l.8/1/40 -No.-~­ FRENCH OFFIQJj\L COMHUNIQUE. ( MOlli""I_ING) The following official comrinmiq_ue vvas issued this morning from French G. !-I. Q: ­ A r:~UIET NIGHT ON THE WHOLE. FAIRLY STRONG ARTILLERY ACTION IN THE REGION WEST OF THE SAAR. ~ihr::O'."\ Pniversity t· , c:-.•t ~ustin, Teu1 18/1/40. -No,.2. : SOUTHERN RHODESIA GETS FIT. Southern Rhodesia is embarking on a national "get fit" campaign to ensure that her civil population will be ready for any contingency that might arise. Physically1 the Rhodesian population reaches a high standard, for in their excellent climate open-air sport has an important place in the national life. But with most of the Colony's athletes and sportsmen with the military forcesJ the Government is making an effort to get men and women9 old and young, healthy and keyed up for any demands the times may make of them. EMPIRE AFFAIRS. More and more lime will be require~ in connection with 0 t•i,..l8 ] •1ter.qi' l''-j p '1' l'"lj_~ 0U'·r'1·1·J' 1l[Y -1'Y", r11~ Qc,..-i· • ;::,."''.ui~'8 ~i/>1e -'1 hn",·e•re-" t ·no lJ .. ..1.. l. J. ......., -..._......,, ..I:-b ...........=_, V-.!;! ..J.' C:J. ~·-.-.1. 0 , . ... ..... , _..1.v~ -. .J.) ..:....Lv seasonal dehland for li~e falls off , as it has done appreciebly of late; the J.:'j_res have to be pulled out f:::·o..:c". t11e ldlns a~1d about t hree weeks will us11e and 1ittle rnl:nCl.. s gri ill together". For mark: ~ it i,vas upon a point of :princi.:c, le that ;you fought$ The actual taxes v-v-2 c1emandGd came, I thin:-c~ to no moro than ~(ou coulcl have paid that or we coulc1. have foregone it ancJ. t~1ought no mo:...... e about the m8. ttero But it was upon the prj_J.1.ciple ~ that you should not :Qay at the behest of an 01Jst~_j1ate ldng ( hone13t anrl we:il-n:.0anin0 tho''£gh ~e ':-Vas) anc1-a corrupt anc~ uru.....epPesent3.tive })arliament, it was on that princ:..ple that Chatham begc;ecl yoll to stan( firmo You, he said., wou1{1_ th·3:."1 be standing for what v1as :England's true cause men's liberty to approve or disapprove the making of the laws which vJ'ere to govern them~ and liberty for all men und.er the law -while our government was betrayine it_, And this was true$ and half Englanc'l_ thought so; and in consequence Y'fe wagec1-the war half-heartedly ancl incomi)etently anc1. were beaten ­as Vie deserved to be. But the point is that we have learned to than1c you for our a.efeat c For had victory fallen to us and not to jou, reactionary go·'.rern.llent in :~ngland. ,_-.rouJ.d. have gainec:. l.n credit. Anc1 -though it is idle to speculate upon the might-have-beens of histopy ·~ it m:tght have :;ro\'m in strength uncil it ·co;cLld onl~1 ha•1e been 'broke~ by red :L"'evolution9 anc1. this onl~r q_uelled by sterner reac tion; and so on alternately until the nation was exhaustedo Inste~d we progressed towar~s the system of constitutional monarchy and I'e:presentative government which we now enjoyo 4 What is more: upon that defeat -it is no pRradox to say ­is founded our present British Crnnmonwealth of Na tions. We learned from it to set no obstinate obstruction in the path of the later-born Britj_sh communj_ties ov0rs0as towards full con&itutional freedom. And we have reaped a rich reward. Tw~nty years ago these sister states, as they had by then become, lent us their aid with a generosity of spirit and means which no ·aut.hori ty could have commanded. Today we are in danger again. Again they rally to us. .And mark this. In the interval their coni:titutional fr~edom has -with our perfect goodwill -finally expanded to a point at which practically no formal tics whatever bind them to us, except a cormnon allegiance to His Majesty the King. With thA.t excention they are as independent of us as even the signatories of that famous Dhj_lFldelphia Decle..ration desired to be a hundred and sixty years or so ago. And if in -1914 they were free to stay out of the struggle had they wished,they could count themselves even freer today. .And there w~re sceptical qbservers who thought that, after their gifts which they made in blood and treasure twenty years ago (and who may not be excused for exclaiming "seemingly wasted gifts") they would, if war surged up again, withhold the hands and, however regret­fully, shake their heads~ It was one of the hapviest days in our history -I will add, cme of the most significant in the history of the modern world -when within a few hours of the event, Canada, South Africa, Austra1ia and New Zealand con­founded these sceptics and detr·actors by throwing in their lot with us unreservedly. Nor -though I am sure that some sentiment did enter into the question -do I believe that they rnRde this great decision en sentimental grounds. They sr~w well enough what were the principles involved, the vital import8.nce of the .issues and ­far removed from the physical storm centre though they were ­how nearly these must touch them. -5 ­ How strange, I said just now, are the patterns that history makes. This firm front of free men extended today across the face of the globe -we owe much of that to you, to the lesson you taught us a hundred and sixty years ago; some­thing also, let me add in self-respect, to our ability to learn it. And we in. our turn today, with our allies -with the French, your allies then -are fighting a war of principle, which is really -0nly an international enlargement of that for which you fought. Th.en it was for the liberty of the individual under the law, a law to the making of which he had • freely consented; for every man's inalienable right, in Jefferson's words ~to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Now it is to ensure that every freely associated and coherent group of men in civilised Europe -be it organised as a large state or a small; or be it a minority in race or religion -should inherit in security that same freedom. And in this, surely, the whole progress of Christian civilisation, as we have through the centuries been building it up, is involved. Since the dawn of history, it could be said, mankind has been moving towards this goal. Demonstrably here in Europe, since the Dark Ages, we have -despite errors and backslidings, due to greed, ambition, cowardice, lack of faith we have consciously striven towards it. And now, at the very moment when it seemed that we were near.er than ever before to our goal -the establishment of liberty for all nations, races, and creeds under internationallaw -suddenly the very principle is blatantly challenged, in favour, I say, of a doctrine, the acceptance of which would reverse thi~ whole current of history, and would indeed, destroy the very basis of international and private life: the doctrine that Might is Right. -6 ­ A lingering sense of shame, a fading memory, perhaps, of a now repudiated civilisation had tended till now to mask this Devil's gospel b.eneath various coats of camouflage. For one~ resentment against the so-called "Diktat" of Versailles (the deliberate pervernions of that admittedly imperfect instrument have worn a little thin) ! fo1~ another; Germany was to be the bulwark against Bolshevism (the paint is quite rubbed off that): We had pseudo-scientific nonsense about racial purity (it served for the robbery of the Jews, of the poor among them as well as the rich, for there are poor Jews, though people too often seem to forget it) : and finally, Hitler's protestations, sometimes that he had no quarrel with France, at others of his lifelong admiration for the British Empire, and his desire for our friendship -.no doubt at the price of our connivance in his crimes! Each and every assurance, when put to the test, proved to be worthless. And we should be traitors if we condoned his crimes; traitors to our csmntry and {ts future, traitors to our Allies, to our friends, to Europe, to civilisation itself. Promises and pretexts -they hang in tatters about him. And the damnable doctrine of brute force, as a very gospel, with Hitler for its prophet 9 stands there naked and unashamed. If this devil's gospel should triumph, what would be the world-wide consequence? What would be left of civilised methods of settling differences? v\lhat already~ the con­sequences wherever it has momentarily triumphed? I have no need to tell you. For our part, then, what could we do but accept the challenge? And the weapon of Force being, very naturally, force and in this case indiscriminate force, barbarities at which Nature's barbarians would blush -by force