228 J.-A. PEMBERTON
in the future and insisting that he knew the world would not be able
to reject these demands, Hitler declared the following: that the colo-
nies were ‘our lost property and the world will have to return it. What
the world shuts its ears to today, it will not be able to ignore in a year’s
time. What it will not listen to now, it will have to think about in three
years time, and, in five or six, it will have to take into practical consid-
eration.’^503 That the matter of. colonial transfers was under considera-
tion by the British government was signalled to the House of Commons
by Neville Chamberlain on November 30, 1937, when he read out the
terms of a communiqué issued at the conclusion of conversations he and
other British ministers had held with Camille Chautemps, Blum’s succes-
sor as head of government, and Yvon Delbos, the French foreign minis-
ter, during the French ministers’ stay in London from November 29 to
30.^504 The terms of this communiqué as read out by the prime minister
on November 30, were in part as follows:
‘The French Ministers heard from Lord Halifax himself a statement on his
recent conversations in Germany. They were glad to recognise that while
Lord Halifax’s visit, being of a private and unofficial character, was not
expected to lead to any immediate results, it had helped to remove causes
of international misunderstanding and was well calculated to improve the
atmosphere.’ ‘The problems of Europe as a whole and the future prospects
of appeasement and disarmament came under review. On these impor-
tant subjects the French and British Ministers found fresh evidence of that
community of attitude and outlook which so happily characterises the rela-
tions between France and the United Kingdom.’ ‘A preliminary examina-
tion was made of the colonial question in all its aspects. It was recognised
that this question was not one that could be considered in isolation, and
moreover would involve a number of other countries. It was agreed that
the subject would require much more extended study.’^505On December 21, Chamberlain, referring to Halifax’s conversation
with the German chancellor in connection with the prospects for estab-
lishing a basis for cooperation in Europe, stated the following:
(^505) 329 Parl. Deb., H.C. (5th series), November 30, 1937, 1877.
(^503) ‘Hitler Expecting no Colonies Deal for 5 to 6 Years,’ New York Times, November 22,
- See also Wood, Peaceful Change and the Colonial Problem, 133.
(^504) 329 Parl. Deb., H.C. (5th series), November 30, 1937, 1877. See also Wood,
Peaceful Change and the Colonial Problem, 134.