WARNING AGAINST GERMANY

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 14, 23 March 1938, Page 1

WARNING AGAINST GERMANY

SIR MALCOLM CAMPBELL’S BLUNT OPINION NO" DELUSIONS ABOUT - -IffAZIS ONLY SAFETY IN STRENGTH ■ ” - “If Germany |is once allowed to assume a position'of clear superiority, we need be under no delusions as to her intentions d|r the ruthless manner in which she will carry them out,” writes Sir Malcolm Campbell in his book “Drifting to War.” “We have not forgotten the German ‘frightfulness’ in Belgium and Northern France. —“Even if our memories were too short to recollect the campaign of pillage and wanton destruction which marked the beginning of the GreatWar, or the wicked sabotage of French orchards and vineyards during the last phases of thfe conflict, we have as examples of the German manner of making war the destruction of Guernica by bombing ironi the air and the bombardment of the open town- of Alineria as, a reprisal for the bombing of the Deutschland .<» “Germany, lias not departed from the faith enunciated Moltke, whose view was that humanitarianism in war consists in executing it with the utmost sApidity, and that, as a consequence, "the?, most brutal methods are the most humanitarian. ColoniaT Question. C “To revest to the colonial question: If and when the concrete demand for restoration is made, it will be addressed not to the League of Nations, but to Britain, for the reason that we hold the bulk of the captured territories as trustees for the League. There is a qualification to bo made here. If in the meanwhile we have made our defences so strong that Germany does not feel that she has a sufficient margin of strength to en-» sure the success of a war, she may attempt negotiation with the League. “To such a course of action no exception can be taken. If she had negotiated for all she has -taken in breatdfcfipf her treaty obligations, it is more than, probable that she would have secured at least nine-tenths of what she wanted and would have stood in the eyes of the world as a. country of good faith and honour. “Unfortunately, she choose the more direct patlie and is properly regarded as a power whose pledged word is worth nothing when it is in conflict with her real or fancied interests. It is the greatest tragedy of modern history. Germany’s Intentions. “If only we could trust Ge rmany s word! If we could accept at their face value the protestations of Hitler and those of his entourage who constantly tell the'world that all their aims are directed towards enduring peace and express their willingness to enter into ‘regional pacts’ to that end. how much more easily we could sleep in our beds. ‘,Bhit the truth we have to face is that our present hugeburden of rearmament. costs has been forced upon' us for no other reason than.’ that, at long last, our Government has been compelled to the realisation, that the German intentions cannot be trusted and that our only safety lies in being too strong to be attacked.” Sir Malcolm Campbell’s book is. described as “a warning and a prophesy.” .: ui-S-.