we must meet it, fighting as cleanly as we can. /Let -7 ·­ Let me add this; that --much as we execrate war; dear though· it must cost us -we are proud to meet the challenge. After all, to whom should it be issued, and who should meet it but we? Are not the English and the French foremost among these people who -slowly, and past many obstacles , at times having to struggle simply to survive -have yet earned their right to be counted, not subjects of a master, but citizens of a state, and to enjoy the exercise of an ordered liberty in things material and spiritual too? We have earned those blessings (as we hold them to be) and have prospered under them, and have asked no better than that other peoples should earn and enjoy them tooo And our allies the brave Polish people, through a century and more when Poland was but a name, kept their faith in themselves and their country alive; and it burns in them todayc And it is for those srune blessings and for that same faith that the gallant Pinland is fighting today against overwhelming odds to the admiration of the whole civilised world. When, therefore, this heritage, and all that makes life worth living, are threatened with destruction, we should be ingrates and cowards if we did not any cost t ake up the challenge; and we should deserve our fate and the contempt of the world besides. But I say again that we are proud and glad to be fighting in this cause -for it is the cause of Christendom itself; no less. If you want other and far better testimony to this than mine, listen to His Holiness the Pope. And, indeed, I would recommend everyone to read his recent Encyclical, and not once only. He inveighs against "the denial and rejection of a universal standard of morality as well for individual and social life as for inter­national relations", against the pernicious errors involved in "forgetfulness of the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated by our common origin••• " And he decla1~es that the nations must learn to observe those "principles of international law which demand respect for corresponding rights to independence ••. 11 and that "the very soul of the juridical relations in force between them is mutual trust; the expectation and conviction that each party will respect its plighted word". I cannot do justice to -8 ­ such a document by quotationo But everyone who reads the whole will be left in .no doubt where the most revered figure in Christ­endom stands in the matter. Now please remark that I d.o got go on to ask "What are z.ou going to do about it?11 No responsible Englishman has been, and I hope none will be, guilty of the impertinence of putting such a question. Your position is not ours. What it may become is for you alonG to judge. What you will do now or later depends on the will of your people, and on that alone. But let me say that what you think about the matter does concern us very deeply. For the good opinion of the instructed American citizen we have a high regard. And I beg you, do not think -but being here in Europe I am sure you do not -I will amend that to: Do not, as far as your influence goes, allow it to be thought that this is no more than 11 just another' war". uHere are these British and French. We helped them out of a mess twenty years ago, and now they're in just such another". Then there is that ancient legend -I am always thinking it must be f .inally exploded when up it pops again -of our Machiavellian Foreign Office secretly engineering conflicts to Britain's advantage; Gentlemen; I have passed my whole adult life in the F'oreign Office or in touch with it, and I can assure you -hand on heart -that a sillier caricature of the facts there could not be, ln the first place, of course, the Foreign Office does not dictate England's foreign policy: that is the concern of the Foreign Secretary and the Government. In the second place, we are a set of quite hard-working· civil servants, whose main business it is to collect and sift infor­mation, sometimes to make suggestions, but for the most part to carry out the instructions we receive and, when we are sent abroad, to be as pleasant to everybody as they will let us be, and to stave off rows if we possibly can. We are about as capable of secretly con­ triving a war as is the black cat in the porter's lodga. In unre­ generate moments, indeed, I have wished -though even so with no ill-purpose -that we were just a little more like that caricature than we ever shall be. But, to return/ -9 ­ But, to return to more serious mutters, this war -believe me -is not "just another war". History does not so repeat itself. Of such great conflagrations, the Napoleonic wars were like no others. They registered the end of European d;srnastic quarrels. The Great War of twenty-five years ago waB like no other. It is early yet to sny how history will catalogue it. Not that anything will absolve from guilt the men who needlessly preci11itated it. And this war, certainly, is different again; although that great ambassador, most humane and human of men, Walter Page, recognised in 1914, and so wrote to Washington, that the doctrine of force was implicit in the German contentions and the real root of all the trouble. But even the Kaiser-who seems now a mild enough phenomenon by comparison with his successor -even he would not have enunciated such' a doctrine explicitly. If you ol) ject: "But, coming so close upon the other, surely the same factors must be operating in this war, though under slightly different forms", I answer: Forms may take longer to change than the facts they represent. But, under pressure. facts may change very swiftly, and more history is crowded into a space ~f ten years than into the leisurely evolution of a preceding century. It was so in the time of the French revolution. I think it is proving so now. Within the last twenty years the "facts 11 of Euro})e have radic8.lly changed; econoraic values have altered; political standards have been debased. The simple, plain decencies of life are threatened. Faith in civilisation itself is shaken. This is not~ thens I repeat, "just another war". It is not dynasties, nor markets, nor the balance of power that are at stake. It is a war of principle. And the issue is a very simple one. It is a struggle between right -as (to use Lincoln's v1ords) ­"as God gives us to see the right"; yes, to us it is a sim3;le struggle between right and wrong. And as to where the right lies and where the wrong, every citizen, not only of the United States, but of the whole Civilised world, may properly be asked to make up his mind. -10 ­ My contention that the cause for which the Allies are fighting absolves the :present conflict fporn the charge of being "just another war", brings to mind another distinction which differentiates it from other ·wars, namely the way in which it is being fought. It is commonly alluded to as "u..n.e drole de guerre" sometimes as "a phony war". I suppose the reason why it is so described is that there has so far been no big battle, that there are no heavy casualty lists. But vrhy is that so? Sim:pl~r and solely because France had the foresight and ingenuity -for whioh every decent and orderly countr~r throughout the i.-vorld owes her a debt of gratitude -to build a chain of in:pregnable fortifi­cations to defend her soil from fresh invasions. In other words the absence so far of action on land is due to the enemy's knm:ledge that he can only break through the Maginot Line, if he can break through it at all, at such expenditure of lives and material as to render the attempt a counsel of despair. \ ·.