A PEN PORTRAIT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 14 April 1945, Page 6

A PEN PORTRAIT

MR ANTHONY EDEN “INTENSELY SERIOUS PERSON” Robert Anthony Eden resembles Winston Churchill in one major respect: both have adhered to a set of principles, both have refused to change them to fit events, both have troumphed when events changed to fit their principles, wrote Drew Middleton, noted European observer, for the ‘‘New York Times”. To-day Eden is not only Britain’s Foreign Secretary (and therefore was designated her chief delegate to the San Francisco Conference) but also the most likely successor to Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. To know Anthony Eden, what he wants, what he seeks, what he has done in his second tenure of office as "His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,” it is necessary to study not only the man himself but also his position and its place in the world to-day. There is much talk of “a new Eden,” but the truth is the Eden of to-day is the logical development of the Eden of ten years ago, when as Britain’s youthful Foreign Secretary he vainly tried to rally Europe for peace. TRIED TO AVERT WAR Then, as now, he was an intensely serious person. He was fearful of the thunderheads piling up beyond the Rhine and the Alps. With approval that was never more than half-hearted, he tried to avert war by bringing the League of Nations to bear against Germany and Italy. His campaign failed in those days of “realistic views” about the Germans and Italians, but the principles for which he fought then are those for which he works to-day. Mr Eden’s principles are a mixture of hard common sense and idealism in a world which apparently has discarded one and flouts the other. He sees an international society based on justice, not on the power of one, two or three great States. This conception, markedly different from that of some AngloAmerican “realists,” endears him to the small States of Europe which in times of crisis must have recourse to law and justice, not to power. Unlike many Britons of his age, Mr Eden feels no need to apologise for Britain. With no taint of Chauvinism he is a stout defender of what the Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations have done for the world. -He talks little of the “might, majesty and dominion” of Britain, because like most Britons he feels there is no need to advertise. Yet he 'is probably more steadfast in his desire to uphold Britain’s ideas and interests in international affairs, especially in regard to the United States, than some who make more resounding speeches. Mr Eden’s principles have other attractions for the common man of Britain. They are inelastic, they are enduring. At the moment they happen to be a rough approximation of the principles of the Conservative Party, to which he belongs. But when seven years ago they differed radically from those of his party, he stuck to them and threw up his mb as Foreign Secretary to wander in the political wilderness. He was out of office in 1939 when Britain fumbled for a Russian alliance —negotiations which oddly enough' broke down over the stumbling block of 1942, Russia’s right to what the Kremlin considers her “strategic boundaries” in the Baltic States and Finland. When the Germans invaded Russia in 1941 Mr Eden was again Foreign Secretary, having since the start of the war held the positions of Secretary of State for the Dominions and Secretary of State for War. From the day he took office he has laboured with considerable results for inclusion of the Soviet Union into what Metternich called the “concert of Europe” and for better understanding by the United States, as well as Britain, of Russia’s

place in the post-war world. Mr Eden’s position as a friend of Russia has not, of course, hurt his standing with the British people. As far as this correspondent can gather from conversations in buses, trains, restaurants and pubs, he is accepted as the next Prime Minister by the mass of the people. During his first occupancy of the Foreign Office Mr Eden was in his late thirties, a "nice young man” in a distinguished black hat, who travelled Europe trying to bring the League of Natins to bear against Germany and Italy. Feminine hearts in a half dozen capitals beat faster at the sight of his dark good looks, his debonair appearance. Then he was described as the "best-dressed diplomat” in a world of striped trousers and black jackets. To-day at 47, which is still young in British political life, Mr Eden is grey and care-worn; work and disappointment have etched deep lines in his face. Like other Cabinet Ministers, he hasn’t had a new suit of clothes since September, 1939. He still wears the striped pants and black coat, the unofficial uniform of his trade, but when travelling now he discards the black homburg he popularised for a brown fedora. His favourite double-breasted vests are one of the few reminders of his pre-war elegance. As Foreign Secretary Mr Eden has thoroughly destroyed the standard fiction portrayed of a diplomat’s life as consisting solely of decorous interviews with frock-coated statesmen, spiced with stately dinners. On the

contrary, Mr Eden works like a coal heaver. His life when he is in London literally revolves around and in the huge gloomy old Foreign Office which is both his office and his home. “HE IS MORE PROFOUND” He and Mrs Eden occupy an apartment constructed on the top floor of the building when L ord Halifax was Foreign Secretary. It consists of a drawing room, dining room, bedrooms and baths. Even though his richly but not ostentatiously furnished living quarters are in the same building, when delicate negotiations are in progress Mr Eden frequently does not have time to go home from the office. There has always been some dispute over the depth of Mr Eden’s mind. He was labelled “clever” at Eton and Oxford, friends adding that he was “not very good at games but very keen.” Some observers regard Eden to-day as still clever rather than profound. A colleague who has known him for 20 years believes his youthful cleverness, although still apparent in a press interview or House of Commons debate, is now a facade for a deeper, more studious mind. “He is more profound than he was ten years ago,” this man said. “Should he continue to develop in the next ten years as he has in the last, he’ll be a great man ”