Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 1938. FOREIGN POLICY AND FORCE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 August 1938, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 1938. FOREIGN POLICY AND FORCE.

ACADEMIC value, at most will ndw be conceded to a proposal by M. Leon Blum, who lately headed France’s Popular Front Cabinet, that an armistice should be declared in Spain for the withdrawal of foreign volunteers, and to his declaration that the people of Spain should be given “a sovereign choice of the political regime under which they desire to live, by elections held under the guarantee of mediatory Powers.” As M. Blum truly observed, this would mean the deliverance of Spain from foreign aggression. It is precisely because Spain today is in the toils of foreign aggression that the course of honesty and justice M. Blum has recommended must be regarded as impracticable. At least, however, this state of affairs throws into high relief the merits of the quarrel that is at present being fought out in Spain, though not by Spaniards only. An armistice and an election under the guarantee of mediatory Powers undoubtedly would be accepted by the Spanish Government, which was and is a. representative authority, and as undoubtedly would be rejected by General Franco, who has no other pretension to authority than he is able to derive from the use of force. Moreover, even if Franco were willing to stake his future fortunes on an election, he would certainly be restrained 'from doing so by his backers, Germany and Italy, to whom, he now stands in the relation of puppet. There is little enough satisfaction for British people, who enjoy and prize their democratic freedom,-in reflecting on the extent to which British policy has played into the hands of those who are intent on establishing,' by brute force, a reign of tyranny in Spain, and,; ifi appearances do not lie, are now not very far from achieving their aim. In the name of appeasement, Britain has pursued and sought to develop a policy of non-intervention the.principal effect of which has been to confer an unrestricted freedom of opportunity on those who have set- therasfel.ves to overthrow liberty in Spain. That the ' so-called policy of non-ihtervention plays directly into the hands of Franco and his foreign backers has long been apparent. The facts of the position have been emphasised again within the last. day. or; two. Some weeks ago, Britain sponsored a plan for the. witlu drawal of foreign combatants from Spain and secured for it the approval of the Powers represented on the Non-Intervention Committee. The Spanish Government promptly accepted the plan. The only word on the subject yet extracted from Franco, and that within the last day or two, after protests against his delay, consists of g smoothly worded assurance that his failure to reply is due only to the intricacy of the withdrawal plan and not to any lack of goodwill. It is rather obvious that the insurgent leader is “stalling” in the hope that he may be able finally to overthrow the Spanish Government before the withdrawal plan can be discussed in its details, let alone put into operation. It is very generally agreed by British people that Britain and the Empire could not have been expected to go to war in support of Spanish liberty, but it is equally clear that affairs are now moving in Spain towards a conclusion which British people, as well as Spaniards who desire to live as free men, will have good reason to regard with concern. Nothing can be more certain than that the totalitarian States now invading Spain will make everj r effort to retain their foothold in that country. It is clear, too, that if they are able to do that, a new and serious menace will be raised to Britain and other European democracies. To that it must be added that the latitude they have enjoyed in pursuing their aggression in Spain goes a good long way towards accounting for the increasingly'aggressive attitude of Germany and Italy and for the fears of war that are in consequence rife in Europe today. If there was any hope of averting this unhappy state of affairs it was in keeping alive the measure of international organisation and co-operation that would have permitted and made natural the application to Spain, or to any other country faced by similar problems, of the methods of justice and common sense M. Blum has recommended.