§ 4.2 p.m.
LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Addison, may I ask His Majesty's Government if they have any statement to make on the war situation?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DOMINION AFFAIRS (VISCOUNT CALDECOTE)My Lords, a week ago, in the statement I made to your Lordships, I gave a brief account of some of the events leading up to Marshal Pétain's request for armistice terms. To-day I am able to give a little further information which is necessary to complete the story. I told your Lordships of the statement 657 which was broadcast by the French Foreign Minister in which he said that the French Government would never accept shameful conditions or conditions which would mean the end of their spiritual freedom. Herr Hitler's terms had not then been revealed. Now they are known, and they have been accepted substantially as proposed by the German Government. Their severity can have caused your Lordships no surprise. Those who surrender to the forces of darkness and lay down their arms in a struggle have to face a hard lot. Your Lordships will observe that in the terms of the Armistice a distinction is drawn between the area openly occupied by Germany and what is euphemistically called "unoccupied territory." The fact is that in both districts Marshal Pétain and his colleagues are held tight in the grip of their enemies. Even if, in accordance with the French counter proposal, Paris is to be included in the unoccupied territory, the real governors of France will be found in Berlin and not in Paris.
The first consequence of this indubitable fact is that our formal relations with the Government of France are bound to be very difficult. It would be not merely distasteful, but actually mischievous and full of danger to our interests, to have British representatives in unoccupied France accredited to a Government actually under the thumb and daily observation of our enemies. It may even prove actually impossible, save with the consent of Germany, that any such relations should exist at all, and I am sure there would be general agreement in your Lordships' House that that would be wholly inadmissible and inacceptable to His Majesty's Government. With sorrow I am afraid it must be recognised that the French submission has made the severance of formal relations between France and Great Britain, for the time being, almost inevitable; but I am empowered to give the assurance that, if there are any contacts which can be maintained, His Majesty's Government will lose no opportunity.
We are now thrown back upon our own resources. I gave your Lordships—and my right honourable friend the Prime Minister, in another place, gave in much fuller outline than I could give—good reasons for thinking that we can stand the strain better than can our enemies. I may be allowed to say in 658 passing that if our material resources are likely to prove greater than those of our enemies, how infinitely greater is the spirit of our men in the field and of our people in proportion to the greatness of our cause. Meanwhile I am sure that there would be universal agreement that we are right in paying attention to the means by which we may both husband and augment our material resources and prevent the enemy from profiting by the terms of the Armistice forced upon France. Your Lordships will have shared the concern of the Government that the French Fleet should not fall into German hands. No one will be unaware of the powerful aid which the French Fleet could bring either to Germany or to Great Britain. Our defence will, indeed, depend in part on the ships which have, until quite lately, been operating in the Mediterranean with the Royal Navy. It would be more than a misfortune, more than a tragedy even—it would be cause for shame, if forces so lately used in the service of the Allies were to be transferred to the enemies of all that France and ourselves have stood for in the last nine months.
Here I come to facts which were not included in last week's statement. On June 13 the Prime Minister, at the request of M. Reynaud, went to Tours. He was accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, my noble friend Lord Halifax, and my noble friend Lord Beaverbrook. At that meeting M. Reynaud asked that France might be released from her solemn obligations not to negotiate or enter into an Armistice or Peace except with the consent of her Allies. The Prime Minister, in response to that request, rightly anxious to keep France fighting beside us, withheld the desired consent, and it was agreed between M. Reynaud and the Prime Minister that a last appeal should be made by M. Reynaud to the United States of America. It will be no surprise to know that the Prime Minister on that occasion offered no reproaches, for who could at such a moment reproach a suffering, bleeding France? The efforts of the two Prime Ministers were directed to securing the continuance of the struggle under the happiest and most hopeful auspices. The response to the appeal to the united States of America was not such as gave M. Reynaud any reason for thinking that it was possible for him and his country to continue to 659 fight, and he renewed his request for a formal release from the undertaking which I have mentioned. The reply which M. Reynaud received was that his request would be conceded by His Majesty's Government subject to this all-important condition—namely, that the French Fleet was sailed forthwith for British harbours. From that time forward, every possible step has been taken to secure these ships for the cause of the Allies. The French Government were again and again reminded of the pledged word not of a Minister or even of a Prime Minister, but of France. The First Lord and the First Sea Lord went to Bordeaux and received from Marshal Pétain and his Ministers assurances that the French Fleet would in no circumstances fall into the hands of Germany. In these circumstances I may again recall the declaration of a French Minister that he and his colleagues would never accept shameful terms. His Majesty's Government, not unnaturally, found comfort and confidence in such assurances.
