1 PEACEFUL CHANGE OR WAR? 35of long-standing. As Toynbee later reported it, Webster, who had had a
somewhat terse exchange with Berber at the ISC’s 1935 conference over
the question of why there was no large German presence at the confer-
ence and the question of why Germany would not join a regional security
pact, told him that in accepting the invitation to lecture at the academy
Toynbee was ‘condoning the Nazi’s atrocities.’^112
Philip Guedella, who chaired Chatham House’s South American
Study Group and who was of Jewish background, was similarly dis-
turbed. On seeing a report on Toynbee’s Berlin speech published in
the Times on February 29 which referred to Toynbee as ‘Director of
Studies in the Royal Institute of International Affairs,’ Guedella lodged
a complaint. He demanded that the RIIA publicly disassociate itself from
Toynbee’s views.^113 This it did in the form of a statement penned by
Macadam in the name of the RIIA and which appeared in the Times on
March 2. The statement declared that in his lecture in Berlin, Toynbee
was ‘expressing his own personal views, and was not speaking as a repre-
sentative’ of the RIIA ‘which by its charter is precluded from expressing
a point of view on any aspect of international affairs.’^114 Toynbee himself
defended his action, later recording that he had told Webster that stud-
ying the Nazis was a key part of his responsibilities at Chatham House.
In defence of his action Toynbee posed the following questions: how
could ‘I study them without meeting them? And I could not meet them
without entering into human relations with them to some extent.’^115
Toynbee’s reasoning in regard to his visit to Berlin is perhaps better
reflected in an observation which, as recorded by Andrew Crozier, he
conveyed to Macadam: ‘the plain fact is that we have either to reach an
understanding with these people or have a row with them.’^116
Thomas Jones, a deputy secretary to the cabinet, was among a party
staying at Blickling Hall, an estate north of Aylsham belonging to
(^112) Toynbee, Acquaintances, 276. For Webster’s exchanges with Berber at the 1935 ses-
sion of the ISC, see ‘Repression of War: Discussion,’ in Bourquin, ed., Collective Security,
388, 393–96.
(^113) Crozier, ‘Chatham House and Appeasement,’ 228–9.
(^114) ‘Professor Toynbee’s Lecture,’ Times, March 2, 1936. See also McNeill, Arnold
J. Toynbee: A Life, 317. Crozier notes that Philip Guedella was apparently ‘mollified’ by
Macadam’s statement in the Times. Crozier, ‘Chatham House and Appeasement,’ 229.
(^115) Toynbee, Acquaintances, 276.
(^116) Toynbee, 1936, quoted in Crozier, ‘Chatham House and Appeasement,’ 229.