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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-01-09, Page 10A , l l+S x eNAL STAR, THURS IAY, JAN1J,ARY, J+ 0.,� • BUM TIOVIIMB • Harold Nicolson's third and bast volume of diary and :letters has not been accorded a good reception l ► the critics. Re was o. so• -.self revealing; so intimate in ',fetters to his wife, that you face the 'unusual.. It is as if you were , . wre-'tapping his very heart arid' ;all. . Some. remark 'hits :pusillanimous , character; others ;,fasten on his 'Contradictory political outlook; still' others are bored with his.&unnatural marital relationship, ` . while few p are prepared to hail .him as an outstanding diplomat, author • and writer. Possessed Of first rate, mental equipment; ,a good education; a remarkable -memory, he was undoubtedly :•ambitious: But the chink in his - armour lay in the fact he could never generate the drive to ,clinch his opportunities. One critic even asks: Was this publication necessary? Why read him then Surley it:is to cull some of the bon mots which ' 'flash frail him or from his many_ acquaintances; opinions on world events; anecdotes of some of the great men'of his time, and to read some of his succinct descriptions of what moved him most -•great beauty. —This volume covers the period from July • 1945 to 1462 and we are immediately plunged into, the political scene , wherein Winston ; has #leen defeated as Prime: Minister and Attlee reigns , in his.stead. - "Winston- has refused to go to Potsdam and Attlee will. fly there .,,as.,...a•,.Japely little snipe". Harold Macmillan appears sans hat • and coat to say: 'What a . pity, we could not have kept -on the old House- and Coalition untiil today". He, goes on 'to quote Churchill: '.`The new ..government will have 'terrible tasks. We must- do all. we can to'. help them". And then, half to himself: "It will be strange tomorrow not to be consulted upon the great affairs of State. I . "shall return to my artistic pursuits. • 'Mary, get- , me the picture 14p:1 the other day in ..,France." • 'Not one' word of bitt'e'rness; calm stoical m$ignation, coupled with a faint , admiration for the electorate's show of independence. And yet --_:'„....another tribute,: • "Winston :,has been maryellous _in the House. He sits there listening, to the -`—di>llest speeches...Never has any man-- shown such , superb magnanimity. He. has recovered all his splekdour. As examples of Nicolcon's descriptive ability: "A view' as only Attica -can give.. The ` great sweep of the Attfe: plain and - then'• the mountains ' -of the Peloponnesus and the.. islands: And below one, Athens,lathing in a clear light,*,My God!" .I am; 'not surprised tJlat from this w -wonderful air and setting should • • have come the greatest lucidity. of . mind". And•,'again "Euboea. It is some thirtymiles away and, the road is pad. Bot suddenly, we came upon it — the great sweep of 'the mountains and the vast .7 ata, \ 1 b tween.' \ I� *c(undtt a vitt s ' th sh green Medi eri.anean 'lies,an • the air `was'. sparkling with the smell of thyme and' sage and - gum,;cystus...I a;hall hold 'that' picture as tight as I can as long as I can." ' `But we were happy weren't we? and we ' can think back on that--lovely---country with the populars and the greertgrass and the hanging woods and the quiet river and the strange caves and • 'the patient pious oxen and they castles 'and the manoirs...as a result we have -,stored up :.a great ,cells frail, of . vintage 'happiness :Arid love". (The Dordogne.) - Nicolson went to report the became infected, by the poisons which he instilled 'into the "masses'. `Ribbentrop was one of the most. incompetent men -1 have ever known'. Jodi declares (. 'hhany lost the war -because she was obliged to divert divisions to Greece. She lost six weeks. She lost time:and .with the time she last. Stalingrad and the war. Hearing' this Smuts recalled' the decision ;which Winston' he an'd 'Wavell made at.' the time.Smuts continues: 'We knew-- that if we withdrew divisions . from Libya, ,that victory• would be reversed. We knew ' that, only ' defeat faced us in Greece. But ',we Made our decision, not on military 'principles, but on moral principles. Now we are. proved - right by the Director of. Operations . of the German Army'. H. N. is taken' to• see the war prisoners luggage. "It is pitiable luggagt4 Hoess, who confessed with pride that, he had caused the death of two million Jews, had only ' a carton . which once contained Arherican rations. -Schleicher had no luggage at all. A ` fat sciitcase •of imitation leather belongs to Goering, it contained his particular drug. In a way those waiting 'suitcases were ' more expressive than anything else". H, N. listens to a rectarding •of the sentencing of the German war prisoners: "....to hear those men being bumped off one by one. .I -,take off my ear phones and rise to . go. I see.' the glistening surface, of the disk• revolving pitilessly, ticking 'off -the