24 chapters
6 hour read
Selected Chapters
24 chapters
PREFACE
PREFACE
The chapters collected in this book represent a running comment on the European situation during the past ten months. Although in the haze that covers the Continent it is difficult always to see clearly what is happening, and still more difficult to forecast what is likely to occur, I have not deemed it necessary to revise any of the estimates I made from time to time in these periodic reviews on the position. In the period covered by them peace has gone back perceptibly and unmistakably. Of the
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I THE GREAT PERIL
I THE GREAT PERIL
If a man on a bright July morning in 1914 had sailed abroad and had the misfortune to be wrecked on a desert island, returning to civilisation a week ago, the change which Europe presented to him would be sufficient to induce him to believe that his long solitude had unhinged his mind. To him it would have appeared as the stuff of which dreams are made. He would have remembered a German empire with an august head, ruling with autocratic sway a population striding with giant steps into prosperity
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III THE ERUPTION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
III THE ERUPTION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
The shores of the Mediterranean have from time immemorial been the scene of eruptions and earthquakes. They generally break out without warning. Sometimes they are devastating in their effects, destroying life and property over wide areas and on a vast scale. Sometimes they provide a brilliant spectacular display, terrifying in appearance, but not causing much destruction. To which of these two categories does the last eruption of Mussolini belong? To drop hot cinders in the Balkans is a dangero
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IV IS THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS A SUCCESS?
IV IS THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS A SUCCESS?
Is the League of Nations a success? It is impossible to answer the question candidly without giving offence to rival partisans. If you indicate successes already placed to the account of the League, opponents deny or minimise these triumphs, and suggest that you are blinded by attachment to a chimera. If you point to shortcomings, the extreme zealots of the League get angry and hint that you are a secret enemy. I mean nevertheless to attempt an answer, for much depends on a fearless examination
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V THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND ITS CRITICS
V THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND ITS CRITICS
I have had recently special opportunities for appreciating the extent to which the Treaty of Versailles has not been read by those who have formed very definite opinions concerning its qualities. There is no justification for a failure to peruse this great international instrument. It is the most important document of modern times. It has reshaped for better or for worse much of the geography of Europe. It has resurrected dead and buried nationalities. It constitutes the deed of manumission of t
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VI 1922
VI 1922
The year nineteen hundred and twenty-two witnessed a genuine struggle on the part of the nations to re-establish peace conditions in the world. During 1919-20 and 1921 "the tarantella was still in their blood." The mad war dance was still quivering in their limbs and they could not rest. The crackle of musketry was incessant and made needful repose impossible. There was not a country in Europe or Asia whose troops were not firing shots in anger at some external or internal foe. America rang down
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VII WHAT IS FRANCE AFTER?
VII WHAT IS FRANCE AFTER?
1. The Rhine M. Clemenceau, in the remarkable series of speeches delivered in the United States of America, implies a breach of faith on the part of Britain in reference to the pact to guarantee France against the possibility of German aggression. England has no better friend in the whole of France than M. Clemenceau. Throughout a strenuous but consistent career he has never varied in his friendship for England. Many a time has he been bitterly assailed for that friendship. French journalists ar
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VIII WHAT IS FRANCE AFTER?
VIII WHAT IS FRANCE AFTER?
2. The Rhine (Continued) The breakdown of the London conference, and especially the reason for that breakdown, proves the warning I uttered in my last chapter was necessary and timely. M. Poincaré demanded the occupation of the only rich coalfield left to Germany as a guarantee for the carrying out of impossible terms. It is because I am profoundly convinced that the policy represented by this project will lead to trouble of the gravest kind for Europe and the world that I felt moved to sound a
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X REPARATIONS
X REPARATIONS
What is the reparations problem? Why does it appear to be further from solution than ever? The great public in all lands are perplexed and worried by its disturbing insolubility. It keeps them wondering what may happen next, and that is never good for a nerve-ridden subject like postwar Europe. The real trouble is not in solving the problem itself, but in satisfying the public opinion which surrounds it. I do not mean to suggest that it is an easy matter to ascertain what payments Germany can ma
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XI MR. HUGHES'S NEW HAVEN SPEECH
XI MR. HUGHES'S NEW HAVEN SPEECH
The preceding chapter was written at Algeciras on January 2nd, 1923. On January 3rd there appeared in the Spanish papers a compressed report of the speech delivered by the American Secretary of State, Mr. Hughes, at New Haven. It made suggestions on the subject of reparations which were obviously intended for consideration at the forthcoming Paris conference. I knew the chairman of that conference, M. Poincaré, would not be too anxious to bring these proposals to the notice of his colleagues, bu
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XII THE FRENCH INVASION OF THE RUHR
XII THE FRENCH INVASION OF THE RUHR
France has once more jumped on the prostrate form of Germany, and the sabots have come down with a thud that will sicken the hearts of multitudes on both sides of the Atlantic whose friendship for France stood the losses and griefs of a four years' war. Germany having been overthrown and disarmed after a prodigious effort, involving a strain upon the combined strength of America, Italy, and the whole British Empire, as well as France, and her arms bound with the thongs of a stern treaty, the pro
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XIII LOST OPPORTUNITIES
XIII LOST OPPORTUNITIES
The French government, having conspicuously failed to win its anticipated coup, is doubling the stakes each time it loses. When will it end? And where will it end? It is ill gambling with human passions. They are all engaged in this wild venture—on both sides of the table. Pride, greed, vanity, obstinacy, temper, combativeness, racial antagonisms, but also patriotism, love of justice, hatred of wrong and high courage. Each side draws from the same arsenal of fiery human emotions. Unless some one
