It is for this reason that when I read or
listen to the many current schemes for a New Europe I am assailed by a dishearten- ing sense of unreality. Yet although the several schemes which are advanced appear to me to be of slight practical importance, I admit that they are fascinating from the psychological point of view. It is entrancing to find so many serious people feeling and even thinking deeply about such wholly unreal things. Some time ago a scheme reached me from a German acquaintance now in the United States which claimed to be different from all the others in that it was not only far-sighted in itself but that it was one which could "be put into immediate operation.' The idea was that we should allot some territory, let us say Italian Somali- land, to be administered immediately by a German shadow- Government. German exiles from every party were to form a coalition Government and this Government should "run itself in" by undertaking administrative opportunities and responsi- bilities in some African province. In this manner they would acquire experience, get used to working together, rid themselves of the émigré mentality, and be ready to take over the govern- Ment of Germany once the great moment came. I pointed out in reply that most of the habitable portions of the globe were already inhabited by people who had established a vested interest in their own villages and pastures ; that to settle any large number of German internees or refugees in African territory Would be to place a great strain upon the optimism and tonnage of the British Government ; that in the past we had scoured the globe in the hope of finding some area suitable for Jewish emigra- tion and had not been very successful ; and that in any case the several German' politicians exiled from their own country had !lot in fact displayed much willingness to co-operate with each other, even when in London.
Previous page
