The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 106
106 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN thinking I did not know who the Prime Minister was and being quite sure the Prime Minister did not know who I was! Apparently the Prime Minister had a good memory for faces, and, as I have said, he was very helpful to me over the trade agreement. The Chamberlain family was well known to be a Unitarian family, and once when I had called on him, I told him that his being a Unitarian brought us nearer to each other, because Islam was very strong on the unity of man, and the Unity of God. An observation like that sometimes helps people to understand each other better. Later, when it came to dealing with Hitler - it is difficult even now to say whether he was right or wrong in what he did - but I have always felt that he was misjudged. The people who jumped over their desks and seats in the House of Commons when he announced in the course of the sitting that he had received message which had just been handed to him from Hitler that Hitler had agreed to meet him in Munich, and shouted, "For heaven's sake, go sir! For God's sake, go!" were the very ones who afterwards turned against him. They were so anxious that what appeared to be an imminent outbreak of war should somehow be averted. England at that time was in no position to take on Germany as it then was. Later they thought he had done a very wrong thing. Where I think the matter went wrong was that the interval of time thus gained was not put to the best use. Everybody should have been convinced by then that there was bound to be war with Hitler, and they should have prepared furiously for it. It is a curious quirk of history, that Austen Chamberlain, the elder brother, who had been brought up, educated and trained for a public career, was in public affairs for a long time, became Foreign Secretary, never got to be Prime Minister, which must have been his ambition. Neville Chamberlain, who had been given a Business training and training in Municipal Affairs so that he would be the boss of Birmingham, ultimately achieved the Prime Ministership, though the ending was not very happy. R R R R R