Evening Post. WEDNESDAY,1 MARCH 15, 1933. BRITISH DIPLOMACY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 62, 15 March 1933, Page 8

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY,1 MARCH 15, 1933. BRITISH DIPLOMACY

The Ides of March have come— the midway date between the last international pay-day at Washington and the next—but they do not find the new President' of the United States and the Prim£ Minister of Great Britain quietly conferring at the White House with a.view to curing one of the main causes of the world's unrest and one of the most serious threats to Anglo-American harmony. Recognising the urgency of the matter, Mr. Roosevelt had, with the concurrence of his predecessor, opened up the negotiations several weeks' before his inauguration, but March 4 found him f,ar too deeply immersed in an appalling domestic crisis to give war debts a thought, and how long the immersion will continue no man can say. On the following day the German General Election turned Mr. Mac Donald's thoughts from the west to the east, and plunged him in an international crisis of more imminent peril than the long-drawn-out misery of the Avar debts. While the Disarmament Conference is threatened with a collapse, which would be a signal for the resumption of the deadly pre-war competition in _ armaments, the Nazi hysteria which has temporarily eclipsed the judgment of Germany has. created a war atmosphere on both her western, and her eastern frontiers. We were told on Monday that the whole of London's Sunday Press had emphasised the perilous position of Europe, which was described/as "the most serious since 1914."

The Sunday papers:' were also credited with the opinion that the" real object of' Mr. Mac Donald and Sir John Simon's mission to Geneva was riot to save the' Disarmament Conference from dissolution with nothing done, but "to prevent an almost immediate conflagration." It jis a sad mockery of the hopes with which the war that was supposed to have ended war was ended that niore than fourteen years later the reduction of armaments, which, was recognised by the Peace Treaty as one of its lessons, has not been carried out, and that largely through this failure on the part of the victors Germany is again threatening the world,with war. But there is fortunately still room for hope. It is still possible that at the last moment the hatreds and the jealousies which have hitherto paralysed the Disarmament Conference may be themselves paralysed by the imminence of the disaster' in which its failure will involve everybody. It is also possible that, encouraged by some- positive results from the Conference, the reason of Germany may get the better of her inferiority complex and her aggressive hysteria, and that Hitler, whose firebrands seem since the election to have got completely out of hand, may realise that he cannot win a war against France and Poland with a frenzied mob, though'he may easily provoke one. Though it is, of course,, true that one swallow does not make a summer, the fact that at the time of writing today's news is less luridly warlike than yesterday's suggests the hope that the Nazis' war mania may have passed its climax.

There at any rate one vital point on which Europe's position in March, 1933, is better than it was in July, 1914. Whether the principal object of the mission of Mr. Mac Donald and Sir John Simon is the saving of the Disarmament Conference' from collapse or of Europe from war, it is certain that it has taken them to Geneva, and that for either, purpose Geneva is obviously the right place. But though in 1914 Geneva was and had for centuries been an important city, there.was at that time no Geneva on the diplomatic map to serve the purpose that it serves today, nor had die nations any other recognised meeting-place for the discussion „of their differences. Lord Grey* who in July, 1914, spared no effort to bring Germany and Austria to a conference with the other parties, has said that if the machinery for the discussion of international differences had been in existence in those days, the World War ■ could have been averted. The establishment of Geneva as such a centre of negotiations' is one of the results of the Peace Conference which even the diehards have not challenged, and its value has been proved during thirteen years of active work. The assertion of the pessimists that the failure of the League of Nations to prevent Japan from making war

against China was its death-blow was fortunately only a figure of speech. If the League had been dead, Europe, if not already at war, would have been at any rate in far greater peril than it is in to-day. On Monday that terrible powdermagazine which the Peace Treaty established in the Polish Corridor seemed in greater danger of exploding than those which it.was unable to remove from the banks of the Rhine. Flaming reports reached us on that day, both from Paris and from Berlin. Dr. Ziehm, President of the Danzig Senate, who was evidently visiting Paris in connection with the Danzig-Poland dispute over Westerplatte, was quoted as saying:— Sparks from Danzig may easily start another war conflagration. Polish machine-guns and mine-throwers landed in violation of international right can explode too easily. If the Lcaguo fails it will bo another blow from -which it will be difficult to recover. At the same lime a Berlin message quoted from General yon Schleicher's organ a detailed account of Poland's feverish military activity throughout the corridor. x • . Nearly 300 military aeroplanes have been assembled at one aerodrome. The tank unit at Posen has been increased from thirty-five to eighty-five. Troops and aeroplanes continue to arrive at Gydnia, while Dirchau looks like a war camp. ..Troop movements are occurring between Gydnia and Prcusstchtarg with the object of surrounding Danzig. In view of Schleicher's own menacing proclamation a few months ago of die Germans' readiness to fight for their friends in .East Prussia "to the last man," and of the fact that a much more violent man has now acquired absolute power in Germany, it must be conceded that Poland was justified in taking some extra precautions, but whether she overstepped the mark we cannot say. But today a welcome antidote to j this very unpleasant news is cup- ! plied from Geneva^; On Monday Sir John Simon had a long interview with the Polish Foreign Minister, principally with reference, it is very safely "understood," to the situation at Danzig. As Dr. Ziehm, President of the Danzig Senate, left Paris for Geneva on . Saturday, we may presume that Sir John Simon has also discussed the matter with hinu The result is reported today:— An agreement has been reached restoring the former position at "Westerplatte. ■ Poland ■withdraws her troops and Danzig her police. If this means, as it seems to mean, that the Westerplatte dispute is completely settled,, it represents a ; brilliant success for. British diplomacy, which, will greatly relieve the European tension.