[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sit,—Mr. Michael de la
Bedoyere says that when he proposed we should give Germany political control of some of the terri- tories in which raw materials are found he "was not thinking specifically of the former German colonies." But that is precisely what anyone who wishes to give Germany political control of territories ought to be thinking of. He is otherwise making quite a vague suggestion without thinking what it implies. What are the territories oversea which Mr. de la Bedoyere would propose to put, with their human populations, under the political control of Herr Hitler and his Gestapo?
Germans are naturally concerned to have facilities for pro- curing raw materials equal to those which other peoples have, and, so far as they are today at a disadvantage, I agree that we should be ready to equalise economic opportunity, without giving the Nazis political control. So long as Germany is what it is today the political control exercised by the demo- cratic States over the territories which supply raw materials is a strengthening of our defensive position which it would be madness in us to diminish. That control inconveniences Germany only in so far as the German Government entertains schemes for the forcible extent of its dominion which are thwarted by it. I do not think that there is any evidence of " indignation" felt by Germans at the territories in question being governed by British, French, Dutch and Belgians, except by such Germans as share the Nazi aggressive designs. It may be remembered that Herr Hitler himself, when he wrote Mein Kampf, regarded the desire for oversea territories on the Part of Germany as an aberration.—Yours, &c.,
CONTEMPLATOR.
Previous page
