OFFER OF MEDIATION

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20957, 9 November 1939, Page 6

OFFER OF MEDIATION

Appeals for peace have been wrung from the hearts of the peoples of Holland and Belgium, who through their widely respected sovereigns have asked that the slaughter should cease and that the affairs of the nations should be placed on a sane, reasonable and permanent basis before the war is allowed to take its full terrible toll. It is certain that mediation could not come from a more effective quarter, and there is no doubt that all the nations involved in the struggle will give full weight and consideration to the appeal, but unhappily, as before, all depends upon Germany, or rather upon the man and the fanatical party that have been responsible for bringing the world to its present desperate pass. Will the Nazis make an honourable peace possible? At a time when international good faith in Europe has been almost destroyed the question is certain to be asked whether Germany, aware that an appeal for peace might be made, has deliber* ately made a great show of force on the frontiers of Holland in order to force the hand not only of Holland but of its neighbours and of the Allies as well. It has been done before. Peace has been offered, backed by the direct threats from Germany that if the terms were not accepted the Nazis would unleash their full forces of destruction. Such tactics have also failed before, and Germany has not struck. It is well known that Germany has searched all over Europe and even abroad fon a mediator who could bring Germany peace and leave her in possession of the spoils of her aggression. There can be no doubt about the sincerity and the urgency of the appeal from Queen Wilhelmina and King Leopold and such sincerity and the record of the two countries demand the most earnest consideration of their offer of mediation. But they, probably as well as Britain and France, realise that only Hitler has it in his power to say the fateful word. Nobody doubts that he will accept the offer with the greatest enthusiasm on hi* own terms. But most people will also doubt whether, as long as Hitler remains the deciding factor in Germany, he will agree to terms that will lead to the new order of peace and international order which Queen Wilhelmina and King Leopold envisage in making their appeal. Will the common German people make their voice heard, or will Hitler permit a miracle to be worked and say the word that would alter the whole trend of world politics?