The Prime Minister:
Before I come to describe the Agreement which was signed at Munich
in the small hours of Friday morning last, I would like to remind
the House of two things which I think it very essential not to
forget when those terms are being considered. The first is this: We
did not go there to decide whether the predominantly German areas
in the Sudetenland should be passed over to the German Reich. That
had been decided already. Czechoslovakia had accepted the
Anglo-French proposals. What we had to consider was the method, the
conditions and the time of the transfer of the territory. The
second point to remember is that time was one of the essential
factors. All the elements were present on the spot for the outbreak
of a conflict which might have precipitated the catastrophe. We had
populations inflamed to a high degree; we had extremists on both
sides ready to work up and provoke incidents; we had considerable
quantities of arms which were by no means confined to regularly
organised forces. Therefore, it was essential that we should
quickly reach a conclusion, so that this painful and difficult
operation of transfer might be carried out at the earliest possible
moment and concluded as soon as was consistent, with orderly
procedure, in order that we might avoid the possibility of
something that might have rendered all our attempts at peaceful
solution useless ...
... To those who dislike an ultimatum, but who were anxious for a
reasonable and orderly procedure, every one of [the] modifications
[of the Godesberg Memorandum by the Munich Agreement] is a step in
the right direction. It is no longer an ultimatum, but is a method
which is carried out largely under the supervision of an
international body.
Before giving a verdict upon this arrangement, we should do well to
avoid describing it as a personal or a national triumph for anyone.
The real triumph is that it has shown that representatives of four
great Powers can find it possible to agree on a way of carrying out
a difficult and delicate operation by discussion instead of by
force of arms, and thereby they have averted a catastrophe which
would have ended civilisation as we have known it. The relief that
our escape from this great peril of war has, I think, everywhere
been mingled in this country with a profound feeling of
sympathy.
[Hon. Members: Shame.] I have nothing to be ashamed of. Let those
who have, hang their heads. We must feel profound sympathy for a
small and gallant nation in the hour of their national grief and
loss. Mr. Bellenger: It is an insult to say it.
The Prime Minister: I say in the name of this House and of the
people of this country that Czechoslovakia has earned our
admiration and respect for her restraint, for her dignity, for her
magnificent discipline in face of such a trial as few nations have
ever been called upon to meet.
The army, whose courage no man has ever questioned, has obeyed the
order of their president, as they would equally have obeyed him if
he had told them to march into the trenches. It is my hope and my
belief, that under the new system of guarantees, the new
Czechoslovakia will find a greater security than she has ever
enjoyed in the past ...
I pass from that subject, and I would like to say a few words in
respect of the various other participants, besides ourselves, in
the Munich Agreement. After everything that has been said about the
German Chancellor today and in the past, I do feel that the House
ought to recognise the difficulty for a man in that position to
take back such emphatic declarations as he had already made amidst
the enthusiastic cheers of his supporters, and to recognise that in
consenting, even though it were only at the last moment, to discuss
with the representatives of other Powers those things which he had
declared he had already decided once for all, was a real and a
substantial contribution on his part. With regard to Signor
Mussolini, ... I think that Europe and the world have reason to be
grateful to the head of the Italian government for his work in
contributing to a peaceful solution.
In my view the strongest force of all, one which grew and took
fresh shapes and forms every day war, the force not of any one
individual, but was that unmistakable sense of unanimity among the
peoples of the world that war must somehow be averted. The peoples
of the British Empire were at one with those of Germany, of France
and of Italy, and their anxiety, their intense desire for peace,
pervaded the whole atmosphere of the conference, and I believe that
that, and not threats, made possible the concessions that were
made. I know the House will want to hear what I am sure it does not
doubt, that throughout these discussions the Dominions, the
Governments of the Dominions, have been kept in the closest touch
with the march of events by telegraph and by personal contact, and
I would like to say how greatly I was encouraged on each of the
journeys I made to Germany by the knowledge that I went with the
good wishes of the Governments of the Dominions. They shared all
our anxieties and all our hopes. They rejoiced with us that peace
was preserved, and with us they look forward to further efforts to
consolidate what has been done.
Ever since I assumed my present office my main purpose has been to
work for the pacification of Europe, for the removal of those
suspicions and those animosities which have so long poisoned the
air. The path which leads to appeasement is long and bristles with
obstacles. The question of Czechoslovakia is the latest and perhaps
the most dangerous. Now that we have got past it, I feel that it
may be possible to make further progress along the road to
sanity.
Great Britain, Parliamentary Debates, Commons, Vol. 339 (October 3,
1938)
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