~hy then, if he cannot look for victories by land or on the seas on which, exce31t for an occasi'Jnal raider skulking to avoid battle, his surfao~ craft scarcely dare ventuPe, v:h;sr then does he not seek them in the atr? The ansr:er is lmmvn to all, and to none better then the enemy himself. But if it is a truism to say that no two wars are alilce in character, we have learned at least one lesson from the last Yiar and that is that it is folly to sacrifice thousands of 11ves f ,!r the sake of gaining a few yards of ground. Hr. Chamberlain in one of his early speeches said -I ha.ve forgot ten his exact vmrcl.s, but they we~e to this effect -the art nf war is to use decisive forces, at a decisive point, for a decisive purpose. The eneniy, then, must either wait f0r us to choose our moment, or, if he is to avoid being throttled by the ever tightening grip of the block­ade, must seek a military victory and face the risk from vrhich he has hitherto recoiled. /\ilhen ·•'·, -11 ... When either of those things comes to pass there will be no more talk of a 0 phony war" • It Will become a war more grim and ghastly perhaps than any war that has gone before. It is for that that we must prepare ourselves• Production of war material must go on, as it is doing, at a progressively increasing rateo But there must also be spiritual preparation. We must oe ready to accept sacrifices, greater perhaps than we have any idea ofo I can tell you that we ~. ready to accept them and that we intend, at whatever cost, to pursue this war until we have decisively and finally shown the German people -by the only means they have left open to us -that the doctrine of force 9 the lust of domination, do not pay. This will to win through to the end; however arduous the process, is as strong in England as in France. It is this unshakeable determination that is the mainspring of our unity -a unity so complete that we are fighting not as two countries but as one -a unity so complete that the clumsy manoeuvres of the enemy.' s ·propaganda aimed at dividing us can have no more effect than sea-spray falling on ·a concrete wallo I am not going to talk to you of war aims, except very cursorily. The primary war aim·, as both Mr. Chamberlaim and M.Daladier have more than once said, is to win the war; and when I say 11 win the war" , I mean win it, not merely in the sense of bringing the enemy to sue for peace in conditions which would leave him in possession of his plunder and might even enable him to claim that he had not been beaten; no, I mean win it in the sense of destroying his military power, for it is only in an atmosphere free of further threat that we can hope to give our minds to the task of building a new order in Europe in which ,all States, big and small, can pursue their pe~ceful aims without fear for their national independence and llberty, without further threat to all those things which Christian men ana. women hold dear. /What -12 ­ What form this work of r econstruction will t nke, it' is too enrly yet to foretell. But ~t l east we can say that the new o~der must be raised on wide foundations of co-opcrntion and of mutual help. In the benefits accruing from it, all nntions which are r e2dy to play their pnrt in good f aith may expect to ehnre. It may be that the ~groements concluded between the British and French Governments, by. which they go n long way to pooling their resources, may prove to be the first step on tho road of a more generalised system of mutual helpo It is de~irable, no doubt, that these, and other, peace problems should be quietly studied in qualified quarters, but they must not and will not be allowed to distract us from the primary object of winning the war. The mere f2ct, however, that we have thoughts of creating a new and better order justifies us in r epudiating the theory that one war inevitably sows the seeds of another. This may have been true, no doubt it was, of mRny of the wars of history. But i• ie not true to-day, because we are fighting this war for no selfish aim of any kind. We are fighting it t o overcome the forces of evil; we ar e fighting it, as I said befor e, t o save civilisation. We shall go f orward, them,strong in our material and moral armament, eonfident in the justice of our cause, secure in our faith in God and in the triumph to come, of right over wrong. 1Ne must not be content merely t o put back the clock. We must not be content t o l eave civilisation whor e it was when it was challenged by the demoniac f orces now l et l oose on n suffering Europe. To Rim at this, and no more than this, would be to·sap our own courage, our own resolution., We must believe in our own ability to ensure th2t these forces shall never be let loose again; we must believe tht'.t all the sufferings still to be borne by millions of mankind ar e but the f oundation of et new and better civilisation. For it is not the case thnt this is "just another war''; it is not the case that every war sows the seeds of another. We English, you Americans, and the French -your allies in the past, ours in the present -are a living and happy proof to the contrary. And that is why -to come back to my earlier theme -I said that, whilst we have no right to seek to influence your actions, we do ask you to believe, as we believe, that this war is no more, no l ess thFtn a struggle between right and wrong, between light and dark­ness; a struggle t o save from destruction everything that makes it worth while t o live on this sweet earth. This is why we ask you to bless our cause with your sympathy which is more precious to us th~n perhaps you arc nware. -------000------­ ]-BLll.40 --No .J.g. The Controller to the Cleari~g Offices announces that puoJ. ication of the monthl;,r statements sho'Ning the fine.ncial position of the Anglo-Rourn.anian, Anglo-Turkish and Anglo-Italian Clearings has been suspended. Publication of the dates of the lire deposits in the Italian Clearing against whi c:1 payt1ents have oe8n made will, however, be co:J.tinueci. At tllc 31st December, 1939 these dates ~ere as follows:­ Sterling Arrears Acccun·0 "A" 30th Noveniber, 1939 Sterling Coal Sub-Acc01.mt .•...•• 23rd. November, 19~)9 St erling Sub-Account 11D11 •••••••• 27th July, 1939. 18th January, 1940. lTI'ifION PARJiIAMEJ.'!J_JfI~ET.~ GENERAL SMUTS1 GROWIN.Q-_ _$_q:'RTI;NQ-1Ji_4._§ PRIME MINISTER. When the Union Parliament assembles tomorrow, General Smuts will have an assured majority of 18. in a House nUJnbering 153 members. The Prime I1:inister' s ma joI?i ty was, 13 when, on September 4, the Government split on the neutrality issuej and General Hertzog laid down a Premiership which he had held for 15 yearso Since then several members Yvho were absent from the crucial division have ranged themselves with the new Prime Minister~ During the recess Provincial Council by-elections in two "key" constituencies in the Free State and Transvaal went decisively in General Smuts's favour, and the present Government has been given steadily growing support throughout South Africa for its decision to stand by England in the Waro The Opposition factions, on the contrary, have failed to come togethero There has been no rapprochement between General Hertzog's followers and those of Dro Do FoMalan, leader of the Nationalists Party. These t wo groups met in conference, but failed to reach agreement either on the Republican issue as a measure of practical politics, or on t he name of the joint party if the t wo sides combinedo EMPIRE AFFAIRS The War Of'fice , London, s.W.1. 17th~ January p 1940. T: _r_; Wa 1· Of/ i.ee announces that His Majesty The King has been ple~J::;e cl to Ei.pprove the following appointments as Colonels Commanda11t, :Joyal j~ngineers ·­ Lieutenant-General Sir Guy c. Williams, K.C.B., C.M.G., D. 3. 0 ., with ef'fe ct from th0 10th Pebruar•y, 1940, in succession to C0lonf1 l (honqrary Major-G,~ne ral) C. Coffin, V.c. ~ C. B., D.s.o., r .::tip:::d pay , who attains the age lirni t for the appointment on that date . Major-G-..me:eal G.H • .Addison, C.B., C.M.G., D.s.o. retire:;cl pay , with e:Lt.'eet f'r·c'ff< the 30th March , 1940, in succession to Majo:c•-Gcmcral Si.1• Henry F. 'Thuillier, E. C:.:8., C.M.G., retired pay, who co11Jpletes t~1e t enure of his appointment on that date. Li0utonant-General E . K. Squires, C.B., D.s.o., M.C., with effe c t from the: 3rd June , 1940 , in succession to Colone l (honorary Major-General) Sir Sydney D'A. Crookshank 9 K.C.M.G., C.B., C.I.E ., n.s.o., M.V.O., retired pay, who attains the age limit for the appointment on that date. 18/1/40 Noe 130 PRESS NOTJ:_.QE On Sunday, January 21st, eight French .War Correspondents attached to the British Expeditionary Force will arrive in England as guests of the Ministry of Information for a tour arranged in co-operation with the War Offi.ce, the Admiralty the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Supply. The object of their visit is to present to France the magnitude of Britain's war effort. The party, which includes M. Andre Maurois, the well-known French writer on England, irvill be met at Victoria at 12.15 p.m. by Sir Edward Grigg, M.P. Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Information, and by Major-General J.H. Beith, Director of Public Relations at the War Office. The Ministry of Information will entertain the visitors to aninner on the evening of their arrivaL The tour will commence by a visit to an Infantry Training Centre near London and an inspection of a Tank Training Unito ,During the tour visits vrill be paid to an Officers' Cadet Training Unit, to the Canadian Division, and to an Armoured Fighting Vehicles gunnery school. There will also be visits to a Royal Ordnance factory, an R.A.F. bomber factory, a Flying Training School and to an Ro.AoF.. bomber station. Although the primary object of the War Correspondents' visit is to see England's land and air forces in the making, opportunity will be found to see something of the work of the Royal Navy by a visit to a submarine depoto On their return to London on January 29th, the party will be entertained to ~unch by the Minister of Information, Sir John Reith. ,,, _ ATION MINISTRY _...,,..,,, OF__.__,~---INFORM.. --­ --~--:-­ (Note to Editors ~ On the evenings of January 21st and 22nd, and from the 29th to 31st, the party will be at Hotel). LIST OF FRENCH WAR CORHESPONDENTS. M. Andre Maurois French "Eye Witness" with British Army. M. B. ·OendPars La Petite Gironde Le Petit Marseillai~. M. J.H. Lefebre Echo de Paris M. P.de Lacretelle Le Petit Journal M. R. Lacoste Havas Agency. M. B. Franklin Intransigeant. M. Geneviere L'Illustration. M. P. Ichac II The party will be aeeompanied on the t~u~ by Commandant Dumas of the French Military Mission in London, and Mr. H.B. Brenan o:r the Ministry of Information. -----------~--­ ., ~ jJ3/1/40 -No.1-4. Not for ·PUblication or broadcast before the morning of the 19th January, 191±0. (Simultaneous ..J21!Plication in India has been arranged) The Secretary of State for India has appointed Sir A.T. Pannirselvarn Barr-at-Law as his .t~dviser under Section 178 of the Goverrunent of India Act 1935, in succession to Sardar Bahadur Mohan Singh whose term of office expires on the 11th March, 1940. 18th January, 1940. UNOFFICIAL NOTE Rao Bahadur Sir A.T. Pannirselvam is an Indian Christian who has for a number of years taken a leading part in matters affecting Indian Christians in South India. He was a member of the Indian Round. 'I'able Conference which assembled in London in 1930; was a mernbep of the Executive Council of the Governor of Madras until it was abolished under the Government of India Act of 1935, and is at present a menfuer of the Madras Legislative Assembly. INDIA OFFICE. 18.1.40 No.12. The Minis try of Supryly greatly regrets that an exDlosion occurred this morning at a factory in North Lond9:0.. Five men were killed and a number o:f employees were injur~d. Fortunately most of the injuries are slight. Jm inquiry into the causes of the accident is being maq:e. MINISTRY OP SUPDLY. 18/1/40 -No.16. PRESS NOTICE. Lord Crewe presided at the Annual General Meeting of the British Institute in Paris, which was held yesterday (Thursday 18th January) at the London Office, 1, Old Burlington Street. The .Anibassador in Paris, Sir Ronald Campbell, was elected President; Sir Eric Phipps, the late Arnbassador 1 and Dr. Granville-Barker, the late Director of the Institute, were elected Vice-Presidents; and Mr. B.S. Townroe Honorary Secretary. Sir Henry Pelham, Chairman of the Finance Committee, gave a report on the decision to reopen the Institute last autumn when it was learnt that the University of Paris continued to be available for study in Paris. Mr. Hugh Sellon, the Director* stated that there were already several hundred students at work in the Institute, and that the provision of lessons over the wireless for British troops in France was greatly appreciated. He also referred to the arrangements made for a series of public lectures to be given in Paris this spring under the auspices of the Institute, conunencing with an address yesterday (18th) by Lord Samuel. Among others present at the meeting were Colonel Bridge of the British Council; Mr. C.A. Ronald; Mr. A.E. Foster; Sir Ernest Pooley; Mr. F.A. Renfield; Sir Robert Cahill, and Mr. Michael \/ordsworth, (Hon. Solicitor) 1R/1/40. -No. 17. CANADA'S FIRST AIRMEN FOR ACTIVE SEHVICE Seventeen cities and towns are represented in the officer personnel -totalling twenty-five -of No. 110 (City of Toronto) . Army Co-operation Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force, selected as the Air Force component of the First Canadian Division, Canadian Active Service Force. Representation comes from the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairie Provinces and British Cqlumbia. England and Scotland are Pepresented by one man apiece, from Newcastle and Edinburgh respectively. The officers and airmen comprising the squadron, so honoured by selection for despatch overseas on active service have been drawn from three units. As the oldest of the auxiliary or non-permanent squadrons of the R.C.A.F., that formed in Toronto has been chosen as the first ever to go abroad on active service. With it will be associated No. 11 2 (A. C. ) Squadron of Winnipeg , another auxiliary active Air Force unit which will represent western Canada; and No. 2 (A.C.) Squadron of Ottawa, representing the Permanent Force. Squadron Leader W.D. Van Vliet 9 Officer Commanding the Arm,y Co-operation Squadron, is 36 years of age. The ages of the twenty-four officers under his command range from t wenty to forty-three years; four being twenty-five and seven under twenty-five. The average age of the officer personnel is 28 yeaI'S, seven months. Air Vice Marshal G. J-1. Croil, A.F.C., Chief of the Air Staff, in a recent message to these officers and airmen, spoke of the honour conferred on the squadron's personnel as the first in the Royal Canadian Air Force to be chosen for active service overseas. He felt that all recognised this and that the reputation of Canadians in the flying services in the last war would be worthily upheld. EMPIRE AFFIARS 18/1/40 -No.18. NOT TO BE PUBLISHED OR BROADCAST BEFORE THE MORNING PAPERS OP FRIDAY, 19TH JANUARY IN ALL COUNTRIES. TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE EXACT TERMS IN WHICH IT IS GIVEN. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs gave a luncheon yesterday (Jan. 18) at the Carlton Hotel in honour of members of the French Newspaper Proprietors' Association who are on a vtsit to this country. The following accepted invitations to be present:­ Monsieur Jacques Chastenet Monsieur Pierre Brisson Monsieur Charles Houssaye Monsieur Jean Dupuy Monsieur E. Gaubert Monsieur Jacques de Marsillac Lord Lloyd Lord Illiffe Sir John Anderson The Hon. Sir Alexander Cadogan The Hon. Sir Alexander nardinge Mr. R.S. Hudson Sir· John Power Sir Campbell Stuart Professor E.H. Carr Captain Philip Graves Mr. Charles Peake Mr. Roger Makins Mr. Roderick Barclay Mr. E.D. O'Brien Mr,. Valentine Lawford Sir Montague Critchett Lieut.-Col. Sir Eric Crankshaw FOREIGN OFFICE NEWS DEPARTMENT. NO···l9 ... LOND01\T .AND . .AIR .RAIDS Sir Harold Webbe On "Ruinous Evacuationu Sir Harold 1!Jebbe M. P. , Leader of the Munic i:oal Reform Party, c1.escri1)Gd yesterday the progress of efforts to ·make Lonc1-on safe ·rrom air attack to an Empire audience at the heact.'qua.1"'ters of the Overseas Lee.gue, and deplorin~; the wholesa le evacuation of f'irrns arid staffs from the ca:pital, Cl.eclar ec'l. that "Westminster vm s fast becomi ng a distressed area11 • . . . London, Sir Harold said , ha d been more sac1.ly anc1 tragically hit by the war than any other' city in the country. The evacuation process had ruined it as a centre of re tail trade, and shop-owners and hot el proprietors found that their rate demands were greatep than their gross inco.11e. West minster was fast becoming a dis tressed area~ The helter­skelter from the Metropolis was not justified, since present losses already outweighed the possible losses of an air raid. Sil"' Harold Webbe calculated that A.R.P would. cost Lonc1.on £.10 ,ooo l'ooo a year. He suggest ecl that there vvere too many paid workers, and, except in some districts g not enough voluriteers. Not enough use was being ma de of the women of the country. The A.R.P. system shoulo. be run like the life-boat service,;.. a neuclus of trained. men with a rank and file of volunteers. As evia.ence of the measures t o protect Low=i.on from bombing attack, Sir Har old. Webbe mentionec"'.. that the Fire Service, which had 18,000 men before the wa r, now muster ed 28·,000, with 300 miles of hose-=9ipes and 2 ,500 fire-engines·. The hospitals of London h1St't 72 ,ooo beds emptied f or casualties and 2 ,ooo ambulances available EMPIHE AFF'AIRS ++++++++.