2110-8-1-13

DICTATED

7, AUDLEY SQUARE, W.l. 23rd September 1936.

My dear John

I owe you very sincere thanks for 2 letters, dated July 21st & August 3rd. & firstly let me say how welcome is your good news that you have had a reassuring report about your health. There was anxiety when we earned you had been obliged to retire to hospital - then relief that it was a measure of precaution: & finally we were happy that you should have been so quickly released & returned to activity again. All the same, you have got to be cautious. The huge distances you travel, the long absences from home, the incessant vibration of railway life, & the merciless déplacement of official tours, together with the sense of being at everybody's disposal all the time - these things cannot fail to involve an unbroken effort & strain, however much the circumstances and surroundings may enthral. And it is not from the Canadian that you will find sympathy & encouragement in a moderation, perhaps in a curtailment of activities. I expect it will all be very interesting to you, and a curious contrast with your hospitality for Roosevelt. We are beginning to pay at tention to his campaign. 'l'he defeat in the State of Maine is probably a wholesome reminder to his supporters that the fight is going to be strenuous, and that his friends must accordingly work harder than hitherto. Roosevelt is a wonderful man. I look upon him as one of the greatest & most brilliant of charlatans, who in a second term of office may become a really great statesman, with a world-wide outlook and influence as well. We want him to win. No third term of office

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is permissible: and it is always said that during his first year of office the re-elected President is always most powerful, his enemies being scattered, his friends still awai ting largesse, & his Cabinet often inchoate & inexperienced. In the second year the influence of his party begins to reassert itself, Congress finds its feet, & he himself is beginning to contemplate retirement to private life. Is it possible that in 1938, when Europe will be reaching a critical stage in which we shall be deeply involved, Roosevelt - who would like to intervene to protect democracies - may be bold enough to take action? The United States has a horror, almost a terror, of being embroiled in European politics, though curiously susceptible, for we read of panics on the New York Stock Exchange, caused by European rumours, and then Wall Street discovers that Europe has been completely calm and uninfluenced by, or even ignorant of, the rumours concerned. Still one feels that Roosevelt is susceptible to cosmic movements & responsibilities. He likes to contrast the peace of the North American Continent with the turmoil of Europe: and is there perhaps just an infusion of patronage to towards Canada? - as he displays the friendly attitude of the powerful U. S. A. towards its northern neighbour, there may be a certain electoral value in these conversations with Lord Tweedsnuir, and the sentiment may be felt though it remains unspoken. There is every sign that all & every help, from whatever quarter it may emanate, will be valuable to those who mean to make a continuing fight for peace.

DICTATED 7, AUDLEY SQUARE , W.l.

Europe becomes more alarming every day. The French are now having a mild outbreak of Anglophobia - the outburst which is usual whenever France is making a fool of herself . The Germans are more and more developing their faculty of self-fascination. The whole nation seems to be gazng into a crystal until both brain & eye are dazed, just as happened before the War: but now their power of self-deception , based upon self-exaltation, is quite unlimited. Lloyd George has come back greatly impressed by Hitler, and I hope he will have the courage to tell us that a little drill & discipline would be good for ourselves. But the immediate policy of Germany is still undefined, though their ultimate objectives are pretty clear. I do not know if I am wrong, but I have an idea that Hitler's entourage is becoming stronger. What a gang it is! The sadism of Streicher, the gluttony of Goering, the morphinomania of Goebbels, all dancing against a background of perverts and atheists: surely one of the most unsavoury pictures that the world has ever seen,- and we don't know where it is going to end.

Early in August we held a meeting a t the National Library to discuss a History of the Scottish Parliament. Clyde presided, and Edinburgh & Glasgow Universities were well represented, likewise the Register House & the National Library. Gilmour was there, and another man I do not know, together with the invaluable Miss Cameron. The historians acted up to Wedgwood's definition - a good deal of sparring between them as to the nature & origin of our parliamentary institutions,

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and difference of opinion as to whether this or that authority was adequate as a foundation for research. Clyde, however, checked these enthusiasms, and finally we appointed a Committee of Historians to survey the ground, to define the scope of the compilation, and then to consider personnel & general problems of ways & means. We are to meet again some time during November, and I suppose we shall have to issue an appeal for money, though we shall press Wedgwood to make a substantial grant from funds in his hand.

I feel that the correct procedure has been followed: at any rate it is entirely opposite to that adopted by the English Committee, which is building a palace before laying down the ground plan. But Wedgwood does boss the £how - having managed to collect the funds, he feels entitled to call the tune, and he does so with so much emphasis that the Committee is timid in his presence, e.g.- Pickthorn, the Cambridge M.P. is reduced to speechlessness. But everybody says, including Jim Salisbury, that one must not criticise Wedgwood or else he will have heart failure on the spot. I cannot help feeling that Wedgwood must have got wind of this reluctande on our part. Certainly, the other day he never flinched during his 40 minute oration.

There is a queer shindy going on in The Times office. Printing House Square is divided in opinion about Germany and the wisdom of telling the facts, Geoffrey Dawson being very averse from letting our public know what is really going on. He is so much in favour of

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rapprochement that he thinks it would be unwise to reveal facts about armament, strategic roads, propaganda & so forth. Some of his men, on the other hand,- who have been working up the subject on the spot, have almost gone on strike; and while Geoffrey Dawson himself keeps running away from Town to get into this that or the other atmosphere, a good deal of overwork, & overtime, is thrown on the rest of the staff, and from all accounts discontent is pretty rife. Hitherto, however, there has been no external sign of trouble; but the pace has been hot, and unless differences can be composed within the next month or two, the topic will become one of public concern. Meanwhile, I hear people talking a good deal about the progress of the Daily Telegraph, which, though not increasing its circulation except to a very moderate degree, is undoubtedly gaining in prestige. The paper is well turned out, and can be counted upon to support the Coalition Government, a compliment earned by very few of its contemporaries.

Yours ever Bal

The Lord Tweedsrnuir.