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XIV FRENCH SCHEMES
XIV FRENCH SCHEMES
"French troops occupying fresh German territory." "Further advance into Germany." "Reinforcements." "French cut off the British bridgehead on the Rhine." "Proposals for new coinage in the Ruhr." What is it all leading to? Is it really reparations? Signor Nitti, who has made a thorough study of all the documents bearing on French designs against Germany, has come definitely to the conclusion that these measures have no reference to the recovery of damages for the devastated area, but that they ar
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XV THE QUICKSAND
XV THE QUICKSAND
When you have walked some distance into a quicksand, and are sinking deeper and deeper with every step you take, it is always difficult to decide whether you are more likely to reach firm ground by pressing forward or by going backward. You must do one or other. You cannot just stand fast, for that is inevitable destruction. The French government clearly are of opinion that safety lies in marching further into the quagmire. So three more German cities have been occupied, more burgomasters and of
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XVI THE FIRST GERMAN OFFER
XVI THE FIRST GERMAN OFFER
The French and Belgian governments have slapped another opportunity in the face. To make that slap resound as well as sting, they have accompanied their rejection of the German offer by a savage sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment on the head of the greatest industrial concern in the Ruhr, if not in Europe. What for? Because he ordered the works' syren to sound "cease work" for one day when the French troops occupied the place. There is a swagger of brutality about that sentence which betoke
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XVII THE SECOND GERMAN NOTE
XVII THE SECOND GERMAN NOTE
The Germans have tried another note. Inasmuch as all the Allied press without exception are agreed in describing it as a great improvement over the first, it is hardly worth while taking up time and space to demonstrate how the essentials of this more favoured document were contained in its reprobated predecessor. Psychologically it is a decided advance on the first note. It is crisp and condensed, and does not indulge in the irritating processes of an argument. You should never attempt to argue
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XXI THE BRITISH DEBT TO AMERICA
XXI THE BRITISH DEBT TO AMERICA
As I roll homeward along the coast of Spain a wireless message announces that the British government have accepted the American debt terms. The details which I have received are not sufficient to enable me to form an opinion regarding the character of those terms, or their bearing on Allied indebtedness to Britain as to the terms of payment. I know nothing of the steps taken by Mr. Baldwin and the government of which he is a member to make this the first step in an all-round settlement of inter-
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XXII INTER-ALLIED DEBTS
XXII INTER-ALLIED DEBTS
A cold shiver ran down the back of England when it was announced officially that the British government had definitely agreed to pay over £30,000,000 a year for sixty years to the United States in respect of debts incurred by us on behalf of our Allies without seeking a contribution from our debtors to protect the taxpayers of this country. It is not that anyone dreamt the evil dream of repudiation. That was never woven into the texture even of the worst nightmare out of the many that have distu
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XXIII THE BRITISH ELECTIONS
XXIII THE BRITISH ELECTIONS
It is the duty of every patriotic citizen, in view of the difficulties with which the country is confronted, to assist the government of the day by every means at his disposal. Factious criticism disturbs judgment and tends to unnerve. Governments to-day require full command of mind and nerve to enable them to arrive at sound decisions and to persevere in them. Faction is, therefore, treason to the country. That does not, however, preclude a calm survey of the elections and their meaning. Quite
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XXV POLITICAL REALITIES
XXV POLITICAL REALITIES
A few weeks ago I predicted that the comparative calm which has prevailed in the political seas of Britain during the past few years was coming to an end. Recent parliamentary scenes leave no doubt that the prolonged political depression is to be followed by a period of storms—it may be hurricanes. No amount of organisation or propaganda can excite real feeling in an electorate over trivial and unreal issues. Why did the coalition of 1915 fall? And why did the Liberal party split in 1916? Who wa
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XXVII PALESTINE AND THE JEWS
XXVII PALESTINE AND THE JEWS
Of all the bigotries that savage the human temper there is none so stupid as the anti-Semitic. It has no basis in reason; it is not rooted in faith; it aspires to no ideal; it is just one of those dank and unwholesome weeds that grow in the morass of racial hatred. How utterly devoid of reason it is may be gathered from the fact that it is almost entirely confined to nations who worship Jewish prophets and apostles, revere the national literature of the Hebrews as the only inspired message deliv
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XXIX THE SIGNING OF THE IRISH TREATY
XXIX THE SIGNING OF THE IRISH TREATY
When a few days ago I was half-way through the speech I delivered in the House of Commons on the land system the faithful Commons were summoned in the manner consecrated by centuries of tradition to the bar of the House of Lords to hear the royal assent being given to the bill for the constitution of the Irish Free State. Notwithstanding a natural preoccupation with my interrupted speech two scenes came to my mind during my short journey to and from the upper chamber. The first was the spectacle
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XXX PROHIBITION
XXX PROHIBITION
Four years ago the United States of America, by a two-thirds majority, voted prohibition of the sale of alcoholic liquors. The British House of Commons have just voted down a bill for the same purpose by a majority of 236 to 14. America treats prohibition as one of its greatest moral triumphs. Britain treats it as a joke. What accounts for this remarkable disparity in the attitude of the two great English-speaking communities towards one of the most baffling and elusive problems civilisation has
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XXXI UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF "OFFICIAL" INFORMATION
XXXI UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF "OFFICIAL" INFORMATION
A storm is working up over the publication by public servants of information which came into their possession in the course of their official careers. The immediate occasion is Mr. Winston Churchill's story of the war. Angry questions are being asked in parliament, and it is publicly announced that the Cabinet have appointed a committee of its members to consider the whole problem. It is rather late in the day to make all this fuss about the publication of war documents, for generals, admirals,
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