This eventful fortnight contains good news as well as bad. The lamentable fate of Austria requires discussion separately when we can measure more truly what has actually happened. It is clear, however, that this prejudices the interests of the Italian Dictator as much as it wounds the sympathies of the Western Powers. We must see what are the guarantees which Herr Hitler has given of Austrian independence and in what way they will be carried out. It is not at all certain yet what the reactions in Austria will be, and whether the violent scenes at Berchtesgaden will produce all the recruits for the Nazi cause in Austria which were expected from them. If there is any general rally by the Austrian people, deeply religious as they are, to the cause of national independence, it may be that some breathing space will be secured. Peoples do not like being bullied into any ideology. In Rumania, the Jewbaiter, Goga, has been pitched out of his brief authority, and the munition contracts of the Rumanian army are once again restored to France. It is evident that the forces at work in Rumania cannot easily be made to join the pro-Nazi axis.
'The masses,' said Napoleon in one of his most pessimistic pronouncements, 'care little for liberty, but much for equality.' But more than a hundred years have passed since then, and the world has moved on. To-day individual freedom, especially when combined with a higher standard of living, makes a potent appeal to the men and women of every country under every system. Why should not an ordinary toiler have the chance to keep a home together and rear a family, without being vilely trodden in upon by well-paid uniformed officials and professional party agents? Why should the police harry ordinary households in so many lands more than they do in England? Why should the ordinary wage-earner not be allowed to express his opinion about the government of his country, and say whether he thinks it is being wisely or honestly conducted? Why should men's opinions be condemned as crimes, and buzzing functionaries conduct an inquisition into the political or party views of law-abiding folk? Why should religion be the subject of oppression? Why should racial persecution endure? Was it not Frederick the Great who said, 'In Prussia every man must get to Heaven in his own way'? Can anyone help being born with red hair or a hook nose?
After centuries of widening education and of liberal culture these primary conceptions are deeply implanted in all communities, civilised and militarised alike. Thus it is not at all surprising that the Goga stunt in Rumania has had to be summarily curtailed. It is to be hoped that Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and his Prime Minister, M. Stoyadinovitch, who are confronted with a far more formidable political and Parliamentary movement than has manifested itself in Rumania, will not be unresponsive to these invincible and unquenchable promptings, which spring alike from the true needs of the working people and from the day-spring genius of mankind.
In the Far East, the Japanese have declined to reassure the Naval Powers about the size of the battleships they are building. This can only mean that they are building ships of larger tonnage and cannon than those which the American-Franco-British self-denying ordinance permits to themselves. This is all to the good in the long run. Great Britain and the United States have too long hampered each other in their naval construction by their praiseworthy wish to keep naval armaments on a low level. Henceforward they will feel absolutely free to utilise their immense economic and financial superiority to design and construct whatever vessels and navies are necessary for their respective national safeties. There is happily no question of a naval race. In a few years the Japanese navy will have fallen back into a relative position far inferior to the ratio of five-five-three.
It is a tribute to the great place held by the German people among the nations, that the dismissals of generals and other ebullitions which have occurred in that country should have given rise to such wild and widespread rumours. Everyone is looking towards Germany with attention. Anyone can see that the world needs not merely the concurrence but the active aid of the German people, in order to bestow a better life upon the wage-earning masses in every land. It is an odd commentary upon latter-day politics that the class prejudices of Prussian generals should win a measure of sympathy in the Parliamentary States. They are, it seems, the element of toleration and prudence. It is a relief and a reassurance to find that in a totalitarian State some differences of opinion may become manifest without the recurrence of another June 30. Most people in England would rejoice sincerely to welcome a tolerant, peace-seeking Germany into the very van of world leadership. It would be our duty to aid and salute this process by every means in our power.
No one can measure, still less predict, the course of events in Germany. The German army may continue to preserve under its iron discipline the breath of tolerance and freedom: in which case there will be a considerable gain in international security. On the other hand, the Nazi party, aided by the Secret Police, may succeed in creating a party-army dominated by Nazi principles in this world, and by the Nazi religion as their guide to the next. In this case also we should all breathe easier, because no army can be formed on party lines without very serious diminution of its military efficiency. Once the process of heresy-hunting pervades an army, true comradeship dies. Officers are promoted not for professional knowledge but for being glib in the party patter. Pretence infects every rank and every unit. A bad officer gets on by mouthing orthodox political doctrines. Resolute men needed to stand the strain of battle are no good at this game. We hear a lot from time to time of French degeneracy, but the French Army, from Commander-in-Chief to private soldier, from Monarchist to Communist, is a harmonious engine for the defence of France against aggression. Their experienced Chiefs could certainly watch the Nazification of the German army with a considerable degree of composure.
Last, but not least, we must turn our eyes to Italy, or rather to the extraordinary man who at the present moment embodies and expresses all that Italy means. The English newspapers have been indulging this week in many rumours about a deal with Mussolini. Certainly all parties in the House of Commons would like to see the old relations in the Mediterranean restored with Italy, but it is comforting to read Mr. Eden's declarations at Birmingham that 'In any agreements we make to-day there must be no sacrifice of principles and no shirking of responsibilities merely to obtain quick results.' And 'It is not by seeking to buy temporary goodwill that peace is made, but on a basis of frank reciprocity with mutual respect.' These words may be taken to represent not only the views of the Foreign Secretary, but those of Mr. Neville Chamberlain and consequently of His Majesty's Government and the British Parliament.
On February 18 Mr. Eden resigned the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. It was apparent then, and is obvious now, that the Prime Minister, in his hopes of appeasing the Dictators, had decided to assume control of Foreign Affairs.
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