T H E T A B L E T , February 16th, 1961

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGE ET PATRIA

VOL. 199, No. 5830

FOUNDED IN 1840

LONDON, FEBRUARY 16th, 1952

NINEPENCE

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

THE ROOTS OF BRITAIN The Christian Example o f the Late King THE POPE AND THE KING’S DEATH The Special Envoy and the Exchange o f Telegrams “A MODEL OF CHRISTIAN VIRTUE”

The Text o f Cardinal Griffin’s Broadcast

UNESCO AND HISTORY An Unsatisfactory Project. By A . C. F . Beales

UNREST IN TUNISIA

By Ronald Matthews

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

Mr. George Kennan’s Searching Probe

CULTURAL TRENDS IN SPAIN

By Derek Patmore

GERMANY AND NATO

T HE presence in London, fo r the funeral o f K ing George VI, o f D r . Adenauer, Chancellor o f the West Germ an Federal Republic, taking his place in the ranks o f the representatives o f foreign countries, is a fu rther sign o f the re tu rn o f Germany to the comity o f free nations ; and i t will also have given D r. Adenauer the opportunity to discuss with others present in London fo r the occasion some o f the more pressing problem s which beset his Government.

The East Germ an Government used last week’s defence debate for a renewed appeal for “ German national unity .” They know, o f course, th a t their aim to make Germany Communist can be achieved only by dividing the Western world. So they are giving their support to the extreme nationalist elements in the Federal Republic. But a t the same tim e, their Foreign Minister, H err Dertinger, last week offered “ close friendship with the German Democratic Republic” to the French, provided F rance helped to prevent “ the restoration o f militarism in the Federal Republic.”

Neues Deutschland, the o rgan o f the Central Committee o f th e SED, wrote on Sunday th a t the Federal Chancellor’s aim was to have Germans fight one another. But, the paper continued, he was isolated, for the people wished no t membership o f the West, bu t all-G erm an elections. The East Germ an rad io and press have jo ined in this campaign. Broadcasts from Eastern Berlin gave extracts from D r. A denauer’s speech, bu t commented upon them in such a manner th a t their meaning was completely distorted. But the effect o f these campaigns on th e East German population does no t seem to have been so great as expected. The Berlin correspondent o f th e Neue Ziircher Zeitung wrote on Tuesday :

“ As one can well observe from here, the East German people in Eastern Germany see in the straightforw ard policy o f th e Bonn Government and o f the Western Powers the only possibility o f being peacefully freed from the Russian yoke. Those. Germans who have to live under the Soviet regime know only too well from their daily experience w hat th a t means.” Meanwhile, both the debates in the Federal Parliam ent a t Bonn and those in th e French General Assembly have illum inated th e stum bling blocks in the way o f European unity. The insistence o f the F rench Government on its interests in the Saar, and its opposition to German membership o f the N o r th A tlantic T reaty Organization and to an effective G erm an Army, were in tended to save what is left o f the original Pleven P lan and to ensure a majority, bu t i t was a majority which had to be bought a t the expense o f Bonn. There, the insistence was on G erm an equality, bu t the German Chancellor had so little to show in its favour th a t his parliam entary majority fell from the eighty-nine votes o f the Schuman Plan debate to twenty-eight. W hat saved him from greater losses was, perhaps, the fact th a t the Social Democrat opposition, which had a free field on the popular theme o f discrim ination against Germany, was divided on the issue o f th e Germ an defence contribution between the German counter-parts o f the Bevanites, represented by H err Ollenhauer, in the absence o f the sick leader o f the party, and others who are completely against a G erm an defence contrib u tion . But bo th in Paris and a t Bonn it was apparent th a t th e «new phase in F ranco-G e rm an relations which necessity had brought in sight was too fragile as yet to stand the sudden strain o f trad itio nal natio nal hostilities.

Nevertheless, these hostilities seem’t o have been somewhat exaggerated abroad, and a t Bonn many, o f whom H e rr Carlo Schmid was no t one, seeip to have restrained themselves enough to avoid pouring more ho t o il on the passions excited by the Saar question. The Green Pool

British and Scandinavian policy is unable to accept the supra-national au tho rity for agriculture which the French and Italian s are proposing. I t is id le to complain o f th a t. I t is one thing to impose an au tho rity on the comparatively few producers o f iron and coal— linked as they have been for so many years am ong themselves by in te rnational arrangements. I t is quite a different th ing to impose such an au tho rity on the millions o f independent peasants o f Europe. The F rench plan has now to go to the Council o f Ministers, where its failure to obtain unanim ous support is foregone. The next move is with the French. I f the F rench insist on setting up a m inor authority for themselves, th e Italians and such Continental nations as will act with them , the British clearly have no alternative but to wish them well and then to establish as friendly relations as possible with the new authority, when it is set up. But, if they show themselves in a m ood to comprom ise on an advisory body, th e British Government should go half way to meet them and send their M inister o f Agriculture and representatives o f their producers to an in te rnational conference fo r the establishm ent o f such an