BRITAIN'S FOREIGN POLICY.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 6, 22 January 1937, Page 4

BRITAIN'S FOREIGN POLICY.

The British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, has during the last week or two dettivered two or three speeches indicative of the objects at which his Government aims in dealing with international affairs, the latest being tbat, reported yesterday, in opening the House of Commons debate on the European situation. There has recently been manifested an inclination in some quarters to criticise the Government, and Mr. Eden in particnlar, as ha.ving in this connection no really set or tangible policy that it pursues. As one of these puts it, "the policy, if so it may be called, is one of temporisiu^j of dealmg with each situation as it arises and extrjacting itself from difficulties by the method likely to^cause least tronble at the moment." It can scarcely be contended that this is a fair way of rerpesenting the position. In the first pl'ace, it has to be recognised that, owing to the way in which, in the cause of pekce-promotion, her armaments have been allowed to fall behind, Great Britain. occupies nothing like the determining position she held at the beginning of the century. Until she is adequately rearmed she can speak with no voice that can command the same immediate respect. As it is, however, the preparations upon which she hjas entered have undoubtedly had the effect of quite definitely modifying the arrogant attitude assumed by the two highly armed western nations that are nnder dictatorial rule. The consciousness of her own relative weakness, forced upon her by tbe events of the ItaloAbyssinian episode, has nceessarily had a good deal to do with the failure of Great Britain to adopt a more forceful poliey and line of action. It has furthermore to he noted that the occurrences of the last year or two have shown that there is no one of the European Great Powers in whichGreat Britain can place anything like impjlicit confidence for effective support in her efforts to maintain peace among the nations. Among the continually shifting sands of European international relationships there is no foundation to he found upon which to build any permanent strncture. Not long ago Mussolini and Hitler were on the verge of ooming to grips over Austria. To-day they are bosom friends prescnting what looks like a united Fascist front to the world. How long that may last, however, is matter of the most speculative conjecture. In a general way France has professed to stand be^ide Great Britain in her efforts to establish in practice the principle of collective security, but she has proved herself anything but a xeliable buttress. It was her failure to act up to her responsibilities that largely brought about the League's failure to deal effectively with Signor Mussqlini and so bronght upon Great Britain a very signal blow to her prestige from which she is only now recovering. In France, too, the frequent changes in the character of her Government adds only to the doubtfulness of her support.. Through all the shifting slioals and shallows, for they are nothing more, that have been thns created it has necessarily been a difficult task to steer a direct course towards the desired haven. At the same time, however, British policy has throughout steadily maintained the one purpose, and that is to establish some system of collective security that will help to prevent a recurrence of the conditions that led up to the Great War. To this principle she ha's remained stedfast all along in the face of many upsetting betrayals and discoura,ging setbacks. At the moment her chief concern is with the Spanish situation, which threatens to once more group the Continental nations into two great alliances such as we had before the fatal 3jays of 1914. Her endeavours are all being bent towards avefting any such calamity and, though they are working but sl-owly, there are still some hopeful symptoms that in the end they will prevaijl. It is again a case of "it's dogged as does it/ '