WAR IN EUROPE NOT INEVITABLE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 154, 25 March 1939, Page 7

WAR IN EUROPE NOT INEVITABLE

English Peer’s View “CONSPIRACY OF ALARM’’ Lord Samuel declared his disbelief in the inevitability of war at the dinner last month of the Eighty Club and of the Oxford University Liberal Club al Oxford. Reported in tbe ‘'Manchester Guardian,” he strid: "Tlie looming danger of war, imminent and inevitable, which seems to many to be spreading over the world, prevents youth from being light-heari-ed and makes young men feel as though they were in a Imai without oar.s being borne on a swift current toward a cataract and a whirlpool. Except for one moment during lhe Czechoslovak crisis, when Europe was undoubtedly on the very verge of war, I for my part have never believed that it was imminent, and do not believe it now.’ Possible, But Improbable. War no doubt was possible, and at any moment, but tliiht was not to say that it was probable, -still less that it was certain. Almost everyone was in a tacit conspiracy to increase alirrm. The Governments of Germany and Italy, thirsting for something to gain, were more likely to succeed if, the others feared that they were threatened by great disaster. Their leaders, therefore, rarely spoke or reassuring word. The Governments of the democracies had to urge their peoples to make the sacrifices necessary for their own defence, and they, too, were not disposed to make less of the danger than they need. They appealed to their electors that it would be unsafe to change Governments in the face of so grettl a

"peril.” Oppositions everywhere also emphasized the danger of leaving it to the “cowardice or incompetence” of the Governments, and urged that they should be. changed before it was too late. The Press all over the world gave prominence to what was alarming, for that stirred interest, while what was placid was dull, «as unbought and unread. “Twittering Apprehension.” “All around there is an interest in sustaining alarm,” said Lord Samuel, "with the result that millions of people go, about their daily tasks in a spirit of twittering apprehension. The Englishman used to have a reputation for being stolid, and there is a good deal to be said for the attribute of stolidity. It has helped to create the power of Britain and the stability of her Empire.” Reviewing the European situation, he said that the danger of an Italian attack upon France had receded since at last, and none too soon, the British Government had spqken a word of warning. The declaration of the Prime Minister had been unquestionably endorsed by the whole of the British people.

In*Spain the British Government had pursued what had been in the opinion of many a course of extreme weakness. The so-called Non-Intervention Committee had really been a committee to safeguard the unilateral intervention of Italy in Spain. Military events seemed now to be bringing the struggle toward an end. The final result might prove grave for France and Britain, but not at the moment. A Formidable Factor. Another element of immense importance on the side of peace was that the United States was beginning to “sit up and' take notice.” Aggressive dictatorships would recognize that there was a formidable factor to reckon with there. “I still adhere to the view that war is neither inevitable nor imminent,” said Lord Samuel. “An ingredient of stolidity is a good thing, but let it not pass into complacency or indifference. Our complaint against the Government is that it has not shown that faculty of putting the State in motion which Dr. Johnson ascribed to Chatham —that is the quality which our times need above all else.” Two millions of workpeople unemployed in spite of all the work upon armaments was a great disaster and a great weakness. “Yet the present Administration remains not by virtue of its own strength but because of others’ weakness. A weak Government is often kept in power by the alternative being weaker still. Tbe Labour Barty has succeeded in undermining the effectiveness of the Liberal Party, but not in establishing its own. It is the Labour Party which has succeeded in keeping Conservatism in power almost continuously for the last 20 years. .Sir Stafford Cripps is undoubtedly right in saying that Labour with its present policy and leadership may keep it in power for many years more.”