The Press THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1938. Deadlock in Prague

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22507, 15 September 1938, Page 10

The Press THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1938. Deadlock in Prague

Events in the Sudeten German areas of Czechoslovakia since Herr Hitler’s Nuremberg speech confirm the impression that, by demanding the right of self-determination for the Sudeten Germans, Herr Hitler was in effect demanding a plebiscite and there.ore going beyond any demands yet made by Herr Henlein. The speech was immediately followed in the Sudeten areas by outbreaks of lawlessness on a scale which clearly indicated preparation and premeditation; and the Czech Government’s proclamation of martial law has now been taken by Herr Henlein as an excuse for declaring that his Carlsbad demands are no longer a basis for negotiation. By this means, the awkward inconsistency between Herr Henlein’s policy and Herr Hitler’s demands on behalf of the Sudeten Germans has been removed. And with it has been removed any possibility of a favourable interpretation of the Nuremberg speech. The conclusion is inescapable that Herr Hitler has deliberately sought to nullify the work of the Runciman mission and to make difficult, if not impossible, • any resumption of negotiations. Such a , purpose makes intelligible and in a sense consistent the passages in his speech in which he suggests that the British Government, and the other democratic Powers associated with it, have instigated the Czech Government to deny justice to the Sudeten Germans, passages which a British Official Wireless message calls “perversion of plain fact.” Herr Hitler, clearly, is trying to arouse enthusiasm in Germany for a crusade against a group of Powers engaged in upholding and justifying an act of oppression. The British Government, which until recently has been accused by the opposition 'parties in the House of Commons and by large sections of the British, French, and American press of forcing the Czech Government • into, unwisely generous concessions for the sake of an Anglo-German rapprochement, must find a bitter irony in Herr Hitler’s words.