MR. EDEN APPREHENSIVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 83, 5 October 1938, Page 13

MR. EDEN APPREHENSIVE

NEW FOREIGN POLICY

FOUR-POWER PACT CONDEMNED

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY r October .3. Mr. Anthony Eden, speaking in the House of Commons for the first time since his resignation from the1; Foreigu Secretaryship, commented in the debate following Mn Chamberlain's speech on the manifestation they had had of the deep desire of the German people for peace, and suggested that their desire, which had never been in doubt, might be of real significance for the future of peace. , The moral forces which had gathered, to resist the march of war, and to which President Roosevelt had given voice in his admirable message, he said, constituted an imponderable but powerful Influence to which no ruler could be altogether impervious. It was too soon to determine the factors which had helped to avert war, but he put as the first factor the Prime Minister's courageous' refusal to give, up hope. The moral force of which he had already spoken was another, and there was also the authoritative information which appeared in the Press last Tuesday that, if France had been compelled to go to Czechoslovakia's assistance, Britain , and Russia ! would stand by France. Last, but not least, there was the mobilisation of the i British Fleet. But paramount among! all such factors was the conduct of the! Czechoslovak Government, which had laid all Europe under an obligation to them by having made the greatest contribution to the preservation of peace. DEPARTURE FROM TRADITION. | Mr. Eden admitted that the -Premier.! had established that there had been some marked modifications of the j : terms proposed at Bad Godesberg. He : expressed apprehension regarding the ! departure from the country's traditional foreign policy involved in the proposed guarantee of the new Czechoslovak frontiers—frontiers which actually did not yet exist. Was the existence of Czechoslovakia in its new form possible either or economically? He did'not question the moral claim of the" Czechoslqvak Government to this guarantee in view of the circumstances, but felt considerI able anxiety as to its precedent. Mr. Eden condemned the policy of the four-Power pact,' and maintained 1 that it had always been the endeavour of British foreign policy to secure the co-operation of the small Powers of Europe—-Powers which were always on the side of peace unless instigated by the Great Powers. Finally, Mr. Eden said that the de* mocracies had got to show themselves no less resolute in policy and spirit than nations under other forms of government. The speed of British reI armament had been, and still was, too j slow. It should be accelerated. j For a revival of the national spirit, it was necessary to make a determined effort to conduct foreign policy on the I principles upon which a nation could j unite. He believed that was possible. Such or the cable news on this page as is po headed has appeared in "The Times" and is cabled to Australia and New Zealand by special permission. It should tie understood (liar tljp opinions aro not, those or "The Times" iuUess expressly Mated to be at».