going badly for the enemy. No one will deny Mr Eden’s statement, but how many will interpret its meaning aright? If Herr Hitler has lost the initiative on the Western Front, what are his hopes of victory? Victory can best be attained by taking the initiative, as was so well understood by Marshal Foch, whose constant plea was for “attack! attack! attack!” But the offensive can as a rule be adopted only by the force which is the stronger, so it may be inferred that if the Germans on the Western Front cannot attack they are either the weaker force, or are badly situated. Certain it is that they cannot expect any great success against the Allies until they are able to assume the offensive by attacking that great bulwark of the French, the Maginot Line. Meanwhile the naval blockade of Germany increases its stranglehold effects. If as the British Minister says, Russia and Turkey have blocked Herr Hitler’s road to the East, it is a further indication of acceptance of the fact that the German leader’s ambition embraced conquest south and east of Poland. Turkey has made common cause with Britain and France—how long will it be before Russia will see that the German autocrat is still a menace—he has always bitterly denounced Communism and would probably turn against the Soviet if he could achieve his ends in Europe? His hope in the West seems to lie in submarine attack on British mercantile shipping. But he has adopted the fatal policy not only of sinking at sight British merchant vessels, but of hostile action against neutral shipping. The Russian Government’s protest against Britain’s actions in regard to contraband is likely to have as little effect upon Britain as the statement in the same Note “that the rules of warfare did not permit the bombing of peaceful populations from the air”—will have upon Germany. The Soviet quotes the London Declaration of 1909 regarding contraband,

but an English authority on international law points out that the Declaration of London was never ratified by Britain or even by Russia. The Note’s reference to the bombing of civilians is also regarded as strange as there has been no evidence of a protest by Russia against the ruthless bombing of open Polish towns by Germany. Russia’s real attitude is still unrevealed. Up to the present it appears to be based on hypocrisy and self-interest. And Herr Hitler who rose to power as the saviour of the world from Bolshevism, is now its partner and a partner who has been thwarted by his erstwhile arch-enemy in the fulfilment of some of his ambitions. Britain continues the fight—not, as Mr Eden says, against any land or for any given frontier, “but in support of a principle, for good faith between peoples, for without it there could be no peace.”