The Journal de Genève issued a four-page supplement on this occasion and the editor, Jean Martin, sent it to his fellow editors in many countries. 'Whatever happens in Europe,' he wrote them, 'Moral Re-Armament remains the only answer to recurrent crisis and the one foundation for permanent peace.'7

Munich, with its attempt to contain Hitler's drive by appeasing it, came and went. Buchman was relieved, as were most people, at the removal of the immediate threat of war, but he did not think anything fundamental had been achieved. He regarded it as a respite in which moral and spiritual re-armament must be pressed ahead in parallel with increased material re-armament.

Buchman's speech in East Ham had, meanwhile, stimulated a series of letters in The Times. The first was from thirty-three Members of Parliament of all parties, who pointed to 'the Oxford Group's crusade for Moral Re-Armament' as 'urgently needed'.8

On 10 September, as diplomacy became ever more frantic, this letter was followed by one headlined 'Moral Re-Armament - the Need of the Hour', signed by seventeen public figures, including former Prime Minister Lord Baldwin, two Field Marshals, an Admiral of the Fleet and Lord Trenchard, the creator of the Royal Air Force: 'The strength of a nation consists in the vitality of her principles. Policy, foreign as well as domestic, is for every nation ultimately determined by the character of her people and the inspiration of her leaders; by the acceptance in their lives and in their policy of honesty, faith and love as the foundations on which a new world may be built. Without these qualities, the strongest armaments, the most elaborate pacts, only postpone the hour of reckoning ...

'God's Living Spirit calls each nation, like each individual, to its highest destiny, and breaks down the barriers of fear and greed, of suspicion and hatred. This same Spirit can transcend conflicting political systems, can reconcile order and freedom, can rekindle true patriotism, can unite all citizens in the service of the nation, and all nations in the service of mankind. "Thy Will be done on earth" is not only a prayer for guidance, but a call to action. For His Will is our Peace.'9

Lord Salisbury, who both signed and took part in assembling this letter, hoped that 'the German leaders would read it'.10 So not only were copies sent to Lord Stamp, one of the signatories who was in Germany at the time, but General Winser telephoned Lord Redesdale, currently Hitler's guest in Berlin, who promised to read it to his host. The letter was printed all over the world and was favourably commented upon in some Austrian and Italian newspapers.

275