No Appeasement
SIR,—The fiat has gone out: "There must be no appeasement." Surely this is a very dangerous generalisation. There -are different kinds of appeasement: To buy off an enemy under the stress of fear is wrong and unlikely to succeed. But it is to be feared that the restriction will prevent any of those tentative friendly gestures without which quarrels cannot be made up, either in the family or between nations.
It was evidently fear of being accused of appeasement that caused the Government to repudiate the remarks of a speaker who said he could understand the nervousness of the Chinese on the approach of an army to their borders and power-plants. But surely this is just the kind of reasonable approach that is most likely to lead to a settlement.
There is a time for all things. Let us be prepared to appease when appeasement is sound diplomacy and christian conduct. Let us refuse to appease when it involves compounding with wrong and when the impulse arises only from craven fear. Let us, in fact, be free to follow our conscience and deal with every situation on its merits.—Yours Gunn's, Liphook, Hants. .
Previous page
