BRITAIN UNITED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 August 1939, Page 5

BRITAIN UNITED

DETERMINATION TO RESIST AGGRESSION Plain Warning to Nazi Dictatorship FUTURE FACED WITH QUIET CONFIDENCE READINESS TO RECIPROCATE GENUINE GOODWILL (British Official Wireless.) KL'GBY, August 20. The Sumlav newspapers reveal the common awareness that the so-called “war oi: nerves” in Europe is now entering upon its decisive ami most dangerous phase, and that the risks hat the final phase may prove a prelude to a major con lag at w are so serious that they must be openly but steadfast It lace . Thev are almost equally unanimous in the view that th . hope of peace today resides in proclaiming lor Ihe 1 ruth 1 hex obviously believe it. to be, the nnaltermg resolution cd i n British and French people to take up arms d. upon wha exe pretext, the Axis Powers again have recourse to methods oi force or intimidation. , ~ ~ i. Both the “Sunday Times” and “The Observer remark upon the unity of the British nation behind the policy which Air Chamberlain and Lord Halifax have repeatedly made clear a policy of readiness to be conciliatory and constructive in discussion once confidence in the peaceful intentions oi al Governments is restored, bid of determination to resist, aggression.

CLEAR COURSE TO STEER. The -Sunday Times" says: "This is a united nation. Neither friends nor foe need doubt that if duty calls it will render a faithful account of itself. The seas before us may be threatening, but the course to steer is agreed. There at least, we have the advantage over the men of July, 1914.”

Of the apparent aims of the Nazi Government as declared in the policy proclaimed in the German newspapers, the “Sunday Times” says: “We in Great Britain know well that if such a policy were pressed too far the end could only be war—a war in which our country would participate with all its forces. We are confident we could win it, but we do not want it to occur.” , Mr J. L. Garvin, in the “Observer,” seeks to define the qualities demanded of the British people in an hour of "stern awakening." He says: “It must be unswerving in reason but imper-

vious to fear. It. must be prompt to reciprocate genuine goodwill and ready for conference or negotiation on level terms, but absolute in its resolve to meet threats by rejection and to repel force by force.” He finds that "one wholesome factor in the immense complex of forces and influences is that this determined quietness among us is already assured. The nation is as solidly united in that mood as it ever was in all its annals.” Something of the same impression of the stale of mind of the country has struck the veteran publicist, Mr J. A. Spender, who in the "Sunday Times” writes: “Last year the British people were ready to face a grim necessity, if it had been unavoidable, of fighting with their backs to the wall in a state of comparative unpreparedness. This year they have a quiet confidence based on their own knowledge of the immense efforts they made in the intervening months."