THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGINA ET PATRIA

VOL. 201, No. 5901

FOUNDED IN 1840

LONDON, JUNE 27th, 1953

NINEPENCE

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

TELEVISION IN THE FUTURE The Champions o f Monopoly against the National Tradition FRENCH RESPONSIBILITIES IN MOROCCO

Serious Consequences of Instability in Paris AFTER THE ELECTION IN ITALY Manceuvring for Position. From Our Special Correspondent

McCa r t h y a n d mcCAr t h y i s m The Strange History o f an American Senator. By Letitia Fairfield

BUILD YOUR OWN HOUSE Pioneer Work at Taunton. By John M . Todd

MR. WAUGH LOOKS AHEAD

By Christopher Hollis

WORDS AND MUSIC

By Rosemary Hughes

“LIKE A BRIGHT METEOR”

The Panegyric by the Bishop of Lancaster at the Funeral o f Archbishop Downey

PRESIDENT RHEE’S RELUCTANCE P RESIDENT SYNGMAN RHEE’S action last week has embarrassed n o t only the armistice negotiations o f the United Nations but also the strong group in President Eisenhower’s own Republican Party which has never concealed its dislike o f any American concession in Korea. They can see the moral justification for the release o f the nonCommunist N o r th Korean prisoners, for they have all along disbelieved in th e prospects o f peace in Korea as long as Chinese forces a re allowed to remain in control o f the North. These men seek a scapegoat n o t so much in the South Korean President, but in the unfortunate Mr. Foster Dulles.

T hat a release o f the prisoners was planned had been clear for some time. General M a rk C lark was told by Dr. Rhee th a t the South Koreans would never allow their prisoners to be handed over to the neutral commission and to be subjected to indoctrination by Communist agents. General Clark then inform ed Washington th a t the release o f anti-Com munist N o rth K o rean prisoners appeared probable as a first move against the truce agreements. H e then warned the United States prison camp authorities and obtained reinforcements from the mainland. The six thousand South Korean guards were, however, no t replaced by American troops because these were no t available. There is now little chance o f recapturing the escaped men, particularly w ithout the support o f the South Koreans. Their Government had carefully prepared the breakout. On the hills surrounding the four prison camps police were stationed with food and clothing fo r the prisoners, and the population was instructed to help them “ if they happen to call a t your door in the n ight.”

D r. Rhee’s conduct lacks no logic. H e has the repeated Allied declarations concerning the restoration o f Korean unity. But in 1950 the United N ations went to war n o t because K orea was divided, as in fact i t had been for many years, but because here was a clearly prem editated act o f aggression. After three years o f war the two hostile forces oppose each o ther on approxim ately the same dividing line. D r. Rhee believes th a t if N o rth and South Koreans were left alone to fight, he might win, while otherwise he will be confronted by the perm anent th rea t o f the combined strength o f the Chinese and Korean forces. But in fact South Korea cannot fight on alone. He was an exile for th irty -three years while his country was under Japanese occupation. H e returned after 1945 and was elected President twice in elections supervised by the United Nations. He can justly claim th a t w ithout him the chaos in South K orea would have been infinitely worse. The desperate struggle o f this old man deserves respect ; he has brought some hope o f freedom to the Korean people. But he cannot be allowed to drag the United N a tio ns in to continuing this war because under present circum stances it can hold out no satisfactory prospect o f a perm anent political settlement. After the Riots in Berlin

Silence has returned, under the th reat o f Soviet tanks, to Eastern Germany, bu t it can no longer disguise what the rebellion on June 17th revealed to all the world. T h a t day, whatever its long-term effects, made history, because it destroyed a number o f illusions entertained on both sides of the I ro n Curtain. The puppet Government in Eastern G e r many was made very conscious th a t it only exists by the grace o f th e Soviet Army, and would have been swept away w ithout th a t protection by the very people whose interests it professes to represent. Years o f p ropaganda were proved to have been w ithout effect. A t the first opportunity for an open expression o f their sentiments, the people o f Eastern Germany declared themselves against their rulers. Those responsible for Soviet actions in Germany were shown the dangerous consequences o f a policy o f allowing free rein to the German-unity idea in Western Germany, but restraining it in the Eastern zone. They have also learned the futility o f a ttem pting to sovietize