TOGETHER AGAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 112, 7 November 1935, Page 26

TOGETHER AGAIN

BRITAIN AND FRANCE

OUTCOME OF ITALY'S MOVES

FUTURE POLICY

The significant feature of the present crisis in Europe is the way in which Great Britain and France cling, equally, to the idea of a joint policy as the essential need of the international situation, writes "Augur" from London to the "New York Times" recently. As soon as the trouble between Rome and London grew serious public opinion in Britain became insistent upon the linking up of British and French policies. The people in France, though valuing highly their newly-acquired friendship with the Italians, equally recognised the absolute necessity of maintaining the AngloFrench entente. Evidently a strong reason exists at present for this co-operation between two nations so different in their outlook upon life and in their conceptions of what constitutes their interest. As usual, the psychological drama of the British lies in the fact that in many ways they are near to the Germans, with whom, however, they cannot cooperate, and have less in common with the French, who, by the force of circumstances, are their inevitable partners in any attempt to settle the affairs of Europe. At the same time that the' clear-cut logic of the French mind is repulsed by the mixture of common sense and sentiment in the English the axiomatic need of the entente is accepted without demur. BOTH DID HARM. No two other people in Europe, through the centuries, have opposed each other so persistently and have harmed each other so much as the English and the French. The latter, after long and bitter strife, drove the first from the Continent. England destroyed the great empire- France had begun to. build up in India. France assisted the rise to independence of the United States, but she lost Canada. In the nineteenth century England inspired and, kept alive the coalition which destroyed the Napoleonic Empire of France. '. ■ " In the World War they joined hand; to resist the Germans. Since the peace many things have happened tc separate them. The British refused to implement their guarantee of French security. When the French stood up for the League the British were lukewarm, for they refused to accept the 1 1924 protocol of mutual' assistance. When the British tried to put ordei into international finance by' settlini the question of German payments foi reparations, the French resisted witl might and main. France has pursuec a policy •of alliances, while ." Grea Britain has objected to new commit ments. But, as events at Geney; show, Britain and France are togethei as close as ever before. The truth is'that the menace whicl brought Great Britain and France to gether in 1914 still exists unabated The armed forces of Germany consti tute it, because they are backed by i fierce spirit calling for domination. ALARM JUSTIFIED. In this respect the speech of Si Samuel Hoare at Geneva is illuminal ing. To the public it seems to dea witn the present crisis, caused b; Italy's move against Ethiopia. Thos in the inner circle of political know ledge are aware that the Foreign Set • retary, when he spoke about resistanc to force by collective action, had i mind Germany at least as much a Italy. Perhaps even more. His speech should be taken togethe with that of M. Laval. Read cor jointly they convey a definite impre: . sion of a good Anglo-French unde: standing concerning some potenti; menace. No wonder Adolf Hitler.: alarmed by the trend of events : Geneva. The League is to be pr - served by the efforts of Great Britai and France for the special object < helping to secure peace in Europ Moscow; in its hatred of Berlin,, unde stands this well. Hence it gives vi stinted support to the idea of securii ," through collective action within tt Covenant framework. There is evidence to show that tt British- and the' French Governmen i are co-operating in many importai i directions. For example, the othi 1 day the fact was made public that 1 French Note had been presented at tl 1 British Foreign Office with a reque , for information about the attitude h i Majesty's Government intends to tal i if a case of unprovoked aggressi( i arises in Europe. Special referem 1 was made in the Note to the possib ' ity of a complication of this natu [ with regard to Austria. , On the face of it this inquiry w i laid out as a sign of distrust on tl i part of the French, questioning tl 1 steadiness of British policy as no 1 enunciated at Geneva. In realit ! British diplomacy accepted this c , marche as legitimate, offering to S ■ Samuel Hoare an occasion to furni ■ definite assurance to Mr. Laval th i the present Government. intends . 1 stick to the policy announced. • ON ITS METTLE. ) Anglo-French co-operation will nc ■ be put on its mettle to produce a pr; ■ tical scheme for the settlement of t ■ Ethiopian dispute. Acting in clc 1 agreement, the two Governments w 1 be able to reach an understanding wi J Italy with the object of securing foi a long time to come the settlement of ■ territorial problems in North Afri ■ It will be remembered that in 19 ■ after the bad blood caused by t P Fashoda incident had been given til J to drain away, Great Britain a i, France concluded a treaty which, i though it excluded the French fn i the Valley of the Nile, gave them ■ chance to exploit Morocco. 1 Now the same procedure has to 1 gone through with the Italians, \\ | j.~e approaching the Nile from the posite side. The Marchand Miss: i came from the west and was stopi [■ by the British forces under Kitcher £ Mussolini's troops approach from r east, and Britain wants to prey i" their establishing themselves in t Valley of the Upper Nile, where \ ' important Lake Tana lies. *v The final outcome of the pres J» period of anxiety will be this: an An; ,■ Italian understanding concern ■■ spheres of influence, and aftprwa ■![ an Anglo-Franco-Italian treaty esl \ lishing political conditions in Nc % Africa from the Atlantic to the ] % Sea. |,» Incidentally, such a treaty will *,■ an effective bar to any German '■" tempt to re-enter the domain of S" onisation in Africa. The annoui J, ment made by Sir Samuel Hoare al hi the readiness of Great Britain to cm cuss ways and means of giving s; '2" faction to the demand for raw matei VJ on the part of the "have nots" am m? the European Powers should be ts J% to mean that territorial awards are J> a to be expected by the Germans— A how not as they are in their pre ■S frame of mind. ■j" Our summing-up of the situatior ■■" to the effect that the Ethiopian W dent, without the public's noticing Jj". much, has been used by the Br A and the French Governments to cl; ■"■ and co-ordinate their respective pi A of view on the policy to be ap] ■JS* jointly in resisting' the menace o * armed and aggressive-minded Reii