++++ The War Office, London, s.w.1. 18th January, 1940. Sir Victor Warrender, Bt., M.O., M.P., Financial ·::Jccrotary to The ','Jar Office, rs ceived at the \Var Office to-day a depu tatirn of Sussex Members of Parliament:-Earl 'Ninterton, Colonel J.-talph Clarke, Rear-Admiral T. P.H. Beamish, and Major J.S. Crurtauld, advised by repres entatives of building employers, architects and operatives. The deputaticn discussed the building programme in Sussex, and suggested several lines of eny_uiry for the future. The vari0us p0ints put for-rva rd we re sympathetically considered by Sir Victor ·7arrender aLd r epr esentatives of the Minis try of Health and Minis try of Labcur. 'l'he possibility of assis ting the industry l'.'n the lines suggested is being inves-tigH t ed. 18/1/40 . No. 21. The name of the factory where the explosion took place is the Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey. +++++ MINISTRY OF SUPPLY. 18/1/40 No. 22. The five men killed in the explosion at Waltham Abbey today were:­ J. Parkes Charlton Road, Edmonton, N.9. A. G. Lawrence, Albany Road, Enfield YI/ash. c. F. 1.~ ?urkis, Forest View Road, E.17. J. Robinson, Bowood Road, Enfield. and A. Kelman, Brecon Road, Ponders End. MINISTRY OF SUPPLY. 18/1/40 . No. 23. NOT TO BE PUBLISHED OR BROADCAST BEFORE 11 p.m. NOT TO BE CABLED OVERSEAS BEFORE 11 p.m. It has been agreed between H.M. Government and the Government of the United States that shipments of cotton under the Cotton Rubber Exchange Agreement should be postponed during the months of February, March and April. The shipments of barter cotton in subsequent months will be the subject of further consider~tione +++++ MINISTRY OF SUPPLY~ . ' 18/1/40 -No. 24. AIR MIN ISTRY BUJ,L~IN (NOT to be quoted as an Air Ministry Bulletin) Raiders' Latest Move Checked. Fighter Patrols of the R.A.F~ flying over the North Sea are helping to defeat Germany's latest challenge to Britain's cormnand of the sea. Laying of mines by sea-planes was the first phase of Germany's unrestricted air war against Allied and Neutral shipping. Then Germany began a carnpaign of indiscriminate bombing and machine gunning of merchant ships and fiehing fleets~ Within a few hours of the start of the second phaee, the R.A.F. Fighter ConJIUand fo~mulated counter measures. · A few days ago a Heinkel bomber was :;:irevented by a fighter patrol from attacking three coastal ships~ Riddled with machine gun bullets, the Heinkel limped for home having harin• 1essly unloaded its bombs into the sea. Later the Heinkel force-landed in Denmark. . This is only one example of ·how the R~A.F. are defeating the enemy. Whilst the raiders are not always shot dovm., the presence of these fighter patrols is making it steadily more difficult for them to do their job. Mine-laying from the air, Germanyls other plan to prevent neutral shipping from calling at United Kingdom ports and iocking up British.ships in their harbours is. also being successfully defeated. Irrrrnediately this menace was discovered sw!:f't counter•action was taken by the R.A.F• in ~o-o~ti.on-"1.ttt.h tht Navy. First }here was the daring and successful machine­gun raid by twelve l ,ong range Blenheim fighters on the mine­ , lay:i.tlg sea-plane bas._ at Borku.m, '1A fevv glorious moments of low straffing'' ·was how one of the pilots graphically described it& They pourQd a hail of lead into 5 sea-planes and coastal patrol boats. · Later Bomber Command established nightly patrols over German sea-plane bases. Bombs have been dropped on lighted take­off fairways, and the enemy has been forced to maintain a rigid black-out at these bases.• ,: R.A.F.• strat~gy in this direction has been completely succ~ssful.. Since the patrol started there have been only one or tvvo instances of mine-laying by s~a-:planes and on each . . occassion it is perhaps significant that only one raidQr.has taken par~. Coastal Corrimand aircraft on daily reconnaissance patrolshave taken the offensive and have destroyed a number of German raiders. So, in the words of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Tuesday, "these threats by the enemy are coming under control and we have every confidence in being able to defeat them." -----000----­ 18/1/40. -No. 25. PRESS NOTICE~ On conclusion of the talks between M.....Raoul Dautry, French Minister of Armaments and Mr. Leslie Burgin, Minister of Supply, in London to~day, the following official communique was issued:­ The agreements concluded last October between the French and British Governments for the co-ordination of their economic war effort anticipated that Ministerial consultations would take place in the course of meetings to be held in either Paris or London, during which the Ministers concerned would take any decisions required in connection with the activities of the Permanent Executive Cormnittees established by these agreements and would give the Committees t he necessary instructions. A meeting of the Ministerial Armaments Council has just been held in London. M. Raoul Dautry, Ministre de 'l'Armemont, and Mr. Leslie Burgin, Minister of Supply, have oxamineQ the progr e ss made by the Permanent Executive Committee fo~ Armaments and Raw Materials, and on its submissions ha,ro taken the decisions required in all thoso s::ihcres in which the two allied countries are at present collaborating continuo.usl-y in order to intensify their common effort on armaments production, and to ensui~e an adequate supply of raw materials to both France and Great Britain for this purpose. MINISTRY OF SUPPLY. ------000-----­ 18~ 1.40 No.26. MPHSTRY or FOOD ANNOUNCEMENT Dealings in Animal Feeding-stuffs Order dated 18th January, 1940, amending the Feeding­stuffs (Provisional Control) Order, 1939. Under the Feeding-stuffs (Provisional Control) Order, 1939, (S.R.& 0. No.1213) dealings outside the United Kingdom in certain animal feeding-stuffs are rirohibited except under licence, An Order made on 18th January adds the following materials to the list of such feeding-stuffs:­ Whale Meat Meal (including Extracted \i'Jhale Meat Meal), Whale Guano, Whale Meat and Bone Meal, Fish Meal (including Herring Meal), Sunflower Seed Cake and Meal~ Hem"? Seed Cake and Meal, Locust Beans} Locust Bean, Kibbled, Locust Bean Meal, Rice Offals. The Ministry of Food are purchasing these commodities on Government aecount, and all offers should be addressed to the Director-of Su-·yrily1 Animal Feeding-stuffs Division, Ministry of Food, Stanley Hall, Edmund Street, Liver~ool. 1S/1/4o No.27· FRENCH OP:L:1ICIAL cornmNICl,UE. (EVEHING.) Paris, Thursday~ 18th J anuary, 1940. The following offici2,1 communique was issued this evening from French G.H.Q. :~ In the Vosges one of our outposts repulsed 2.n attack mnde by an enemy detachrnent; Yve mo.de a few prisoners. 18,tl/40. Noc.?8 Empire Affairs wispes to draw attention to the following oo:rrection :i.:n Sir Harold Webbe's speech (Issue No., 19 • 18/1/40) :­ In third line from end the :figure "eighteen thousand" should :riea~ "one thousand eight hundred1'1> ++++ EMPIRE AFFAIR§. WAR COMMENTARY X111 ~ Major-General Sir> Ernest Swinton, K.B.E., C.B., D.s.o. Thursday, 18th January, 1940: 9e15 -9o30 p.mo Home Servico8 The domestic event which monopolised so much of our attention last week is now at an end. The debate in the House of Corrunons has taken place; Mr. Hoi-•e-Dclisha has made his statement; and, as we all hoped, tho incident involves no change in the conduct of tho waro At sea, the loss of H.M. Submarines Seahorse, Undine and Starfish, with over one hundred officer s and ratings of the Royal Navy has saddcnod us all. In the official announcement of the disaster it is stated that the vessels had been on 11:particularly hazardous service." The nature of tho service is not defined. I daresay some of us can imagine what it wasc In any case, tho fate of these submarines should servo as a r eminder of the hazards that our craft have to under go. Whereas the German U-boats have to face mine-fields laid only in certain areas, whose positions, in accordance with International Law, arc well advertised to the world, our submarines have to run the risk of minefields laid in disregard of such Law, and floating mines scattered at random in coastal waterways and in the open sea. 1"lheroas, also, our boats, according to Law, conf confine their attacks to enemy warohips, tho