The Struggle For Peace

4i 8__________________________________________
from Czechoslovakia and its inclusion in the German
Reich.
" Now we are told that this seizure of territory has been
necessitated by disturbances in Czechoslovakia. We are told
that the proclamation of this new German Protectorate
against the will of its inhabitants has been rendered inevitable
by disorders which threatened the peace and security of her
mighty neighbour. If there were disorders, were they not
fomented from without ? And can anybody outside Germany
take seriously the idea that they could be a danger to that
great country, that they could provide any justification for
what has happened ?
ce Does not the question inevitably arise in our minds, if it
is so easy to discover good reasons for ignoring assurances so
solemnly and so repeatedly given, what reliance can be placed
upon any other assurances that come from the same source ?
" There is another set of questions which almost inevitably
must occur in our minds and to the minds of others, perhaps
even in Germany herself. Germany, under her present
regime, has sprung a series of unpleasant surprises upon the
world. The Rhineland, the Austrian Anschluss, the sever-
ance of Sudetenland—all these things shocked and affronted
public opinion throughout the world. Yet, however much
we might take exception to the methods which were adopted
in each of those cases, there was something to be said, whether
on account of racial affinity or of just claims too long resisted—
there was something to be said for the necessity of a change in
the existing situation.
" But the events which have taken place this week in com-
plete disregard of the principles laid down by the German
Government itself seem to fall into a different category, and
they must cause us all to be asking ourselves: * Is this the
end of an old adventure, or is it the beginning of a new ? *
" * Is this the last attack upon a small State, or is it to be
followed by others ? Is this, in fact, a step in the direction of
an attempt to dominate the world by force ? *
" Those are grave and serious questions. I am not going
to answer them to-night. But I am sure they will require the
grave and serious consideration, not only of Germany's
neighbours but of others, perhaps even beyond the confines of