SWISS NEUTRALITY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3008, 20 February 1917, Page 6

SWISS NEUTRALITY

THEIR LOVE OF JUSTICE AND FAIRPLAY

NEGOTIATIONS WITH ALLIES

Tho Swiss have not only Sbne {heir utmost to help the prisoners of war and the wounded of every nationality, but they have given, since the beginning of the war, some striking proofs of their Jove of justice and fair pJay. The success of the recent protest against the Lille, deportation is very interesting from that point of view; 150,203 Swiss citizens of age have signed a petition asking the Swiss Government to protest against, the deportations as a violation of the Hague Convention. Wβ feel confident thafc- ; the ( Allies will take such manifestations into account during their present negotiations with the Swiss Government. Theso negotiations are of the utmost importance; for the future of Switzerland. They will certainly havo a favouTable issue, as both the Swiss Federal Council and the Allied Governments are animated by the most friendly spirit. ■ We shall not expand here upon the ( Note sent by the Entente, and upon i the answer of the Federal Council. Summaries of both have already been, given in tlie papers. One cannot, however, insist too much upon the fact that the Swiss Government has declared once more most emphatically its firm intention of maintaining a strict neutrality towards the belligerent Powers, in economic as well as political and military questions. The Swiss Government is thus in complete agreement with the Allied Governments as reI watds fho prmcipto of an absolute oaVL&lity °f treatment between the Cen- { tral Powers and the Entente. As the well-known pro-Ally paper, the Journal de Geneve," said in a recent article, "Tho Federal Council, at one with Parliament Arid the entire Swiss nation, is unanimous in proclaiming ! this principle, and has tried to apply it loyally not only in the letter of all the 'commercial agreements made with. , foreign Powers, but also in tho manner in which these agreements have _ been, i interpreted and enacted. This is so true that a- great part .of the concessions made to Germany are only ad application of the principles contained in the statutes of the S.S.S." (the- society created a year ago for the Entente imports). . . ~ Another fact which is quite worthy of notice is the approval given by the entire Swiss people to the recent answer of' the Federal Council. Tlie 'French and Italian Swiss Press, as well as the German Press, has assured the Government of the support of tlie nation. "The Federal Council," writes the "Gazette de Lausanne," "can be sure of having the unanimous approval of the country, when it declares that it will resist'any aggravation in the situation of Switzerland." The Parliamentary "Neutrality Commission, which contains some prominent French Swiss,ias well as German Swiss members, lias just given unanimously its approval to the Germano-Swiss Convention and to the answer of the Federal Council and the Entente. This unanimous approval would have been impossible if the Government had not been strictly impartial.

The Position ot Germany. The present writer thinks with the "Journal de Geneve," that some oi the pvesewt difficulties-aye due to misunderstandings and to an imperfect knowledge ot the ' Convention passed I between German) , ai\d Switzerland. It is not true, for instance, that Germany, as some papers have said, has ever promised to furnish Switzerland with coal during the war. ■ Germany only promised to allow the free transit of coal. Many people seem'to think that the Gerniano-Swiss agreement has put a complete stop' to the use of German coal and metal by those factories that are sending anything whatsoever to the Allied countries. The truth is that the use of both German coal, and metal is kmly refused for the malting of t ammunition, explosives, and arms. .The use of German metal is equally refused (German coal being allowed) for the making of material having to do with war in a wider sense. Both other . machines, such as electrical machines, can be freely exported to Entente countries, though they have been made with German coal and Gorman metal. We might quote other instances to'show that the import of the recent convention between Berlin and has been exaggerated.

We Swiss perfectly understand the wish of the Allies to ensure a strict blockade of Germany, and we feel very grateful for the efforts which have lieen made by England, HYance, and Italy to provide Switzerland with corn and other necessities. We believe that the Allies are sincerely desirous of helping tho smaller nations in their struggle for existence. A friendly attitude to Switzerland is, moreover, in the interest of the Allies, especially,as the present control of the Swiss Import Committee has hecome so severe that the leakage to Germany has , practically disappeared. The economic situation of Switzerland has grown so difficult that any important alteration of the present Convention hetween the Allies and the Swiss Government would certainly have the most serious consequences; it could only increase the influence of Germany in Swiss life by alienating tho sympathies of a great many Swiss from the Entente and by putting'us under, the dependence of; tho Central Powers. But we need not he pessimistic. The present difficulties will certainly be cleared up, and the friendship which unites Switzerland to the Allies reinforced. Tho Swiss have never appealed in vain to England,' their true friend in time of need 1 . Great Britain, France, and Italy will he glad to have an opportunity of giving a new proof of the spirit which animates them in tho present war. —Andre de Bavier, in the "Westminster Gazette."