A Partition Scheme for Czechoslovakia

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22512, 21 September 1938, Page 10

A Partition Scheme for Czechoslovakia

Though there.is still no official information concerning the subject-matter of the week-end discussions between the British and French Governments, it is now reasonably certain that the passage in the communique announcing "complete agreement on the policy to be "adopted with* a view to promoting a peaceful "solution of the Czechoslovak question " refers to a scheme for transferring the Sudeten German areas to Germany and guaranteeing internationally the boundaries of the new Czechoslovak State. The report that this scheme has been accepted by the Czech Government is obviously premature. It cannot at this stage have been asked to do more than negotiate on the basis of such a scheme; and there is as yet no reliable indication that it has agreed to this course of action. In the meantime, therefore, extravagant declamations, against the British and French' Governments for "betraying" the Czech people, such as are now appearing in a section of the American press, are premature. Admittedly the mere fact that such a scheme' is under consideration is a victory for Germany and, for all practical purposes, precludes finally the possibility of a concerted effort by Great Britain, France, and Russia to preserve the territorial integrity/of Czechoslovakia. Having by inference accepted partition as a desirable solution, the British Government is hardly likely to go to war .to prevent partition. But whether or not the scheme constitutes a betrayal of the Czechs depends to some extent on its details. It is at least arguable that if in return for the cession of the Sudeten .German areas of Czechoslovakia Germany accepts her eastern frontiers as* final* and agrees to international guarantees of the status quo in eastern and central Europe on the lines of the Western Pact of Locarno more will have been done for the Czech people than could have been done by going to war on their behalf. On the other hand, if Germany does not renounce her Balkan ambitions and the military guarantees of the integrity of the new Czechoslovak State are inadequate, it is quite clear that the settlement will be no settlement at all but merely the prelude to another crisis. ■