BRITISH POLICY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20016, 15 August 1939, Page 7

BRITISH POLICY

RELATIONS ABROAD PEACE FRONT EXPEDIENT « INSPIRATION OP HALIFAX RETURN TO OLD ALLIANCES "It. is extremely difficult to_ say where there i$ any moral basis for tire present scheme of a peace-,front, supported 1 ' by guararitees and military alliances. Certainly it seems to promise safety for Britain and her allies but that may be only temporary. No foreign policy can succeed penrianently unless it has a strong moral basis, and collective security is the one policy which seems -to offer that basis,” stated Mr. Gilbert Burns, 'senior assistant 1 at the Gisborne High School, addressing the Gisborne Rotary Club- to-day on aspects of foreign affairs. The speaker asked his hearers to bear in mind thjit where an expression of opinion was made, in * the course of his address, it was his own opinion, and was not put forward m the light of an accepted fact. His' studies of 'Britain’s foreign policy hact been prompted by his qwn uncertainty in the first place as to the' order of ’ events which had brought trie Empire into the welter of'"'guarantee?'' arid alliances now prevailing, and into the effort to secure a pact with Russia. Old Policy of Self-Suffieioncy

For the last 50 years of the nineteenth century, he pointed out, Britain had been strong enough at se'a, and in the production of goods of a type us&l in war, to maintain herself unaidbd. She had little need to bare for the goodwill of other nations, and followed an independent course. " v *

Late in the century, however, she became uneasy as the result of obvi6US'signs'that her 1 neighbours were not friendly, and she turned her back on the isolationist policy, seeking alliances with several nations in turn.

Germany gave Britain the cold shoulder, but Japan, France and eventually fcussia entered into affiances with her. The turning point of British'policy on'that occasion was the Boer' AVar, which revealed that (Germany and Holland would not have remained neutral but for the strength of the ‘British fleet, while France was ‘Slso hostile because of the 'British expansionist policy in Africa, and particularly in Egypt. The .movement pi Russia into the Orient prompted $e alliance with Jfapan, and those with France and Bpssip followed in 1904 and 1908 respectively.

Not Hnnilxed Busings '

These alliances had their advantages, for hostile foreign nations had to reckon with a strong combination; but ior Britain their disadvantages, for on three occasions at ldast prior to 1914 her engagements With France brought her to the brink of a general war. Finally, in 1914, tiie system of opposing' alliances brought a show-down whiqb induced the survivors of the Great' War to seek some other means of keeping the balance in international affairs. Collective security was eyolved as an ideal in connection with the League of Nations. 'lt failed, Said Mr. Bums, 'because some nations followed srilfislT policies, arid others took advantage of their opportunities. At least, however, it served from 1919 to 1931, when the Japanese tested out the strength of collective security by irivading Manchukuo. Italy subsequently “got away with” the conquest of Abyssinia, despite a feeble effort on the part of other nations to check fer plans; and Germany was not to foe restrained once two comparatively small Powers had shown the Way. Germany Enters the Lists Germany first joined Italy in intervention in the Spanish civil war, and then launched her own programme of expansion, In 1938 there came the seizure of Austria, and the absorption oif the Sudetenland areas of Czechoslovakia, fallowed this year by the encroachment on. Czech territory in Moravia. Some time within .the past few years, “appeasement” had become the Watchword of the British Government, find that policy, largely the personal policy of Mr. Neville Chamberlain, had lasted while the Germans stood jjy their leader’s declaration that he would not press territorial claims beyond what was necessary to bring all the German people into one nation. When it became evident that they .intended to go further, appeasement Went 'by the board, and a return was ifnade to the policy of alliances and Understandings which had marked the darlier years of the century. This 'new turn of events produced the “peace front” scheme. Mutual Suspicions Not Allayed

The question of how aid was to be granted to Central European States, since Britain could not send aia through the Baltic, and the Mediterranean route' would be subject to closure likewise, ibrought Russia into “the scope of the discussions, and Britain and France had been negotiating, unsuccessfully to date, for a renewal of the old obligations with the Soviet Among the obstacles to this renewal was the fact that Poland and Roumania did not v/ant Russian troops on their lands, since both had profited at the expense of Russia in the postwar reshuffle of boundaries They also feared the absorption of Communist ideas by their populations. Russia, for her part, was distrustful of the intentions of Britain and France, and foresaw the possibility of being involved in wa r on their account, without their aid. The policy of the Peace front, Mr. Burns said,'was sponsored mainly by Lord Halifax, whose influence in the British Government was second only jo that of the Prims Minister, and who, in certain circumstances, might even become pre-eminent. It seemed the only possible policy at present, but it was too reminiscent of the system of alliances and guarantees which involved Britain in the Great War of 1914-18.

The world would have to And sbme other means of ensuring peace, and in the speaker's opinion, that meant a return to collective security, which had failed befpre, but only because of the selfishness and ambition of certain nations. It had, at least, the moral basis without which nothing r could be permanently sucmjsfni The speaker was accorded a hearty . vote of thanks, on the motion of Rotarian R. A. Dickson. Rotarian C. A. Smith was in. the chair.