MR CHAMBERLAIN.

Evening Star, Issue 23698, 4 October 1940, Page 4

MR CHAMBERLAIN.

It will not come as a surprise to learn that Mr Chamberlain has resigned fromthe War Cabinet. He is seventy years of age and is suffering from the groat strain that the events preceding the war and after its outbreak put upon him. To-day Mr Churchill is the man of the hour. The Empire, with good reason, has confidence in him as an inspiring leader who will bring it to victory in the present titanic struggle. It is not surprising, in the rush of events, if the efforts of his predecessor should he forgotten by many and continue to be derided by his critics. In all times it is difficult to got things in the right perspective; it is impossible in the fever of war to make a fanadjustment in estimating the responsibilities for its outbreak. An Auckland public man, in an address on his return from England recently to the Hamilton (Rotary Club, expressed the conviction that when the Empire had won the war Mr Chamberlain would go down iu history as the “ man who saved the British Empire.” The speaker added that when the former Prime Minister went to Munich he knew that tho heavy industries in Britain were not organised for war purposes. Mr Chamberlain was appalled at the thought of the horrors that a war with Germany would bring about. In order to avoid such a catastrophe ho made supreme efforts to come to terms with Hitler. Three times, sinking his personal dignity, lie crossed the Channel in an endeavour to induce the Nazi leader to sec reason. He failed, but it

was a splendid failure, and lie gained a breathing space of a year that was of inestimable value from the point of view of IBritish rearmament. There is no doubt that Mr Chamberlain was limited in Ids understanding of tho mentality of the Nazi chiefs. He trusted the words of individuals who were without honour, in spito of tho warnings of men, Mr Churchill among them, who held tho strongest convictions that Hitler’s mind was bent on war and that he was merely awaiting a favourable opportunity to strike. When Lord Baldwin was Prime Minister ho was criticised for his optimistic outlook, and Mr Chamberlain, who followed him, was castigated for his lack of vigour in rearmament, but it lias to bo remembered that both of these statesmen wore hampered by tho strong anti-war sentiment in Britain. Proposals put forward for tho better arming of tho nation had been condemned as provocative, and both of those loaders were frequently referred to as warmongers. It is interesting to road tho views of an outsider on this point. In a book entitled ‘ Why England Slept,’ Mr J. F. Kennedy, a son of tho American Ambassador in London, says that in 1933 the political dim ate was hum idly anti-war. “ Winston Churchill might rave and rumble ■ bout the Nazi danger. But tho Labour Party’s Clement Attlee and Herbert Morrison struck more popular poses as humanitarians. League of Nations advocates, good Europeans.” The writer says that in 1934 in England butter was king, not guns. In his opinion the blame must be put largely on the British public. For 1935 was the year of the General Election, and British voters postponed armaments. To-day Mr Chamberlain as an active force leaves the political arena. Ho fought a good fight in tho cause of peace, and when he did load tho nation into war it was in fulfilment of obligations that his country had undertaken. Mr Churchill has paid to Ids colleague a moving tribute marked by generosity and sincerity, and it should bo endorsed by the Empire at large.