Westminster Watchtower

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Westminster Watcbtower BEVERLEY BAXTER D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY INCORPORATED NEW YORK 1938 LONDON Edith ICemsley in gratitude for many happy hours spent ashore and afloat with her and her distinguished husband. CONTENTS PAGE A FOREIGN SECRETARY RESIGNS 13 IT HAPPENED IN THE DESERT 26 MR. EDEN TAKES OVER 33 MR. BALDWIN CARRIES ON 39 THE AUTHOR DEFENDS HIMSELF 45 BALDWIN HITS BACK 54 WHITHER EUROPE 60 AN OTTAWA INTERLUDE 68 WE SUPPRESS THE FASCISTS 74 DEMOCRACY SPEAKS 80 ABDICATION 86 THE KING GOES BY 94 THE STORY OF THE CORONATION 104 - THIS TOWN OF LONDON 109 CHAMBERLAINS MISTAKE 115 BALDWINS GOOD-BYE TO BEWDLEY 124 HOLLYWOOD OVER EUROPE 131 BRITAINS DICTATOR DEPARTS 139 WE TALK OF JEWS 145 MR. CHAMBERLAIN WRITES A LETTER 152 THE KING SPEAKS 162 A LETTER TO MAC 170 DEMOCRACY TAKES ITS TOLL 180 THIS CHINESE BUSINESS 188 JAPAN PUTS HER CASE 195 IF AMERICA PAID 204 8 CONTENTS PAGR EDEN GOES 2 i2 220 PORTRAIT OF LORD HALIFAX MEN OF THE FUTURE 232 HIS FATHERS SON 248 THAT CLIVEDEN SET 259 CRISIS IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA 268 VIENNAS MORNING AFTER HITLER 283 RUMANIAN RHAPSODY 289 A MESSENGER FROM BERLIN 301 MID-OCEAN 3IO FOREWORD As P E c I A L name will have to be found for the British Parliament which was elected in 1935, and is now entering upon its last months. There was lightning in the sky and strange tremors of the earth when this Parliament was born. I am afraid neither the sky nor the earth will have found peace when it has run its course. What name will historians bestow Hollywood would call it The Front Page Parliament, and with some justification. Almost from the day when we first assembled after the Baldwin triumph at the polls there began a series of sensational episodes which madeand broke careers or added rich chapters to the history of the nation. At its very outset a Foreign Secretary was dismissed. Hardly had the last words of Sir Samuel Hoares resigna tion speech ended when the glittering personality of Mr. Anthony Eden swept to the centre of the stage. While we were acclaiming young Sir Galahad and predicting a new Jerusalem on the shores of Lake Geneva there came the sudden shadows of a nations grief, and the Lords and Commons gathered in Westminster Hall to receive the body of their beloved Monarch, King George V. We swore allegiance to a new King, and a few months later sat in grim silence while we listened to the words which announced his abdication. Winter changed to Spring, and the members of both Houses of Parliament took their places in the Abbey for the Coronation, while a young King and Queen, who had never desired nor expected such a fate, received the homage of a grateful nation. IO FOREWORD Hitler marched into the Rhine. Eden was facing the first of the hammer blows that were to bring him down. Mussolini was winning his Abyssinian gamble. Spain was in flames. Mr. Lloyd George was achieving a new invective, and Mr. Churchill a new audacity. Over the scene brooded the spirit of Stanley Baldwin, poet, peasant and premier. Beside him sat two men, one of them weary and ineffective, the other clear-headed and dominating. The first was Ramsay MacDonald, whose political star had set the other was Neville Chamberlain, who, as Managing Director, served under the Chairmanship of Philosopher Baldwin. Stanley Baldwin went to say good-bye to his con stituents. His work was done and he could no longer carry the load of the Premiership. Ramsay MacDonaldfollowed him. Neville Chamberlain, the Managing Director, became the Chairman as well. Europe continued to thunder at the gates. The heart break struggle of democracy against the dictators produced endless . humiliations and recriminations. Anthony Eden threw in his hand. The crowds in the cinemas cheered him wildly and booed the Premier. From China, Spain, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Palestine the hammer strokes went on. A new...