Now the Armistice terms have been published. Your Lordships will have noted Article 8, which has been accepted subject to some modification which the French Government made by way of a counter proposal—a counter proposal which has not been agreed to. Article 8 proposes that the French Fleet, excepting that part left free for the safeguard of French interests in the Colonial Empire—and nobody, of course, in ignorance of the terms of the Italian Armistice, knows how great or small that Colonial Empire may be—shall be collected in ports to be specified, demobilised and disarmed under German or Italian control. The German Government, it is true, went on to declare that it has no intention of using for its own purposes, during the war, the French Fleet stationed in ports under German control. That, however, is subject to this exception—namely, the exception of those units necessary for coast surveillance and mine-sweeping. The concluding Article, Article 24, provides that the Armistice is valid until the conclusion of the Peace Treaty and can be denounced at any moment if the French Government do not fulfil the obligations of it. Moreover, new claims may be made by Germany when the Peace Treaty comes to be considered. There, my Lords, the matter rests at the 660 moment. Your Lordships will not expect any statement from me as to the future course which this question of the French ships may pursue, though you may be assured that His Majesty's Government and the Prime Minister will relax no efforts to secure that these ships shall continue to serve the cause in which they have been employed for so many months.
This is not the first time that I have had to give your Lordships a sombre narrative. The facts are melancholy enough without the addition of the bitterness of reproach for our recent Allies. That some day France will be again beside us in action, as I am persuaded their people are in spirit, may be taken for granted. Her hopes, as our own hopes, depend now under God on our own efforts, subject to one important addition which we hope may be made to the forces of light and of liberation. We may hope that the French Empire in many parts of the world will wish a continuation of the struggle and that it may be the seat of a Government that fights and labours as well as hopes for final victory. There is only one other observation I would add for your Lordships' information. The superior initiative and skill of our troops in the Middle East is establishing in that part of the world a definite supremacy over the forces of the ally of Germany. The feat of the trawler with a 4-inch gun in subduing an Italian submarine may be regarded as typical of the supremacy to which I have referred. On that note I am sure I may once more invite your Lordships to view the prospect with confidence and determination.
§ 4.16 p.m.
THE MARQUESS OF CREWEMy Lords, we are all, I am sure, grateful to the noble Viscount opposite for the statement he has made, though, as he himself has stated, there is not very much in it to lighten the heavy atmosphere that surrounds public affairs. So far as the French Army is concerned, we none of us, I am sure, would speak hardly or harshly of the surrender which that Army has been compelled to make. As we all know has often happened, a brave Army has been obliged to capitulate, but it is difficult to reconcile with what any of us know of the Constitution of France the actual manner in which not merely the Army or a section of the Army has been obliged to surrender, but in which 661 the whole nation of France, without the people knowing what has happened, has been compelled to capitulate. My memory goes back to the month of October, 1870, when the fortress of Metz was surrounded, and Marshal Bazaine with something like 200,000 unwounded troops, including three Marshals of France and a number of superior officers, surrendered without any attempt being made to break out and assist the effort; which were being made in other parts of France under the enterprise of Gambetta, to save the situation as far as it could be saved after what had occurred. Some two years later, at his own request, Marshal Bazaine was tried before a Military Court, and in the course of his personal defence he said: "What was I to do? The Emperor and his Army had fallen at Sedan. I was surrounded; there was nothing left." But the Ducd'Aumale, an old soldier of Algeria who as a Prince of the Royal House was naturally not permitted to fight for his country under the Imperial régime, simply replied, "France is left." I hope and believe we can say (he same still, in spite of the unexplainable conduct of those who, as the noble Viscount said, have arrogated to themselves to speak for France, a democratic country, with no assent from their Parliament. In spite of all that, we believe France does remain, and that the time will come when France will live again.
