THE T ABLET, January 2Otó, 1$3¿

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA D E I , PRO REGE ET PATRIA

VO L . 197, N o . 5774

FOUNDED IN 1840

L O N D O N , JANUARY 20th, 1951

S IX PENCE PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

A CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP Mr. Attlee and the Reassembling Parliament

RULING THE WAVES The Report o f the Beveridge Committee

IF BRITAIN WERE GOVERNED LIKE S WITZ ERLAMD

An Example o f Enduring Coalition. By Reginald Langford

THE HOLY OFFICE AND ROTARY TRENDS AMONG TEACHERS

A Bewildering Decree

By C. S . Robin

SOWING CONFUSION Mr. Crossman and the Cold War. By Christopher Hollis

A CERTAIN PROGRESS I T is a measure of the difficulty of Commonwealth conferences that it was for a long time quite uncertain whether it would be possible to issue any jo int statement which all the Premiers attending the Conference would sign. It was something of a feat, for which the credit belongs largely to the Australian Delegation, that unanimity was achieved ; and this is something, although it is not the primary purpose of these Conferences to achieve jo int declarations. Their primary purpose is to concert common plans, and about this there is, inevitably, much reticence.

nations, where they will not agree among themselves. No progress is announced on Kashmir, but by an adroit piece of timing the general declaration carrying the signature of the Premier of Pakistan was issued before the Kashmir talks. The Government of India, which can be so very firm towards any Power that looks smaller than itself, like Pakistan or the native Princes, shows no comparable firmness towards Communist China, the Power against which the resources of the Commonwealth have to be built up. Signor de Gasperi’s Declaration

But the price paid for unanimity, which might more accurately be described as the price paid for Pandit Nehru’s signature, was a distribution of emphasis in the document which prevented it from being one that could hearten or encourage those who still hold to a more robust conception both of Commonwealth unity and of the leading role of the Commonwealth in the defence of the free world. Mr. Menzies, perhaps because he was conscious of the defects of the document, did something to redress the balance in his speech a t the Australian Club dinner. The voice of the British Government continues to be as small and low-pitched as ever. The question has now to be faced, whether the Commonwealth can or should go on always seeking the lowest common denominator, the words and the actions which commit members to so little that no one minds signing them, or whether, inside the Commonwealth of Nations (which is now the technical style of the British Commonwealth) those who really have a common outlook should not form an avowed inner ring, a genuine British Commonwealth, into which there should be no effort to attract Pandit Nehru.

The great success of the meeting has been that the Pakistan Premier not only came, but will go away much more firmly convinced that Pakistan has real and serious friends; although only slight and quite insufficient progress has been made even over Kashmir. The British political mission is by now a rich repository of constitutional expedients for reconciling logical contradictions, and it should not surpass the wit of Commonwealth thinkers to devise a special regime for Kashmir which, while it will not satisfy either Pakistan or India, will be tolerated by both for the sake of the great advantages both will derive from any settlement which will let them plan a defence against much more serious dangers.

I t is not surprising that Mr. Attlee should cling as he does to Pandit Nehru as his chief hope of being favourably remembered in history, in the manner of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, who is only remembered for his South African policy. But the question may well arise whether the price of Pandit Nehru’s association will prove too high ; whether the Commonwealth will not have to choose among the Asiatic

The first effect o f General Eisenhower’s lightning tour of the European capitals has been to elicit a succession o f firm and forthright declarations by the Ministers of the capitals visited. The Italians, in particular, in preparation for the General’s visit, have taken their stand with the rest in the clearest terms ; and nothing could have been better than Signor de Gasperi’s speech to the Senate at the end of last week, when he roundly declared that “ if Italy vacillates, she will finish as Benes and Masaryk did.” This needed saying, both to the demoralized fringe o f his own Christian Democrats, whose pacifist inclinations lead them to advocate courses which have no sound basis whatever, and to the Italian Nationalists.

It was very painful that at the close o f his long life Signor Orlando should have voted with the Communists against the Atlantic Pact, even if he was making a protest against the treatment o f Italy and Italian national aspirations. There are some forms which it is indecent for public protest to take. It is quite true that the proverb, “ One man can steal a horse where another may not look over a hedge,” must often recur painfully to Italians when they see what a wealth of explanation is continually offered in Britain and America to explain the Chinese and their thwarted nationalism, as it used to be used to explain the Russians and their need for security, whereas a similar tolerance was never manifested towards the very much smaller and less dangerous ambitions in which the Italians ventured to indulge. But a t the present time it is the first duty of all civilized men to ask themselves whether they are letting nationalist prepossessions cloud their vision and prevent them from seeing clearly the only course which is at once in their own interest and that of everybody else.

Like a man examining his conscience for his besetting sin, nationalists in every country must examine the conditions which they are tempted to attach to their participation in the common defence. Hard on the heels o f General Franco’s New Year speech, with its acceptance of Spain’s part, there have come from the Spanish radio talks expressing the narrowest national feeling, declaring that the Government will be actuated solely by considerations o f Spanish interests,