Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1937. ITALY AND BRITAIN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 41, 27 November 1937, Page 6

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1937. ITALY AND BRITAIN.

The expressions of a desire for a better understanding between Britain and Italy, voiced during the recent visit of Italian ex-servicemen to London, will find echo throughout the Empire, for a continuance of misunderstandings, not to say bitter animosities, between the two Powers would seriously obstruct all efforts to establish peace in Europe. The two are so situated, by old geography and new history, that they must either agree about their movements or tread on each other’s toes. This fact applies particularly to their interests in the Mediterranean, which are perilously liable to collide. Britain, requiring use of the Mediterranean as a main seaway of her great commonwealth, cannot accept the view that this sea is an Italian lake, nor can Italy look with favour on de facto British control of its two approaches, east and west. Friendship is at least expedient. A further prompting to this is supplied by the present tendency for European nations to take sides in defensive alliances, after the fashion of the years before the war. Where should Italy go in this new alignment? Her decision >s not easy. Should she join Germany as a definite ally? That has seemed feasible, no doubt; but Italy has more reason to fear German rivalry, in the Danube basin and the Balkan southland, than to trust to German aid. An Italian diplomat remarked astutely not long ago, in explanation of well-known events, “If Mussolini walks arm-in-arm with Hitler, it is just that he hopes by so doing to prevent Hitler from running amuck. In connection with Spain they have lately been walking arm-in-arm, but nothing is clearer than that Signor Mussolini would resent Germany’s acquisition of dominance there. As European threads of diplomacy are becoming confusingly intertwined, it may be best for Italy to keep comapnv with Britain and thus to share a path aside from the inchoate alliances that offer no sure refuge* better to take part in peace-making with Britain than risk some fellowship provocative of trouble. For all his arrogant defiance of the rest of the world, Signor Mussolini realises that Italy cannot ignore other nations as if they did not exist. The economic needs of the country preclude this. So Italy must have friends and it happens especially since Britain’s decision to spend boldly on armaments that to have Britain among them is outstandingly advisable. Sheer idealism may cany the Duce a certain distance along the path of lonely self-sufficiency, but realities must in the long run prevail.