Big Deal

The big question in London as the week opened: Have Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden quarreled fundamentally about the foreign policy to be pursued by His Majesty's Government?

The answer as the week closed: Yes.

It was Adolf Hitler who brought the long latent Chamberlain-Eden quarrel to a crisis. The action of the Fuhrer fortnight ago, after cracking down on German Army leaders, of appointing as his Foreign Secretary dynamic, scheming, adventurous Joachim von Ribbentrop, was taken by the English as a storm signal for Europe, especially since last week Ribbentrop was closeted with the Dictator in his mountain retreat. With what policies should His Majesty's Government seek to steer majestically through the storm? It came to Mr. Eden's ears that Mr. Chamberlain, in commenting to other members of the Cabinet upon the policies the Foreign Secretary wished to follow, had expressed himself in language so disparaging that had the Prime Minister used it to Mr. Eden direct it would have amounted to asking his resignation.

Several times before Anthony Eden had taken this kind of thing in silence. Last week he acted, went from London to Birmingham, famed political stronghold of the Chamberlain family, and there made a speech to 2,500 young Conservative constituents of the Prime Minister which was a direct thrust at Neville Chamberlain.

The strict amenities of British politics were observed, for Mr. Eden coldly said: ''During the last few months Mr. Chamberlain and myself have worked in close contact." But the rest of his speech warmly, even passionately, implied what has been common knowledge in Fleet Street: that the Prime Minister, ever since he succeeded Stanley Baldwin last May, has been pressing Mr. Eden to end his personal vendetta with Signor Mussolini, swallow his repugnance for Herr Hitler, and make a "business" deal with Italy and Germany at the expense of "principle."

Aristocratic Anthony Eden, with his landed gentry forebears and his Eton background, hates Business and being "businesslike," whereas strongly Middle-Class Townsman Neville Chamberlain is the embodiment of Business. The British aristocracy do not always live up to their principles, do not claim to--but they have them. It was Eton which cried out against Birmingham last week when Orator Eden brought 2,500 young Conservatives cheering to their feet with his words: "It is not by seeking to buy temporary good will that Peace is made. ... If we are to have Peace in your time, it means that in any agreements we make today there must be no sacrifice of principles and no shirking of responsibilities, merely to obtain quick results that may not be permanent!

"Disappointment after disappointment would seem to have weakened the League of Nations," went on Mr. Eden, "but its foundations remain. Our efforts may be checked but we are not beaten! . . . What is essential is that we should never abandon our ideals! It is for you and for all of us to champion them!"

In a reference to the last time the British Government came to the verge of recognizing Italy's conquest of Ethiopia and doing "business" with II Duce by the Hoare-Laval "Deal," Mr. Eden recalled how deeply British public opinion then was stirred, after which Mr. Baldwin killed The Deal (TIME, Dec. 30, 1935, et ante). Cried Orator Eden: "The deep waters of the public conscience are seldom stirred, but when they are their meanings are unmistakable. It is well for any government of this country that they should be stirred!"

This was calling on the country to show disapproval of Mr. Chamberlain's wish to sew up Ethiopia with a $125,000,000 loan to Italy providing for the country's economic exploitation by British firms. The London Daily Express last week said flatly that such is Businessman Chamberlain's purpose. There would also be a business deal with Germany, probably involving some transfer to the Reich -of colonial territory. All this would be sound business because it would be accompanied by the entrance of Britain, Germany, France and Italy into a mutual peace pact to maintain the European territorial status quo - so think the Chamberlain faction of the Cabinet.

A carefully trained diplomat like Anthony Eden never leaves himself without an open avenue of retreat. Orator Eden did not leave the 2.500 cheering young Conservatives in Birmingham without telling them: "We do not wish to see lasting cleavage, with the democracies ranging themselves against the dictatorships."

Cynics on the Continent believed this week that Orator Eden, since he had not resigned and since the Prime Minister has never seemed politically stronger than today, will do as Businessman Chamberlain demands quietly, while making idealistic speeches from time to time, partly in hopes of influencing his boss, chiefly to keep his vote-getting qualities before the British public. As seen from London this week, Europe was verging upon Business upon a Big Deal.

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