German boats are pirates which prey upon all and sundry, whether they be Allied or neutral, armed or unarmed. It is easy to appreciate. therefore, the difference between the duties they attempt to car r>y out and the compar ative risks they run. Great Britain has now sent a reply to tho protest of the American Republics in r egard to the 300-milem.f.ezy .zoneFor those of you who may not have followed up t hi s matter, I mast explain that at the Panama Congr ess of October the 3rd l ast, the t wenty-one American Republ ics proclaimed a safety belt three hundred miles wide round their coasts, in which no act of vmr should t ake place, Before our Bovorrunent had had time to communicate its views on this subject the battle of the River Plate was fought inside the limits of this zoneo The American Republics held that the so.fety zone had been violat ed., and accordingly, on the 23rd Doccmbor, sent o. protest t o the belligerents concerned. We have every s~nn:pathy with the Republics in their ardent desire to keep out of tho war, l)ut have pointed out that it is impossible for us to forego our rights in the safety belt without a very definite assurance and definite safeguards that all the warring Power•s will do likewise. As things st a:nd,the German warships and supply ships might easily use this zone as a sanctuary, whilst their merchant ships would be able to earn mon.c~,r f'or use against us,des~9ite our rights under International Law to prevent such traffico Should sanctions ­in other words penal t i es -be em:-Qloyod to enforce observation of the proposed conditions, Dritish or Fx·ench ships might find themselves in the position ei theI' of having to let the German ships go, or of laying themselves open to penalties if they attacked thomo Our Government's note emphasises that the safety of the American Continent is not 11kel~r to be endangered by the normal work of His Majesty's ships, and suggests that if tho Allies must refrain from theil" activities wi thin that zone, the German vessels in the zone should be laid up unde.1~ .Arnerico.n control for the duration of thewaro In view of the nature of the nromises of the GoPrnan Government, it is difficult to conceive of any-assurances gi ven by it th.at could be accepted as satisf actory. Our CLt·iitude in this matter has so far met with a f avourable r eception by some people in the United a•o~o••States/ 2 Sta_ s,._ who consider that the zone decl aration would be likely to increase possible causes of controversy between the United States and belligerents. We may hope, therefore, that the proposal will be dropned. The week-end has seen a renewal of the invasion scare in Holland and Belgium. Although for the moment the danger has apnarently passed, I am not at all convinced that we shall not shortly see it loom u~ again. It may be that the Germans are carrying out a simple bluff, and by threatenin.o; this sec tor of the front attempting to clistract attention from some other s ector where they mean to act . It may be that they are trying to lull the twc countries into apathy by the repeated cry of "Wolf0 • Or they may be execut ing a doubl e bluff by very obviously threatening where they r e2lly mean to act. Or it may be another uhase in the all­ round war-of nerves against their weaker neighbours. Rut I feel that there is littl e need to fear that either of these level-headed nations will be caught napuing. Belgium has already had some ­twenty-five years ago. In r esisting a bull y, Finland has set an example. ,I feel certain that Belgium and Holland, if they have to, will follow it. In my opinion, the only chance for the smaller St ates, all of whom are menaced by one or other of the two man-eaters -Germany and Russia, is to do the same and to do it si.mul taneously. Otherwise, they must be swallowed in succession, one by one, .as has been the case with Austria, Czechoslovakia and Doland. Though still hard pressed, the Finnish forces in the field are more than holding their own. But many of their towns have been ruthlessly bombed now for five' consecutive days. However, the weather has come to the aid of the Finns in the most astonishing way. Such intense cold as is now prevailing has not been experienced for thirty-five years . The low t emperature has handicapped the Russians more than their onnonents, and has put a stop to the bombing of the Finnish t owns 1 t ern;:iorarily at l east. But it has only increased the sufferings of the thousands of unhanpy refugees already rendered homel ess. I gave i t as my opinion in my l ast talk that the Russians had no "guts" for the war against the Finns. By this I did not mean that the Russian soldier cannot fight. He has often proved in the past that, when he has had a chance, he is a staunch fighter. He has not often had a chRnce . And it seems that, under the present regime, he is getting less of a chance than in some previous wars. In one of my recent talks I tPied to explain to those who did not know i t the essential difference between the two main types of land artillery. In a br ief list I designated some pieces, such as the 12-pounder, etc., by the weight of the projectile fired, and others such as the 4.7 inch, etc., by the calibre or diameter of the bore of the piece. I have been asked why some should be described i n one way and some in another . There i s no hard and fast rule. It is a custom which has grown un, the smaller guns being identified by the weight of their shell, and the larger guns and howitzers by their calibre. I should add that though the terms "gun'! and 11howi tzcr11 are still used, they have lost nmch of their signifi­cance since the r ecent j_ntroducti.on of the hybrid 11gun-hoz 11 VJhich combines in one piece the qualities of both.· I see it stated that the Ger mans are experimenting wi th new long-range pieces of a typo similar to that with which they b'Jmbarded DFJris in 191 8. There i s nothing to l)revent the reproduction of these abnormal weanons. It is all a questj_on of whether their life is long enough to justify their' manufacture asr a business uroposition. This was not the case twenty-one years ago. Last Sunday I read in one of the napers that Hitler and von Ribbentrop hnd drawn u1; a pror,rnmme of war aims 9 which was also -3­ to fs>rrn the peace terms to be im1)osed on France and Britain should the Germans vlfin this war. This news has not been confirmed, and may be only a rumouro but the terms suggested would spell ruin for the British Ernpireo During the Great V'lar the German Government never made known officially the terms it intended to impose on this country in the event or our defeato Count Bernstorff, however ~ on 30th April, 19179 announced to the United States Government those that were to be imposed on France and Belgium" Tl~ ese and the conditions of the T~eaty of Brest-Litovsk and that of Buchar est forced on the defeated Russians and Roumanians in 1918 give us some idea of what we might have expecteda The destruction of the British Empire is Germany's dearest ambltiono She would stick at nothing to achieve ito And that would mean the loss of our freedom -which brings me to wondering just how many people appreciate the meaning of Freedom. The truth is that we have enjoyed freedom and liberty for so long that we take them for granted and. as a matter of course 9 without thinldngo We cannot imagj_ne any other state. ·we glioly sing: "Britons never never shall be slaves". But hovv many of us ever pause to consia_er what is meant by slavery? And yet 9 that is vvhat life in this country of ours -and in the British Commonwealth -would become if we were beat~n in the war we are now wagingo vVe should have to pay the cost of the war to the victors., We should lose our colonies, our markets, our raw ma.