My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleywar, a society in which brave men could be so treated because they would not recantan opinion or bow to the victor? British and American authority at that time had aconsiderable responsibility for the creation of this general atmosphere, and in courseof time persistence in revenge produced a strong and inevitable reaction. It wascontrary to the whole British tradition of magnaminity in victory, as I have alwaysunderstood it, and was an act of folly and of mean spite which now brings a nemesisthat will take time and effort to exorcise. Personally I was against the whole vile andsqualid business, as I then regarded it, and after mature reflection still regard it. Rudel,for instance, had been entirely innocent of any offence except an heroic war record indefence of his country, and the refusal to recant previous opinion which becameirrelevant in his adherence to the post-war European idea. If such a man could be sotreated, it is not difficult to conceive the treatment and the consequent sentiment ofmen less well known and protected by reputation. After the war we had a uniqueopportunity to bring together brave men who had fought for their countries in theunion of Europe and in a wider patriotism. Not only was this frustrated; men werepersecuted for the crime of patriotism and for no other reason in their past record. Ifthe past lives again in any degree, the fault lies with the policy for which the BritishGovernment was primarily responsible.Union was achieved in sentiment, but for the time being persecution and repressionimpeded it in fact. Delay was imposed on us after the achievement of Venice not onlyby material limitations. Disillusionment and bitterness then ensued in the frustrationof European hopes and in particular in the treatment of many Germans who hadcommitted no crime. This affected in various ways all Europeans who strove totranscend the past and to achieve union. The protagonists of Venice were then thrownback into nationalism, and in some cases of the lesser groups into a wild futility. Thiswas frustration, but not defeat. Nothing great is ever realised in one short, sharp effort.Supreme ideas come in like the tide of the sea. A wave reaches up the beach, and thenrecedes. Succeeding waves for a time do not reach so far. Yet in the end a wave goesfarther still as the tide comes in, the force of Nature is within it. Nothing in the endcan prevent the victory of the Europeans, who will come from all countries and fromall parties to the final achievement. The work of Venice was done, and nothing canalter or reduce the reality of that fact. What has been done will one day be done again,on a broader front and in a greater way.For me therefore Venice remains a massive achievement. It is idle ever to supposethat after so big an advance everything will go quite smoothly ahead; that is the wayneither of nature nor of politics. Setbacks, delays, frustrations are bound to occur, andmust in due course by continued effort be surmounted. What matters is that we provedit was possible to bring together men from the most diverse standpoints and with thestrongest national sentiments in an European policy as complete and wholehearted asEurope a Nation. Crisis and the final bankruptcy of lesser ideas will bring us back tothat position with many new participants drawn from various parties who today lagfar behind the advanced idea. We were as usual in action before our time, but weproved that all is possible when time is ripe.I did not win a position of freedom to express my opinions in Europe without someopposition, but I never encountered the savage spite which I have experienced fromcertain quarters in my own country, which fortunately are by no means typical of theBritish people. Any difficulty I have met on the Continent has usually been instigated369 of 424