THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

ESTABLISHED 1840 REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER

VOL. 172 No. 5124

LONDON JULY 23rd, 1938

SIXPENCE

IN Tins ISSUE THE FASCIST LABEL

Editorial

THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN THE U.S.A.

By Douglas Jerrold

THE LAW OF ABORTION

CATHOLIC LEGAL AND MEDICAL OPINIONS

THE FOREIGN MISSIONS IN CHINA

THE POETRY OF MR. BELLOC

By Robert Speaight

CATHOLIC WINCHESTER FOREIGN BROADCASTS

By Philip Hughes

Full L ist o f Contents on page 100.

THE WORLD WEEK BY WEEK The Royal Visit

The royal visit to Paris has for its occasion the unveiling of the Australian War Memorial, but that occasion has been completely swamped. The visit has become a manifestation of the deep sense of common interest which, for a generation now, has united France and Britain. The immediate parallel upon which French commentators have dwelt is the visit which Edward VII paid on his accession, a visit which paved the way for the Entente Cordiale. It was a turning point in European history when, at the turn of the century the overtures, in which the Prime Minister’s father played a leading part, for an Anglo-German friendship finally broke down, and England and France drew together.

It had been Bismarck’s prudent and far-sighted policy, after the defeat of the French in 1871, to encourage them to expand in Africa. France became the chief Power in the north half of the African continent, and this expansion meant friction and rivalry with Britain. The Fashoda incident in 1898 was the culmination, and the two countries, imperial ambition mingling with national pride, nearly hardened into deep animosity. Bismarck’s policy was greatly superior to that which the French followed when they themselves were the victors half a century later. They did not recognise, they do not recognise today, that great, proud, and active peoples, like the Germans or the French, must be allowed a sphere of influence and .development, a field for large constructive achievement. If the French had not had Africa to think about, they would have brooded a great deal more over Alsace Lorraine. It was one of the many weaknesses of the peace settlement of twenty years ago that in every direction it closed the door on all Gprman ambition. It removed Germany altogether from the list of colonial Powers. It established new and more constricting frontiers, and the one field which might have been left open for German energy and aspiration, the rebuilding of a great commercial empire, was frustrated by the elastic, unfixed and apparently interminable, economic and financial portions of the peace treaty. It was not surprising if the younger Germans were driven in upon themselves to nourish a romantic dream which is now, in the fullness of time, disclosing itself to a troubled world. German Calculation

The declarations made by the spokesmen of France and Britain affirmed that the two nations are walking, if not marching, together ; but they affirmed all too little about the direction and the pace. For it is no exaggeration to say that the peace of Europe at the moment depends primarily upon the willingness of M. Daladier and M. Bonnet to allow the initiative to Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Halifax. In Spain, in Rome, and in Berlin the British can play, and are endeavouring to play a