TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1938. IN SPITE OF PACTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 136, 6 December 1938, Page 10

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1938. IN SPITE OF PACTS

Demonstrations in the Press and in such assemblies as preserve at least some of the forms of Parliamentary institutions in the totalitarian States of Europe will by this time be correctly interpreted in de- j mocratic countries as far from any natural spontaneous ebullition of popular feeling. They are the mouthpieces not of the people, but of the little group that rules in the name of the dictator. The sudden outburst in the Italian Chamber of Deputies last week against France may therefore be regarded as an expression of the views of the Italian Government, no matter what official denials are made. They are part of the policy of propaganda and usually mask a definite purpose. In this instance later cable messages assert that the purpose is to organise a "campaign for territorial revision .in the Mediterranean" in favour of Italy. This is said to be viewed sympathetically in Germany "as a sop to Signor Mussolini's accommodating policy regarding the Polish and Hungarian claims and Czechoj Slovakia." So far Germany has had the chief benefit of the Rome-Berlin axis in support or at least benevolent neutrality in regard to Austria and something stronger in the recent Chechoslovakian crisis. Italy is apparently demanding a quid pro quo in the Mediterranean. So "The Times" correspondent in Berlin reports that German newspapers are enthusiastic in reference to the readiness of the "Axis" Powers to achieve their common political aims. "Britain and France are bluntly told that they cannot hold their overseas possessions except by the good will of Germany and Italy, and that they will find it cheaper to meet Italian and German conditions for the final pacification of Europe than to resist them." This form of "diplomacy by agitation" instead of the older "diplomacy by consultation" has been roundly condemned in Britain and France. There is further the attempt to drive a wedge between Britain and France. The Anglo-Italian Pact negotiated by Mr. Chamberlain earlier in the year and now ratified does not include France, and efforts to bring about inclusion have failed. The intention on the part of Italy appears to He to isolate France at the moment when internal and domestic weakness has been disclosed in France by the recent strikes. France refuses to be browbeaten by Italian demands in respect of Tunis and Corsica, and the popular demonstrations in Corsica, in the capital, Ajaccio, the birthplace of Napoleon, are indicative as to which way a plebiscite on selfdetermination would go. Thus feeling in- France against outrageous demands for her possessions runs high. Lord Perth, the British Ambassador at Rome, is also reported as having expressed officially to the Italian Foreign Minister (Count Ciano) Britain's surprise and regret at the anti-French demonstrations in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, made apparently with the Government's approval. Thus the atmosphere of international relations can be changed at will at the inspiration of political leaders. At the end of 1934, when Italy already contemplated action against Abyssinia and desired a free hand, a pact was negotiated with France and was signed early in the following year. The terms of the treaty included a transfer of territory from France to Italy in rectification of the common frontiers of their African colonies. By this, Italian Libya and Eritrea were enlarged by the addition of some thousands of square miles, mainly of desert. The pact included the following article, of interest in the light of the current agitation: The two Governments declare that they are in agreement in recommending those States most interested to conclude a pact of non-interference in their respective internal affairs, and, in a reciprocal pact, not to encourage or favour any action which might have the object of upsetting by force the territorial integrity of the. political and social regime of t the contracting countries. A final clause stated that the heads of the respective Governments "affirm the intention of the two Governments to develop the traditional friendships which unite the two countries, and to collaborate in a spirit of reciprocal faith in the work of reconstruction. It is established that the two Governments will consult each other on all questions which demand consultation." In the same year Italy invaded Abyssinia and France held aloof. But the indignation of the world was armiapA jmd tflfi I.f!3)?llft nf NfltfnnS

principal sponsor participated/Sanctions were imposed on Italy, but failed in their effect. Italy condemned the League and the "traditional friendships," with the rest of the pact of 1935, were severely strained. Next followed Italian intervention in the civil war in Spain, followed by German intervention, and finally by the Rome-Berlin axis. As against that the British Prime Minister (Mr. Neville Chamberlain) endeavoured to carry out a policy of appeasement in Europe, beginning with an Anglo-Italian Pact and extending to the recent Munich Agreement. In the light of the agitation in Germany against Britain and in Italy against France, the permanence of pacts, couched as they may! be in the most cordial and conciliatory terms, seems to be doubtful. I