MEDITERRANEAN AMBITIONS.

Marlborough Express, Volume LX, Issue 232, 1 October 1926, Page 4

MEDITERRANEAN AMBITIONS.

Wild speculations have been exeited by the appointment bctween Sir Austen Ohamberlaiu and Signor 'Mussolini, and probiably in that category may be ineluded the report that the latfer's ehief motive in the conversation will be a fear of the annexation of Austria by Germany. It niay be supposed, however, that Ihe meeting will amounit to something more than an exehange of conipliments. Whcther or not there is any real foundation for the ruxnors that the Italian Premier intends to suggest to Sir Austen Chamberlain a treaty between Italy and Britain for mutual support on all questions coneerning the Mediterranean and general European policy, it may be taken for granted that the projected Franeo-German understanding has not lessened Ttaly's desire to rivet the advantage of British friendship. That is not a new desire, and it, has not becn unknown to the world at large. It was noted recently by a writer in a Paris journal, who, expressing "tlie eoncern and the sorrow ' ' of Ftance over the antiFrench trend of Italy 's policies, observed that " syhen Mussolini gave i'orth, before the coup d'etat, the rallying cry, 'The Mediterranean for the Mediterranean peoples, ' that was regarded as a statement nnpleasant to Great Britain, but was not in any way interpreted as implying a menace to France. Sinee 1922, however. there has been a change in the interpretation, and the same formula has come to mean an anti-French. policy based upon British fripndship. ' ' That is from the French angle, which has in front, of it the fact that France and Italy are, to some extent, competing for the Mediterranean hegemony'; and, academically, at all events, the resentment it denotes ,is out of place with the new brotherhood of nations establishcd in the meantime at Geneva. The case for Italy is that sinee she is exclusively in the Mediterranean, and sinee four-fifths of Italian commerce is done by sea, her future depends almost entirely on her position in this sea. Italy 's commercial routes, her ©migration and expansion, her power and liberty, »"e bound up with the Mediterranean. Signor Mussolini is not in the habit of missing opportunities of pressing Italy 's claims ; and, as he will have a symphthetic listener, tlie euriosity being turned to the signifieanee and upshot of the forthcoming interview is far from being unwarranted. Even if the Italian Premier has it in mind 'to aslc for sueh a thing, however, it is not likely that Sir Austen Chamberlain would turn a willing ear to the idea of a sharply-drawn grouping of interests. That would be contrary 1o the aim of the League of Nations to break down the diplomatic and political system connoted by the phrase "balance of power.'' Doubt less Signor Mussolini and the British Foreign Minister will flnd enough to talk about in such questions as the admission of Italy to the Tangier Convention and ihe co-ordination of Italian and British aims in Abyssinia.