-2- present moment. I do not think that it can include Britain which is already a member of another group, namely the British Commonwealth. Nor do I think that it can include Russia which is so largely an Asiatic power and whose social and economic structure are so entirely different. Whether, for instance, it would include Scandinavia or the Iberian Peninsula with its close cultural relationships to South America, is the sort of question which can only be settled by those directly concerned. It may well be that the initial grouping may leave out a good many countries willing to come in later on. While I think this ideal of a united Eurooean Commonwealth is well worth holding up from the outset, I am not certain that it can be pushed very far in practice immediately after the war. It may well be that the first stage in the re-crystallization or better articulation of Europe will be the formation of actual federations of some of the smaller states in order to create economic and political units more capable of balancing and holding their ovm against even a weakened Germany, or, on the other flank, Russia. Thus for instance there might very well arise an Upper Danubian Federation including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and a Lower Danubian Balkan federation of the nations to the east and south of it. There are at any rate indications in the recent Greco-Yugoslav Treaty and in the CzechoPolish Treaty, of such a process, which, after all, depends entirely on the states concerned and which outsiders can at most encourage if the desire to federate is really present. When it comes to the question you ask about Germany I should be inclined its neighbours. Secondly, I think we shall have to accept, |