EMPIRES, GERMAN AND BRITISH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23861, 11 January 1941, Page 4 (Supplement)

EMPIRES, GERMAN AND BRITISH

By KOTARE

THE year 1940 was to have marked the end of the British Empire. That purpose ran like a core of steel through the steadily unfolding German ambitions, as Europe, bit by bit, fell under Nazi dominance. It was the necessary corollary of the doctrine of Nordic supremacy. If the Germans were the super-race appointed in the constitution of things to the supreme place among the nations the final challenge to their world-dominion naturally came from that vast Commonwealth of free peoples that he'd so great and go desirable a part in the world. Hitler has screamed it from the housetops, his henchmen have rumbled it forth in press and radio, a day or so ago the Italian spokesmen were twittering it in response to Mr. Churchill's appeal to Mussolini's dupes. / Enter 1941 with the British Empire more united, more solidly based than at any other period of its history. Germany, by the might of its arms, the fighting quality of it* manhood, the daring of its plans, and the skill and unserupulousncss with which most of them have be/m executed, has Europe trodden underfoot. It controls to-day a Vast territorial empire. The resources of almost all the Continent in men and material are there at its call. But nothing but German power holds the u:i- j co-ordinated mass together. On tic i surface is inevitable acceptance of force majeure. Beneath ferments a seething mass of bitterness, anger, the j Just- for revenge. And that must be the condition till the longed-for day of deliverance comes Union by Force For, as .Joseph Harseh, the famous 'American authority on foreign affairs, points out with desolating elaritv in the Christian Science Monitor. I filler has nothing to offer conquered Europe to bind it into any semblance of unity. Ihe new order simply means the supremacy - oi , the Nordics. The nouKordies cannot be expected to work up any strong enthusiasm for a doctrine tli.it- po*t.ulaies their inevitable inferiority, No amount o! propaganda, no picturesque dreams of a happy future with Hitler in the role of an all-the-year-round Santa Clans can reconcile compered peoples that once have tasted liberty, to a permanent condition of national servitude. The races which Germany condescends to admit into the sacred Nordic circle are even less likely =to accept as their ultimate destiny control from Berlin.

If the Nordic line fails to convince Europe, even less will the second major element in German policy suffice to unite the conquered nations. AntiSemitism was a good enough catchword to fuse the docile Germans into a dangerous unity. But: obviously it is a poor foundation for a united Europe and a world empire. Something much more positive ami more universal in its appeal is needed and needed now. And that is exactly what Germany has not now and will not be able to find. Her only friend, Italy, yoked with her in a most uneasy partnership, with contempt on one side and mistrust on the other, promises even less in the dreams of a united German-controlled Europe than the unfortunate peoples that have been compelled into submission. Back of all the glittering facade of the Axis lies and will lie 1 the German attitude of superiority. It, was Bismarck who. 70 years ago. gave the Teutonic opinion of Italy in words that, have proved prophetic. ''lnsatiable Italy, drawn hv the odour of corruption and calamity, always ready to attack anybody from the rear and make off with a bit of plunder." It was lie who first applied the name "jackal" to Germany's present ally. If that is the vaunted spirit of the Axis, the new order builds on shifting sand The British Unity If these are some of the insoluble problems facing the new European Empire. jn all the dangers and disasters we may yet have to meet we can look with pride and confidence on this Empire of ours, the slow, steady growth ot centuries, the body the British soul has created for itself, affording many peoples in many lands a secure and happy refuge and home, with a way of life based on liberty and the rights of the individual, with justice as the chief corner-stone, in this day of Armageddon the hope and the cbam-

pi on of all the forces of freedom in a world threatened by unspeakable tyranny. .Perhaps in the eternal purpose of things i;c was tor this very task at this crisis in human affairs that our Empire came into being and grew over the long, slow years. There is no place for any smug complacency. Hut we can take some satisfaction in the tribute offered to us only a year or two ago by a famous German: "Christian ideals of conduct have been realised in Anglo-Saxon lands with a fulness fo which the whole rest of the world can show nothing equal or even comparable." There is another side to the picture which we dare riot forget.': but in an imperfect world we can take comfort, in the knowledge that in the rights of the individual and in the relation of man with man something of the Christian standards has been embodied in the characteristic British way of life. An American Tribute .fames Truslow Adams, in his "Empire on the Seven Seas,'' which is throughout at once sympat bet ic and critical as becomes a true American, asks how it has come about that at most point* in this widely diverse Empire hostility has become friendliness, co operation, loyalty. What is there in the British Empire that has converted alien peoples to a genuine patriotism, and has maintained the affectionate loyalty of the wandering sons of the race in colony after colony? He savs thai force has not done it.. Eor armaments have never been more than the minimum required for self-defence, and usually much less than 1 hat. He concludes that this huge Empire, so vulnerable in all the seas of the world, has continued so long and so prosperously without -serious challenge because it is recognised by the general consent of man as something worth preserving in the interests of the world at large. It stands for things that enrich and invigorate and keep sweet the lite of man. The world ins!.inetivelv feels that it would be much the poorer without it. "The possible overthrow of the British Empire would be a catastrophe scarcely thinkable." he writes. To the American*; the British Empire is the strongest bulwark tor their own safetv I and freedom. "We are linked to (he future of the Empire as 1o t hat of no other nation. If in a world tossing on the wild waves of chaos we ever need a friend whose ideals of life and liberty agree with ours, whom among the great Powers can we turn to with more understanding or more hope of being understood!'" I he verdict of the historian has been dramatically underlined by the statesman in President .Roosevelt's noble < New Year message to the world. 1