-~erials and our tradeo That would mean loss of work and unemployment, and. would in turn lead to starvation, or forced labouro Even now~ as it is, some of us are inclined to regard rationing as a hardshipJ but not very many of us go hungr;yo Gone would be our liberty, the freedom of speech and that of the press~ There would be no private property. Everything would be taken by the State; and we could say goodbye to most of our possessions. News would be controlled and the papers would have to print only what the Government approvedo You could not tune in your wireless as you wished -always supposing you had one -or you might end up in a Concentration Campo And thj..nk of what it would mean to live under the shadow of the Gestapo~ or secret police, and in the perpetual fear that walls had ea~so Your children would be State-owned, and you would have no voice i n their education or upbringingo They would be t aught to spy on each other and on you, and to report to the Gestapoo You could not talk freely to your friends because you would never lcnow who was listen1ngo You can say that free Britons would never put up with all this~ But if the free Britons could not manage, when they were still free and armed, to beat the enemy, what could the3r do in the way of resistance after they had been conquered? If you think this picture exaggerated, look at Austria,Cz.echo -S1ovalcia, Poland and the Concentration Camps~ I am no alarmist or defeatist9 I am confj_dent that we shall wino But it is just as well that we should get a true p~Lcture of things as they are with those unhappy nations which are unaer the German jack-booto And to face up to it squareJ.;y ~an only stiffen our resolve not to run any risk of' sharing their fate" ++++++++++ BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION., l'io. JD. PR.i"':SD NOTICI:. Mr. Leslie Burgin, Minister of Su:ppl;y-, has expressed his condolences to the .rele.tives of the men who were killed in the explosion 8.t vYaltham Abbey. :MINISTRY OF SUPPLY. 18.1.40 No.31 Th~ following is issued . to the Press for such use as they may wish to make of it GERMAN TREATMENT OF PRISONERS Details of the treatment meted out to British Merchant Navy prisoners on board the tanker which was acting as supply and prison ship for the German raider GRAF SPEE have now come to light. The treatment of prisoners on board that ship was reminiscent of the days of slave trading. The prisoners were herded together in overcrowded "flats 0 , wtth no room to move between the mattresses which were covered with lice and vermin. The total water ration amounted to one QUart per day. This had to suffice for drinking pur~oses and for washing. Such washing of clothes as was nossible had to be done in the same water after personal cleanliness had been to some extent achieved. Although at one time there were several hundred :!}risoners on board, there were only twenty bowls on the upper' deck available for washing, and these had to be used by the masters~ officers, and the white and lascar crews. There was practically no soap available. The food was scarce and bad, ancl. the eating utensils were jmprovised out of old condensed milk t ins. The whole organisation of the shi:!} 9 as regards the prisoners was more in accordance with the tradition of the Nazi concentra­tion camp than with the customs of civilised nations in dealing with prisoners of war at sea. Exercise and fresh air was limited to an hour and a quarter a day, and this only under good weather conditions. ,Smoking was 9rohibited for the first fortnight on board, and after that it was strict ly limited. Anyone found smoking at an unauthorised time or in an unauthorised place was sentenced to three days of solitary confinement in a cell not much bigger than a locker, and a diet of bread and water during this period. Everything possible was donE to humiliate the officer prisoners in front of their crews~ and particularly in front of lascars. The lavatory arrangements consisted of empty oil drums in an open passage way, and these had to be emptied and clenned out by the masters in front of the lns·.cars. Lascars were, in fact , given preferential treatment o.t every turn. That this was a German propaganda method is shown l)y the fact that the lascars were told that~ when the ship reachcc1 Germany, the.] would !Je repatriated by an overland route. The captain of this t ender t o the GRAF SPEE was a hard-bitten Nazi with decided 9olitical bias, nnc the treatment accorded to prisoners in his ship was in strong co:1trast to thnt in the GRAP SPEr, commanded by Captain Langsdorff, who does not appear to have been so deeply imbued with the Nazi philosophy. NAVAL AFFAIRS. FOREIG~N PRESS REVIEW DAILY SURVEY OF WORLD COMMENT ON THE WAR COMPILED FROM TELEGRAPHIC REPORTS RECEIVED BY THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION 41" ~ Nb. 4. 18"th....J..~ru;i,~.r..Y...,.................: .............., 1940 A Russian or Russo-German seizure of the Allied pipe lines in Iran and Irar;;t is described by today 1 s NEW YORK TIMES as "little more than a smoker's dreamo 11 The paper s.tates that a British l oan to Turkey would strengthen Turkey's vital p'.:' sition as the guardian of the Near East, against "international brigandage" and adds~ "Tha;.,':ks are due to Turkey that the Allies were ab1e tp build up an army in Syria with out disturbanceo The vital p'assageway of the Straits is bow well guarded and a Russian or Russo-~German seizure of the Allied pipe lines in Iran and Iraq becomes little more than a pipe dream. If aggression should come now in the Balkans or the Near East, it could at least be met with effective forces.," Speaking at the C\'·erseas Press Club, Mr. Oswald Villard stated that the overwhelming majority of the German peo~le were ppposed to the Hitler Regime and they .did not approve of the war. Mr. Villard added that the German .people looked "run-down" and the morale at the f'rcnt was bad., This was evidenced by the large number of ·soldiers absent without leave" Germany's internal &ifficulties were emphasised in yesterday's American Provincial Press.,, and the Reich's fuel position was referred to pointedly by the SAN DIEGO UNION. The paper stated that people on short rations and without~ eno~h f'uel could not keep up for l cng the degree of morale neces­sary during wartimeo "When it is realised that this is but the beginning o-£ the war, and that the fuel system has already broken down to the point ~f ~ringing actual suffering, it takes no imagination to realise that Hitler is going to have s:)mething more tc do than make fiery speeches." oommented the papero "The undercurrent cf hostility in Czecho­Slii,vakia towards the invaders is being well organised. Sabotage and passive resistance campaigns mcve with clock like precision." The view that Britain and France cannot fail to win the war was expressed in the BOSTON POST which stated: "Most of us have come to the belief that in the J -,-QC, r u:-.:. England and France will wihi this war despite any inte:-.r ~.i.·ence by Russiao It is easy to envisage the scene at the pe-:.ce table when another Germ~m Government 1 s represent­ 1 atives face the vict,·:· r s ., :ehey 1111 111 r:T1.:>ti.:l. as they did before for merciful treatment.., The final reckoning will see ghosts of the past rising to mcJ ck Germany.," FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW · Page HOLLAND: MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S "BRILLIANT SUCCESS" Mre Chamberlain's statement in the Hr:use of Commons with regard to the resignatibn of Mr. Hore--Belisha represented a great success f or the British Prime Minister, a6cording to the Dutch n ewspaper DE MAASBODE o "Mr. Cha'Tl.berlain has come out of the battle unscathed," stated the paper 1'Nob:;dy was comprj.mi sed, nelther Mr. Chamberlain who has o had another brilliant success, nor Mr. Hore-Belisha to whom a Mi nisterial job is still cpen. 0 HET VADERLAND after affirming that the House of C13mmons debate i:l'"no way affected British policy, turned t o the threatening situation in. the Low Countries and added: "This country is ccmpletely independent and will decide for itself." Referring to the sinking of the Dutch vessel Arendskerk, DE TELEGRAAF stated: "The sinking of this ship is C"ne of those senseless acts cf war which bring no fame to the Germ~ Navy. We consider the Nazi aim to isc;late England has fatled·. Germany will · never succeed in stopping the English or Dutch from ·Sailing the seas." §WITZERLA!:m: PRAISE FOR Mr.. CHAMBgRLAIN AND MR. HORE B.~LISHA. The statements :caade by Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Hore-Belisha in the House of Commons ~re favourably received ":iy today's Swiss Press. "The GAZETTE DE LAUSANNE states: "Mr. Hore-Belisha 1 s speech was that of a good p~i.::·.~iot not desiring to complicate the situation. The most important po ':nt in Mre Chamberlain's declaration was that there wculd be no change i.n War Policy and the war would be prosecuted with the same .··t5,gour as hi;therto. The Briti sh people could not demand moreo 11 The view of DFE BUND was that the attitude of both the Premier and the War Minister l1efore the House was faultlesso ~QYP't!