lives of other men. GGheral Smuts on. England: 'You are not—an old country. Bel}'�ve me, my.own' country and cer ainly, Canada and .the United- , States are older than you. There 'is touch of age about England. And"w.hy" Because you allow new ideas to enter into ' ' your bloodst°ream. Your arteries remain elastic. Never in your history have you had so many young men of energy, and intelligence. Never.! I have seen them. They are superb.' H. N. to an American • acquaintance: "I beg of him that when he returns ' to New York -- he will not encourage the idea that England, is deluged with, a' flood of anti--Arneriaart' hatted.' It is that we are frightened that the destinies of the world shouldbe in the hands" of a giant with the limbs . '6'f an undergraduate; the emotions'''bf a. spinster and the brain of a pea -hen". 1955. ."Alan, Moorehead is wirking on a ' book about • Gallipoli. He agrees with me that"' �ynlMlilalHllnM�WW!nW..wiwWWwlMu+u.. , .lana lel d• a• had Roger Keyes been in command of the' fleet ' and- . Montgomery of the' army,.,,...vvea-. ,shod have pushed through to ' Constantinople, shortened the L'irst War and perhaps forced the Russian revolution into other -channels" Ttere `are• a 'few gems collected at random: "All conversation was,hushed -in contemplation of ;the, really 'classic deformity of Eleanor Rooseveit'S 'face•." "He was doing what he did best. Turning new ideas round on • the needlepoint' of his' intelligence".. "Winston is a magnificent animal". «, •a•.,•�,.M.a.a "We all go through these stages of being beastly to our friends because . we are frightened of our enemies". `She has orae of those wide *American accents like a very fat flat nib'. ' "I don't know what to do with you boys" said a master at Harrow. 'Teach us, . please sir!' The voice came from `a -chubby 'imp withcarrot hair - Winston Churchill. Toynbee 'when asked what made him 'spepdy..35 years of his life on one single great work replied,: Curiosity. • "Mtaste improves with age,. but my genius, is,lost'3. General de Gaulle ' on the Russians: `The ' disadvantage of them is that oneis not sure of their reactions. One strokes the 'nose of the alligator and the ensuing gurgle may be a purr of affection a grunt of' stinted appetite; or a marl of raged anit .osity.".• "One never hears .of ldwin nowadays °— he might as ell be dead.- 'No', said ,Winston, `not NEED INSURANCE' PHONE Mac [wan s_, r lnsuarance Agency 44 Mirth St. 5249531 —.._ dead,' but the candle is that great turnip has gone out'. „. Better to be wiped out by the crime of others, then to --preserve ourselves by conmiitting a deliberate crime of -our own" Buying ,suit: "I want --,it' .Theman',is table brea ted do - shocked. `Surely not. Sir. Not in the country®. "I. don't care a hoot , ;,.,f,.,alnd•• it >,.... must , be • double-breasted". , `It will give you a , Continental • look Sir'. "That. is what I require. 1 have always wanted . to' be mistaken ,. , for an Austrian Count." ., Why, didn't' . Attlee go, 'oto .Moscow • to get in touch , with Stalin? Winston says: ..a.he is too wise for that.....He knows full well that when the mouse is. away the cats will play' "This is one of the things that mark the difference between the old and the new diplomacy. The old-boys,,whether'Lo uis XIV, o r even Napoleon, really' clid know mope 'or, less how 'their actions would affect public _opinion abtiard....But Hitler and Stalin, with' their .utter ' ignorance of mantalities different from their., own, always miscalculated- the effect. 'of thei., actions in bther .countries. Now this is dangerous. It tempts -them to 'believe that they can go further than they B lyth . Snowmobile Range = 4 300 Acres Rolling, Fields REASONABLE ADMISSION' - ----Heated-tun-0 : Booth un Range T —__ ENTRANCE AT BILL'S ESSO, BL YTH 1-5 tiP really can, go; and sine' -they are unable •to lose face by retreating, situations may be created mit of that ignorance ' 'which are situations leading to war". * chose the words of W. S. Landor: 4 "I warmed both hands before the fire of life; It sinks, and _ I am- •.ready to depart". ** Harold Nicolson. The Perhaps ' • Harold Nicolson—" Later- Years. 145-1'962: Collins. " wrote his own epitaph when he 45F' Ask or this'. booklet. It tel ow you may obtain. an ID31oan, to assist in starting, modernizing or expanding your business., {�1 5pocialisin$ In . . • 'Weddlilll . • -Children Dingle or Group I'ortra al ' - and Passports 5244787 >)t.• .David ' ,God.rkh INDUSTRIAL DEVELUPMENT BANK L •_� ,� IN BANE! DEVELOPMENT A SOURC1' 01 I'IN ANCING o131 CANADIAN SINFSS --TERM ''FINA1t1CIAMTO 'CANADIAl t6-UstNE-SSES- ;,--• LONDON, ONT.: 291 Dundas Street — Telephone: 438 &36• • 14f - Fine Quality Groceries! 'COFFEE, VIGOROUS & WINES' Reg. Price $2.37 - SAVE 38c 3 -°LB BAG 'Red. Price $2.13 -- SAVE '340 w .41 25i Off "peal Reg. Price .$1.74 SAVE. AN EXTRA 15c AT A•i•P! Alpha Bits, 1O -o3:, ., H"oneicombs, __6 -oz.,• Sugar Crisp, 9 -oz. 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