THE RIGHT OF MIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 7

THE RIGHT OF MIGHT.

ERUPTION OF MUSSOLINI. VOLCANIC EUROPE. GRAECO-ITALIAN SITUATION THE SEIZURE OF CORFU. (3y Cable.—rress Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, September 7. The Graeco-Italian crisis is surveyed by Mr. Lloyd George in his foriniglitiy article on current affairs. J The shores "f tlic Mediterranean from time immemorial have been the scene of erupt ions iirul earthquakes, he writes. They generally break out without warnSoiiirlinie.s they are devastating in tlieir effects; sometimes they provide a brilliant spectacular display terrifying in appearance, but not causing much damage. To which of these categories does the last /eruption of Signor Mussolini belong? To drop hot cinders in the Balkans is a dangerous experiment. A cinder flung from Vienna, started a conflagration which spread over the Continent, and vet there are statesmen flinging burning j faggots about with reckless swagger. The temper of Europe may be gauged from the reception accorded these heedless pyrotechnics on the part of national leaders by their own countrymen. Everytime it occurs, whether in France, Italy, or Turkey, whether it be M. Poincar'e, Signor Mussolini or Mustapha Kcmal who directs the show, applause, greela the exhibition. I remember that in the first days of the Great War, there was not a belligerent capital where great and enthusiastic crowds did not parade the streets and cheer for war. In those days Their conception of it wii, formed from pictures of heroic and always victorious feats hung in national galleries, and cheap prints adorning the walls of every cottage. FILLING THE GRAVES. It used to be said that in wars one lot cheered and the other fought, but the cheering , mobs who filled the streets in August, 1!)14. were filling the trenches in September, and multitudes were filling graves ere the year was out. But when they cheered they did not realise the actualities of war. They saw it only in pictures, but the cheercrs of to-day know what war means. France lost well over 1,000.000 men. and Italy 600,000. What then accounts for the readiness at the slightest provocation to rush into all the wretchedness over again? The infinite capacity of mankind for deluding itself. The' last time, it is true, it was a ghastly affair. This time it will be an easy victory. Then you had a perfectly armed Germany and Austria: now you have a disarmed Germany which cannot fight, or a miserable little country like Greece with no army or navy to talk of. Po, hurrah for the guns land a bloodless victory except, of course, Jto the vanquished: more pictures to show our children what a terrible people we arc when provoked; « This episode may end peaceably, but it was a risk to take and a quite unnecessary risk in the circumstances. Italy is naturally indignant at the cold- ■ blooded murder of her emissaries on ' Greek territory, although it took place in a well-known murder area on the Alhanian border where comitadjie and other forms of bandits reign. Still Greece is responsible for giving adequate protection to all boundary commissioners operating within her frontiers. Italy therefore is entitled in her demands for stern reparation. This Greece promptly concedes. Signor Mussolini's answer to the Greek acknowledgment of liability is to bombard a defenceless town, kill a , I few unarmed citizens, and occupy a Greek island. MIGHT HAVE SHELLED COWE&. Does anyone imaeine that if the incident occurred on French soil and the I French Government displayed the same ! willingness to express regret and offer I reparations, that without further parley i Signor Mussolini would have bombarded Ajaeeio, or had it been Britain, would he have shelled Cowcs and occupied the I Tsle of Wig-lit? But Greece has no navy. I That, I suppose, alters the merits of the I case. Force is still supreme arbiter of right nnd wrong in international affairs in Europe. It is worth notins how the new code of international law is comingr into existence since the war. French armies I invade n neighbour's territory, occupy it. establish martial law. seize and run its railways, reculate the Press, deport tens of thousands of its inhabitants, imprison or shoot down all who resist, and proclaim that it is only a peaceful occupation to enforce rights under a peace treaty. Signor Mussolini shells a fown belonging to a country with whom he is at. peace, forcibly occupies part of its territory and then solemnly declares that it is not an act of war. but a just and reasonable measure of diplomatic precaution. Oncp force decides the issue, it also settles the rules. I have heard it said that there is one law for the rich, nnd another for the poor. There is no doubt thnt there is one international law for the strong and another for the weak. ANOTHER SCRAP OF PAPER. What about the League of Nations? This pre-eminently it a case for action under the Covenant. Italy and Greece are both parties. How can they consistently with the terms of the treaty they so recently signed, refuse to leave the dispute to the League? Italy had a special part in drafting the treaty, and imposing it upon Germany and Austria. She cannot now in decency repudiate its clauses. It is suggested in some quarters that Italy's dignity being involved, she cannot possibly consent to leave it in the hands of the "League. That surely is a fatal limitation on the League's activities. Every dispute involving right, implicates national honour, and as every nation is the judge of its own honour ultimately, all differences will be ruled out of the Covenant. The League is not allowed to touch reparations. If this quarrel also is excluded, it is no exasperation to say that this valuable part of the Treaty of Versailles becomes a dead letter. It is one of the gross ironies of the Kuropean situation that the Versailles Treaty is being gradually torn to pieces by countries which were not only its authors but have most to gain by iti i provisions. Franco already has repudi- J ated the most important part of the treaty, by declaring that she will not refer questions arising between herself and her neighbours under tho treaty to the League. Further she has invaded and occupied her neighbour's territory in defiance of the treaty's provisions. If Italy also declines, then nothing is left ! of it except what it suits nations to I enforce.

FRIENDLY RELATIONS. If the framers do not owe allegiance to the treaty they drafted, why should those who accepted it under duress bowto its behests. The victors are busily engaged in discrediting their own charter. It would have been more honourable if they had followed the example of the United States, and refused to ratify it. To sign the contract and then pick and choose for execution the parts that suit you is unworthy of the honour of great nations which profess to lead the world toward a higher civilisation. There is no country which has a more genuine goodwill for'ltaly than Britain. It is an old and tried friendship. The I two nations have many common interests and they have no rivalries; hence I there is a deep anxiety that Italy should ■ not commit a mistake which will mort- | Rage her future, even if it does not I imperil her present. There are no doubt ' strategic advantages for Italy in holding Corfu. It enables her to bottle up the • Adriatic, but it is a Greek Island, and it menaces Yugoslavia. This introduc--1 , tion of foreign elements into the body 1 of a State for strategic reasons always ' provokes inflammatory symptoms injuri- | ous to the general health of the com--1 munity. Bosnia ultimately proved to be " . the death of the Austrian Empire. J Italy has played a great part in tlie 'work of civilisation, and so has Greece. ' It would be a misfortune to humanity J if they spent their fine enthusiasm on hatins and thwarting one another. — (A. f,and N.Z. Cable.)