We all, I am sure, listened with deep interest to what the noble Viscount told us about the history of the French Fleet. It is a melancholy story that it should have been thought possible, after the pledges that had been made to this country, to carry out the miserably humiliating terms imposed by the Armistice with Germany. I cannot believe that the officers and men of the French Navy could be brought to agree to those terms. I do not attempt to discuss—of course the noble Viscount naturally did not touch on the matter—how the loss of the French Fleet may be avoided, but I cannot believe that these wretched conditions, not agreed but imposed on the French by the Armistice, will be carried out so far as the Fleet is concerned. Lastly it is good hearing that brave men in different parts of the French Empire are determined to stand out. So far as I know, there has been no exception in all the scattered French Colonies 662 to the brave expression of that determination. I am sure His Majesty's Government, as we have reason to believe is the case, will do everything they can to encourage and support that spirit of those Frenchmen who must be broken-hearted at thinking of what has happened to the soil of France which I am sure they are determined to help us to recover.
§ 4.25 p.m.
LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, I hope you will think it right that a word should come from these Benches, lest there should be any misunderstanding. Otherwise I should be content simply to leave it to the noble and eloquent language of my noble friend the Marquess of Crewe. First of all I wish to mention a matter affecting your Lordships' House and I apologise for having to make, not this protest, but this suggestion myself. What I am going to say contains no kind of reflection on my noble friend Viscount Caldecote. His unfailing courtesy and, if he will allow me to say so, his address, are a credit to your Lordships' House. But we feel that a statement of this gravity—I have had this conveyed to me from several members of your Lordships' House—should have been made by the noble Viscount the Foreign Secretary, who is a member of the War Cabinet. I am aware that my noble friend Viscount Caldecote attends meetings of the War Cabinet in an ex-officio capacity, but that is not the same thing. We feel that the Foreign Secretary should have followed the example of the Prime Minister and should have made this statement to-day, especially as he was present at the fateful meeting at Tours. I repeat that in saying this I make no kind of reflection on my noble friend.
Now there is something much more important which I feel it right to say. We have had a series of very heavy blows in the last nine months—the unexpectedly rapid over-running of Poland, the unfortunate campaign in Norway, the defeat but the heroic evacuation of our splendid Expeditionary Force in the Low Countries, and now this last blow. In spite of all that, everywhere I meet—and I am sure my experience is common to all your Lordships—no kind of dismay from the British people, none whatever. On the contrary, there is the most remarkable manifestation of calm, determined courage. And, my Lords, this is not the 663 valour of ignorance. This is the valour of a people who face peril and are inspired by the greatness of their cause.
My final remark is this. I hope His Majesty's Government realise that this war is taking on a different complexion. What has happened in Norway and with King Leopold in Belgium, and now in France, shows that this war is taking on some of the characteristics of a civil war. It is a war now not so much between nations as between Nazism and Democracy. It is a war between the powers of reaction and tyranny on the one side against the forces of progress and justice on the other. If the Government do realise it, as I hope they do, I would suggest that that should now inspire our propaganda to our own people and to people everywhere. We are up against the Quislings, the traitors, the Fifth Columnists who are speaking for a small minority of selfish men who wish to put back the clock of progress against the great advancing masses of the people and all they stand for. This is the new character the war is taking on, and it is the great answer to those who have been trying to weaken the effort—without success in this country but with some success in France—those who say that this is an Imperialist war, a war for Colonies. It is nothing of the sort. It It is a war of the deepest emotions that can inspire mankind for good or evil.
§ 4.28 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT CALDECOTEMy Lords, perhaps I may be permitted to say one word in reply to the suggestion that my noble friend Viscount Halifax should make the weekly statement on the progress of the war.
§ VISCOUNT CALDECOTEI can assure your Lordships that no member of this House more heartily welcomes that suggestion than the present speaker. My noble friend will be made aware of support for the proposal of the noble Lord opposite from another quarter which I will leave it to your Lordships to imagine.