The London Times has come out in favor of virtual autonomy for the Sudeten Germans, and when The Times speaks, it is generally understood that the Government has at least been consulted. The case it makes out for letting Herr Henlein & Co. establish a Nazi state within Czechoslovakia is a good one, too, ringing in the self-determination of peoples, Woodrow Wilson's doctrine which led to the formation of Czechoslovakia in the first-place. The Sudetens, argues The Times, are homogeneous, adjacent to Germany; ardent subscribers to the Nazi philosophy. They know what they want and won't be satisfied until they get it, so why not let them have it?

This would be more persuasive were there not every sign that what the Sudetens want is of secondary importance to what Hitler wants. Lord Runciman, Britain's conciliator, is said to have found the obstreperous Mr. Henlein only a messenger boy who has to ask Adolf's permission for every move he makes. The Sudetens, in reality, are only convenient pawns in the game Hitler is playing against the democracies, and the democracies include not only Czechoslovakia but England herself.

Hence, when The Times puts up the argument that it would be only fair in accord with basic principles for a hunk of the Czech nation to be thrown to Hitler, it is really arguing that England stand aside and let that overweening blurfer march unimpeded through Central Europe. The Czechs and the French, however, and perhaps a good part of the English people themselves, think differently.