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Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 189, 7 May 1940, Page 7

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British Ambassador In Rome POLICY OF KEEPING BALKAN PEACE / (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 5. The British Ambassador in home, who has been home on leave for some time, is returning to his post. Sir Percy Loraine was present at the discussions which the Foreign Secretary had a few weeks ago with the British diplomatic representatives in south - eastern Europe, who had been specially summoned to London for the purpose. He will therefore be able to give the Italian Government, should it require it, a fuller and more intimate account of the proceedings, the purport of which must already be known to it through Sir Noel Charles, British Counsellor in Rome, and the essence of which lies in the settled policy which Britain defined in the official statement issued after consultations at the Foreign Office as the “preservation of peace and the promotion of security in the Balkan and Danubian countries.” As Professor E. H. Carr points out in the “Sunday Times” today, that is in the Italian interest no less than the British. Since the return to the capitals in south-eastern Europe of the British diplomats who took part in the discus sions with Lord Halifax events in other directions have increased rather than diminished the anxieties which beset these States. It has been demonstrated again that neither strict ( neutrality nor non-provocatiou verging' on cimpliance, nor guarantees nor promises nor pledges will save any country from German attack if the tortuous developments of Nazi policy require its subjugation. There has been plenty of evidence in the last fortnight that in the face of this renewed warning nations situated wherever Germany can disturb the peace are increasing their vigilance and precau tious. British policy, which stands in opposition to any extension of hostilities at their expense, must be to them one of the few reassuring factors in an anxious situation.