_ ANGLO-EGYPTIAN RELATIONS. The friendly relations existing between Egypt and the Allies are emphasised in the Egyptian Press today. The AL MOKAT'I'AM, referring to yesterday's reception at the Zaafaran Palace, wheb Allied Officers were presented to King Faroukj states;"All the bonds between us and our ally are much closer than bonds of alliance. We refer to the bonds of humanity, democracy and. universal liberty. It was this which made the Allied. cause our cause and that of all peoples resolved to defend their independence and national fron tie:Ss." FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW · Pa.ge 3> 18/1/40. SV!EDEN: MISTRUST BETV'JEEN RUSSIA AND GERMANYe A state of mistrust exists between Germany and Russia according to a section of the Swedish Press. After stating that during the last fortnight a large number of Baltic Germans returned to the Reich, the GOTEBORGS 11.IORG:C:NPOST added: "After the earlior quick German evacuation of the Baltic States, this shows continued mistrust between Berlin and Moscowo Other,signsindicate that Germany is taking advantage of Russia's position in Finland to demand the biggest possible delive,ries of raw materials." The paper went on to say that Swedish Corrununist volunteers l"eturning from the Spanish War were welcomed in the Soviet Press, but now Moscow regards Swedish volunteers to Finland as a special breach of neutralityo Other Swedish papers yesterday gave publicity to the ar~ival of the British Minister in .Stockholm, and publication was given to a denial by the Swedish Foreign Office of an .American News Agency report regarding a reported British guarantee to SwedenQ Goering fails as Economic D:ict.=:itor says Swedish Press. Field-Marshal Goering, the Nazi Economic "Didiator", has failed in his task, according to tho Berlin correspondent of the AFTENBLADET. This correspondent in his yesterday's dispatch stated that since Goering took over control of War Economy, supplies were consistently inac,tive, and this was rcflectod in the exchange market. There were many f'alls quoted yeste day for shares in the mining industry, and this, it was added, was possibly a sign of the fear that mining undertakings had :·of' submission ·;to i'ui>thcr S"tc.tc con.tr-old· . Regarding the Sv>ledish dene.il of a British guarantee to Sweden, this paper commented: "Sweden now definitely and energetically denies that England offered her a guarantee in order to passify Germany, who, otherwise, would have felt threatoncdo It is a strange world we live ino All the old ideas have been turned topsy turvey. It would certainly have appeared more reassuring for Germany if England had guaranteed our remaining at poaceo" Signor Alfredo Signorotti of the Italian newspaper LASTA!'v1PA of Turin, in an article entitled "Scandinavia's fatal hour" in the NYA DAGLIGT ALLEHAlifDA wrote: "It is supposed that Russia might stop her advance when Finland is overcome. In this event Sweden, whose exist­ence in a large measure is dependent on a free sea trade in the ~altic, becomes the willy-nilly victim of Moscow. The only way out in order not to sucmrnb entirely to Russian influence in such circum­ :; tances would be a schism between Russia, who dominates the minds of the Baltic, and Germany who controls its entrances0 But in this lies the difference in tho present situation as compared with 1914." Continuing Signor Signorotti stated that it was probabl~ that r~vedon and Norway would attempt to assist the Finns indiI•cctly, wi thoui, openly committing themselves. "But is such support sufficient to save Finland from collapse now or in the Spring?" he added. "Whatever conclusion one draws, the Scandinavian people are facing a fatal hour0 " FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW · Page 4 18/1/40 Russo-Bulgarian commercial relations have r' een greatly strength­ ened by the trade agreement between the Scviet Union and Bulgaria according to yesterday's Bulgarian Presso Commenting on the agreement, the newspaper ZORA stated that Bulgarian ships will use Russian ports and Russian ships will use Varna and Burgas where shipping agencies will b e opened.,, This paper's Berlin ccrrespcndent quoted German papers, in reference t o Russo-·German agreements, and reported that1 Germany would not allow hers.J;lf to be driven from her economic position in the B3.lkans., "The Reich wishes to keep the Balkans out of war and to main­ tain independent national economies in the South East which she has reached through a barter p':;licy. 11 added the >:::E:A, "This strengthens , t he political independence cf the Balkan States. 11 Referring to the House of Commons statements in cormection .with ::r. Hore-Belisha 1 s resigna tion, the MIR stated: "No personal ~:;nsideeations should come he:fore the great British task o:f bringing ::i_ speedy and happy ending to the waro 11 ITALY: ITALY DETERMINED ON INDEPENDENT POLICY. --. ·­ Italy is determined on the maintenance of internal order and 0 : •.1 the pursuance o:f an independent foreign pc licy, according to _Signor Virginio Gayda writing in last night 1 s GIORNALE D1 ITALIA0 11M0re than ever rr.ust Fascist Italy :preserve and de:fend today the individuality of' her interests and the freedom o:f her positif.n 0 " he wrote " "There is much evidence of attempts from many directions of foreign desire t .) influence and confuse the Italian political conscience in order t o fling her int;) currents which are not in keeping with Italian interests or Fascist ideals~ "The Italian nation must realise that c:nly in internal order and in an independent foreign policy can she :find, in this new European up!:'#eaval, the highest capacity of resistance and the securest means · f defence of her great hist8risal destiny0 The severe and active .·,,lic~:-of the Fascist Party does not, therefore, represent mere tactiCS9 .:.. 0 is one of the essential forces of Italian 22:Lfe and power." The statementsmade ·r:y Mr o Chamberlain and Mro Hore-Belisha in the Ihuse of' Commons were f eatured fully in the Italian newspapers but with :_ j_ttle comment. The LAVORO FASCISTA, however~ a11uded to the favcurable i ;npression caused. by the reference to peace in the M.edi terraneano FOR·EIGN PRESS REVIEW · Page 5 18/1/40. CHILE: IMPORTANCE OF PJv!ERICAN NEUTRALITY COMMITTEE. Referring to the inauguration at Rio de Janerio of the Intcr­American Neutrality Committee, an editorial article in EL MERCURIO of Santiago stated: 11There is no doubt of the importance of this meeting of experts, especially for the realist members. It is hoped that the Rio committee adjusts its work to practical objects without sensational innovationsc "It is honed also that the Conli":1i ttoe 'Nill correct excesses of the Panama conference, especially regarding Territorial waters. The role of the investigation is to study elaborate projects which each Government can accept or modify or reject." A prominent headline used by LA HORA was: "Nazis and Soviets concerting efforts in Scandinavia and Balkans." A great deal of prominence was given in all papers to the danger . of a German occupation of Belg:iun and Holland, and the whole Press published the British reply to the Pan-American suggestion of a new neutral Territorial zone off the American coasts. BRAZIL: BRAZIL J?JPF_J;_ND.§....1.P...El-lLS OF LIBER'J;'L_ A tribute to the ideals of liberty was paid by the neir1spaper 0 GLOBO in its edition of Tuesdayo In a front page article on the Inter-American neutralityCommission, it was stated: "VJG shall i.. e-affirm our neutre.11typrinciples, but we shall not forget for a moment that the American ideas of liberty and of civilisation s.ovm in this soil by Englandand France are being defended in Europe not only with words but with bloodo" The JORNAL DO COM:tvIBRCIO f'avouro.bly reviewed the war at sea and indicated the vital necessity f'or Britain to secure control, BELGrUM.: 1'RI~IJ10VF,_ SECRLCY11 DEMAND BY BELGIAN PRESS Varying views regarding the caution taken in Belgium and Holland were expressed in yesterday's Belgian Press and one newspaper thought that the public should be kept better informed instead of shrouding the measures with mystcryn Some papers including the NATION B3LGE, the INDEPENDENCE BELGE and the LIBRE BELGIQUE attached little importance to the precaution­ary measuresc Other journals approved the steps taken and the GAZE'rTE stated: "The precauti 0n