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[Sir A. Sinclair.]
danger if ever they return to Germany, but of these about 5,000 are in direct That is to say, danger of their lives. they are prominent trade union leaders, made themselves people who have prominent in the defence of the Czecho- Slovak State, and leading representatives of the democratic parties, and I urge the Government that they should consider making a more generous contribution than offering asylum to 350 of these people. I have seen it stated that we have done as much as or more than France, but let it be remembered that France has done an immense amount for other people. France has had the Saar refugees thrown upon her in great num- bers, and she has had an enormous num- ber of refugees, far more than we have had, from Spain, and I do not think that it is a fair standard of comparison for this country to take what the French have done, and I urge the Government to be more generous in their estimate of our responsibilities towards these unhappy refugees.
There is only one other thing more I want to say about the past, and I must say this because it seems to me to go to the roots of the perplexities and dangers in which we now find ourselves. The Prime Minister, since he took over the responsibility for foreign affairs from the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Eden), seems to me at every stage to have mis- taken the real issues and to have mis- understood the real intentions of Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitler. During the last General Election and, after all, that is only three years ago--the Prime
Minister said:
There is not one of the small countries of Europe which has not breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that at last we were going to put ourselves in a position to defend ourselves if necessary and to fulfil our obliga- tions under the Covenant."
I did not hear in the Prime Minister's speech this afternoon any reference what- soever to our obligations under the Cove- nant. The sighs to-day from the small nations of Europe are more audible than they were when the Prime Minister spoke only three years ago, but they are not sighs of relief. They are sighs of anxiety and suffering. Again, the Prime Minister, speaking at that time deprecating a change of Government as a possible result of the General Election, said:
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Foreign countries would not know if in future they could rely on the British Empire or not.
The Government were returned to power and now they do know. At least
knows and it Abyssinia
was round Italian aggression in Abyssinia that the Election was fought. Austria, whose in- dependence was declared to be an object Czecho- of British policy also knows. slovakia knows, and is now entrusting her destinies to Germany. Spain has few illusions left. The Prime Minister rebuked the Leader of the Opposition for describ- ing the Munich Agreement as a defeat for the democracies and for law and order. He contrasted the speech of the Leader of the Opposition with the speeches that are made in totalitarian countries.
He said they do not attack their own Governments. For my part I have not this respect for such totalitarian tradition. I prefer the British tradition of free speech, and I tell the Prime Minister that the people of this country mean to keep it and not to accept his totalitarian standards. When he contrasts the speech of the Leader of the Opposition with the speeches in totalitarian countries, it seems to me that, if you look at the merits of the matter, the speeches of the leaders in the totalitarian countries are exactly on the same lines as the speech of the Leader of the Opposition, for all assert loudly and with confidence that undoubtedly Munich was a defeat for Britain and France and a great victory for Hitler. Herr Goebbels, a member of the Reich Chancellor's Cabinet, one of the closest to him of all the members of the Cabinet, says that Herr Hitler went to Munich with Mein Kampf " in one hand and the sword in the other, and we know that, as a matter of fact, that is true. In the name of justice and self-determination we have added scores of thousands of Czechs, Germans and Jews to the flood of
and world refugees
condemned thousands of others to Nazi concentra- tion camps and to lesser forms of tyranny and brutality.
Mr. Donner: Does the right hon. Gen- tleman really think that there would be fewer refugees if there had been no Munich Agreement and a war?
Sir A. Sinclair: I certainly think that they would not have been refugees from Nazi tryanny, nor do I admit for one moment that war would necessarily have taken place if the policy of the right hon.
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does it mean to give it now? This is the question which I am putting to the Government, so I would ask the President of the Board of Trade if he would kindly answer that when he comes to reply. The Prime Minister said that it was a guarantee not of a specific frontier, but against unprovoked aggression. Was not the Polish irruption into Teschen an act of unprovoked aggression, and had not the
International Situation 1 NOVEMBER 1938 Gentleman the Member for Warwick and Leamington had been maintained the League of Nations policy. I believe that that was the only way to preserve both peace and justice and that, since that policy was abandoned at every stage, we have drifted nearer and nearer to war, until a few days ago we found ourselves, under the policy which the hon. Member supports, on the brink of it. It was the result which I have prophesied, of that policy which my hon. Friends have prophesied, which hon. Members on this side of the House have prophesied, the inevitable result of the policy which the hon. Member himself supports.
Now perhaps I shall be allowed to con- tinue my speech, because I do not think that the interruption was very relevant. I was saying that thousands of refugees have been condemned to the concentra- tion camps and added to the flood of refugees which is pouring over the world. One by one in the name of appeasement, in Austria, in Czechoslovakia and in Spain, we are handing over the keys of world power into the keeping of the most aggressive tyrannies since Napoleon's. In Austria, in Czechoslovakia, and now per- haps in Spain, the armies, air forces, great munitions industries, rich economic re- sources and connections of whole coun- tries are being turned over in the balance sheet of power from the side of law and order to the side of aggression and destruc- tion. To the 35 German divisions re- leased from the Czech frontiers, add 12 Austrian divisions and the fresh divisions which will be raised in Austria and in the Sudetenland territories. Lord Baldwin declared that our frontier now is on the Rhine; and now there are 50 more divi- sions to attack it. The edge of our naval weapon is blunted, for the blockade is losing its power.
These are the circumstances in which, for the first time, we
are being asked to undertake an onerous and dangerous commitment, a specific guarantee against unprovoked aggression of a frontier in Central Europe. To have given it before the crisis was one thing when the frontiers of Czechoslovakia were in the mountains, when she had a fine army with high moral, splendidly equipped, and also with a great munitions industry behind it, and when we might have had the full support of Russia and France, and perhaps of other nations that was one thing. What
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Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence said that the guarantee was already morally in operation? What happened? How did we fulfil it? You say we shall fulfil it if similar circumstances arise in the future, or if there is an act of even more flagrant aggression. Even if you can excuse the Polish aggression--I do not know if you can or not; I can think of no excuse for it but if there was an act of even more flagrant aggression how are we to fulfil this guarantee? We ought to know now and not wait until an act of flagrant aggression happens and then be told, You must realise that it is very difficult for us to do anything. The totali- tarian Powers stretch between us and Czechoslovakia. What is it in our power to do? Do not let us wait for that situation to arise. Let us know now. Let us be told now. How is it expected that we are to fulfil this guarantee? Is it to be a joint or a several guarantee? Is an effort to be made to get Russia in? The Prime Minister said that it was too early to ask for details as to who were to be the guarantors. Are we going to try and get Russia in? Are we going to exert
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our influence with Russia and ask her to come in? Let the Government tell us
that.
The Prime Minister said, towards the end of his speech, that we were not con- templating the equipment of an Army on a Continental scale. That has always been my view, but the situation has greatly changed in recent weeks, and I would ask the President of the Board of Trade whether His Majesty's Government can assure us that, in the opinion of their military advisers, we should be able to fulfil our commitments under this specific guarantee without an army on a Con- tinental scale. On the day that the Prime Minister went to the Munich Conference I pleaded with him to go there to ensure the economic survival and the complete freedom and independence of Czecho- slovakia. Rightly or wrongly, he did not
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