A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 71, 17 December 1935, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Italy and Aggression Lord Davies has given notice in the House of Lords to move a motion against conceding to Italy terms greater than what she would have obtained by peaceful negotiation, or which ignored Britain’s international obligations under the League Covenant. Mr. Vernon Bartlett, a noted British authority on foreign affairs, in an open letter to Signor Mussolini, set out the British people’s attitude clearly: “You never knew,” he said, “that the League law meant . . . You have quite deliberately burnt every boat which the League Council, with an almost reprehensible desire to conciliate, placed at your disposal. You even insulted it by expecting it to swallow your claim that the Abyssinians were committing an act of aggression by withdrawing their own troops miles behind their own frontiers. The law must now take its course or the British will not be alone in arguing that a League which finds excuses for the flagrant breach of its own rules is worth no support. Sanctions or stagnation. The degree of sanctions will depend upon the strength of this new idealism. For that reason one must hope that they will be severe. You must be humbled without delay. Any attempt to buy you off by the offer of greater concessions than those offered you before you went to war would mean that your sacrifices and ours [in the Great War] had been made in vain—the League would not so effectively have condemned war that no future ruler would dare indulge in it. This is a bitter struggle between two principles, and the future of civilisation will be uncertain unless it is fought to a finish.” ' Application of Sanctions. The “Sun-Herald” Agency holds the view that Sir Samuel Hoare accepted the Anglo-French proposals for a peacefid solution of the Italo-Abyssinian dispute because sanctions were not 100 per cent, successful. A highly-placed observer in Geneva, writing in an English magazine, says: “The most abject nonsense is being talked about sanctions in the pro-Italian Press, which maintains that they can never be applied because they can never be defined. Here [in Geneva] we suffer under no such delusion. Their nature was considered by the committee on the Sino-Japanese dispute, and its recommendations can be quite easily applied to Italy. Without going into detail the isolation of that country can be achieved very simply. Italian currency will no longer be recognised by any State member of the League. The International Postal Union will likewise refuse to accept letters or telegrams or telephone calls to or from Italy. No bank or clearing house will accept Italian bills. A country such as Italy is only too vulnerable from every point of view. All that is necessary is united action on the part of League members. This brings me to France, for all still depends on her. . . . Geneva is convinced that public opinion in France has no real deepseated affection for Italy, and is far more concerned with securing that perfide Albion is on her side when Hitler gets busy. ... A united France is a sine qua non for the application of sanctions." The Italian Case.

Italy’s demands and her intentions iff Abyssinia are made plain by Alessandro Lessona, Under-Secretary of State for the Italian Colonies, in “H Popolo d’ltalia,” a paper closely associated with Signor Mussolini. “In January, 1885, ou Lord Grenville’s explicit invitation, the Italian Government decided to occupy and garrison certain points on the Red Sea including Massawa. The occupation thus begun was extended necessarily to the high ground. It then became necessary to choose between two methods of dealing with the Abyssinian Empire, between the method of conquest or that of peaceful penetration. We chose the second. ... In spite of open or concealed hostility, for 10 years we held to a policy of peace and even supported the Abyssinian candidature for the League against British opposition in 1923. We made treaties of friendship with her on

numerous occasions. . . . How did Abyssinia respond to this treatment? By blocking every mutually beneficial economic effort; by intensive armaments with an obviously hostile object. . , What does Italy desire? It has been said that Italy acts from mfiitaristic and imperialist motives. It is not true. . . . Italy does not want to destroy the League; it is for the League to decide whether she wishes to transform what is purely a colonial issue into a dangerous European affair. . . . Italy does not want a crusade against the coloured peoples. . . . What then does Italy want? The security of her colonies ... a security that

shall be real and not illusory.. . . ■ This is our fundamental motive, but with it goes the desire to make certain that demographic and economic expansion 'which all—even the English allow us to be our due.” Basques.

Paolino- Uzcudun, a Basque boxer, was! knocked out by the negro boxer, Joe Louis, in a boxing match in New York.' The Basques arc a peculiar race dwelling on the slopes of the Pyrenees, occupying on the south the three provinces of Biscay, Alava and Guipuzcoa and Navarre in Spain; on the north the two French departments of Bayonne and Mauleon. The Basques are fairer than the people of the southern races, but darker than the northern races. The race is by no means pure, and so a large range of types is found. As in complexion, so in stature, they occupy an intermediate place between the north and south Europeans. The Basques know themselves by the name Euskaldunak, a word formed from the name of their language Euskara, which means “speaking plainly.” It is one of the most distinctive and most peculiar languages in the world. The Basques are of a deeply religious nature and produced Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, and Francis Xavier, the great missionary. They engage in agriculture and fishing, and many of them have emigrated to the Newfoundland cod fisheries. Their agility was remarked in the eighth century, and still remains a characteristic. They make excellent soldiers and sailors, and their ancient renown as pirates is continued by their success as smugglers. The dress of the men consists usually of knickers, girded with a large red belt, open waistcoat, short tight coat and carelessly-tied kerchief round the neck, and a red or blue beret for the head. - The number of Basques in Europe is estimated at about 600,000.