I do not often differ from my independent friend W.
J. Brown, but I cannot feel that his attack on the Foreign Secretary in his last Evening Standard article was well-conceived. What are the charges against Mr. Bevin? First that he made an unfortunate remark about exhuming the gold stored at Fort Knox in the United States and using it to good purpose in Europe ; well, the suggestion perhaps might have been better phrased, but so considerable an authority as Dr. Schacht said just before the end of the war that the best thing that could be done with the gold in question would be to use it as backing for new and sound currencies in European countries. Second, Mr. Bevin is said to have staked his reputation on settling the Palestine problem ; there was at least a good chance that he would have settled it long ago if President Truman had not blown the negotiations sky-high by demanding the immediate entry of too,000 Jewish immigrants into Palestine. Finally, Mr. Bevin is charged with declaring that the Western Powers would stay in Berlin. Does Mr. Brown think he should have announced that they would clear out of Berlin? Does he think he should announce that now ? No, no, W. J., you really haven't hit the target this time.
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