THE TABLET February 14th, 1959. VOL. 213, No. 6195

Published as a Newspaper

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FOUNDED IN 1840

FEBRUARY 14th, 1959

N1NEPENCE

Youth and Labour: An Uncontemporary Parly Seventy Stepney Families: Portrait of an East London Parish: I. By E. L. Way St. Vinceilt oi the Vines: Vendange in Burgundy. By Robert Speaight Response from the East : The Orthodox and the Idea of a Council At the Foot of the Cross : I. Adam. By Michael Hollings

Critics’ Columns : Notebook : Book Reviews : Letters : Chess

THE AMERICAN SYSTEM

jp O R many years now Mr. Dulles has carried greater responsibilities than almost any other man; responsibilities th a t have involved ceaseless air travel. There will be regret rather than surprise at the news that his health has cracked under the strain, remarkable as was the recovery he made from an operation for cancer three years ago.

The American constitution is a bad instrument for American policy in the present age. I t was never envisaged th a t the Secretary of State would have so very much to do, because it was never envisaged that the United States would become the leading Power in the world. Too great responsibilities fall on the shoulders of a few men chosen by the President, and too little on the Senate which, though it has the last word on treaties, and even on appointments, does not control the course of negotiations; for it is the negotiation th a t matters in such issues as the future of Berlin. Mr. Dulles has been more important than other Secretaries of State because fo r years now President Eisenhower has been an ailing man. It is an alarming thought that no one can say who will be speaking and acting for the United States in 1961. There is nothing like a shadow cabinet in the Democratic Party, only a number of groups fighting each other for the presidential nomination. This political structure very much increases the nower of the Pentagon, and the military, in a way that is surprising and ironical in a country which has always been so careful of civilian authority.

The President has now expressed his willingness to contemplate going to Moscow, so that there should not seem to be a divergence of view between London and Washington. The two Governments are managing to speak the same language, and it is language which Dr. Adenaurer wants to hear; the language of no concessions over Berlin that are not matched by equal concessions by the Russians, with a frank scepticism about th e - ’ being any concessions the Russians can afford to make. A united front, a refusal to be intim idated, but a readiness to discuss proposals for changes in the political status of the city—such is the general form of the reply to the Russians’ announcement that they mean to hand their powers as occupiers to the East German Government, which will then proceed to treat the Western Allies as people who have long since outlived their welcome, and for whom life should accordingly be made as uncomfortable as possible.

Probably not much will come of this new policy, because the German Communists have made no headway towards winning a majority in Berlin, such as could alone enable them to organise pressure against the Allies. On the contrary, the contrast continues to be most marked between the morale and the prosperity of Western Berlin and the drab and cowed Eastern part of the city. A Republic for Cyprus ?

We go to press before there has been any official announcement of Greek and Turkish agreement on the future of Cyprus; but the general lines are now known of a solution which seems to owe a good deal to the example of the Lebanon, where two communities live side by side in partnership. Cyprus is to be an independent republic, and union with Greece is given up by the Greeks in return for the acceptance by the Turks of a minority status which is to be fully safeguarded. Both Turkey and Greece are NATO Powers, with a common interest that Cyprus shall continue to be a NATO base, and Turkey belongs also to the Baghdad Pact, and wants Britain to be in a position to play her part should need arise.

British consent will presumably not be witheld to any Greek and Turkish agreement such as a little while ago seemed unrealisable. It might have been unrealisable now but for the vivid experience of the way life was becoming a misery for all Cypriots. No doubt there will be in Whitehall Civil Servants and Service advisers, of the type Lord Samuel characterised as