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"The Italo-Ethiopian war is a very small matter compared with the dangers I have just described. ... It was the fear of a rearmed Germany that led France to settle her differences with Italy at the beginning of the year. It is very likely that what is called a free hand in Ethiopia was thrown in . It is upon the basis of German rearmament and French apprehension that the Italo-Ethiopian war and the dispute between Italy and the League can alone be properly considered. . . .
"The re-entry into the European circle of a Germany at peace within herself would be one of the most beneficial things we could strive for. ... But we cannot afford to see Nazidom in its present phase of cruelty and intolerance paramount in Europe!"
Perhaps it was the intuition of Adolf Hitler which let this windy provocation pass, and in Rome the intuition of Benito Mussolini was also working overtime, verbal postures of British electioneers, the pained uproar of Continental editors, and the general Homeric hubbub of last week were vastly flattering to the British voter, made him glow with a feeling that his Government, to create such a stir, must indeed deserve many a ballot. Electioneerings:
Stanley Baldwin, in the so-called Speech from the Throne written by the Prime Minister for King George but read last week by the Lord High Chancellor in proroguing Parliament:
"To both the Queen and myself this— my Silver Jubilee Year—will ever remain one of our happiest memories. ... I rejoice that it has been possible for my Government ... to grant substantial relief to the small taxpayer. I am gratified to observe a further steady increase in employment among my people. . . . Important postal, telegraph and telephone concessions have been made during the year. . . . Measures have been enacted for further assistance to the agricultural industry ... the herring industry . . . tramp shipping....
housing.... " The King's speech, just
prior to election, is often the most effective electioneering speech of the Prime Minister.
Clement Attlee, acting leader of his Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Labor Party's official campaign manifesto: "The Government has a terrible responsibility for the present international situation. It did nothing to check the aggression of Japan in the Far East and thus seriously discredited the League of Nations and undermined the collective peace system."
"Overlate to stop a war, the Government ranged itself at the eleventh hour behind the Covenant at Geneva. Even now its action has been slow and halt hearted. While paying lip service to the League, it is planning a vast, expensive rearmament program which will only stimulate similar programs elsewhere. Government is a danger to the peace of the world and to the security of this nation."