Evening Post. MONDAY, JULY 13, 1936. DAMPING AUSTRIAN FIRES

Evening Post, Issue 11, 13 July 1936, Page 8

Evening Post. MONDAY, JULY 13, 1936. DAMPING AUSTRIAN FIRES

The Iwo Dictators have given Europe another weekend surprise by entering the "powder magazine" (Austria) and concerting safety measures therein. As the two Great Powers who had shown a special interest in.Austria, and who, alone among the Great Powers, could be considered to have territorial designs on Austria, Italy and Germany had the choice of agreeing or quarrelling. They have, after years of manoeuvring, chosen to agree. And, so far'as the published part of the new German-Austrian agreement shows, they have agreed not to dismember Austria but to leave her alone. Germany has even agreed in writing that Nazism in Austria is an internal affair of Austria; and unofficial statements add that Austria will not only take full power to deal with such internal affairs, but will also prohibit propaganda for the Anschluss (Customs un^on, intended to lead, sooner or later, to political union of Austria and Germany). If so, Germany's formal recognition of "the full sovereignty of the Federal States, of Austria" is already one of the most important^ events of 1936. The effect on the "powder magazine" is such that an immediate cause of war is removed if the agreement operates. Peace-lovers who see a smouldering war-fire damped cannot fail to approve. But the question is asked: Does Heir Hitler give up Austria for a price to he paid elsewhere? • '

The policy of damping the Austrian fires is a policy of peace so far as it goes, and some peace-lovers do not like to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Others may ask: "Who are the givers?" The givers . are the very people who have gone nearer than has anybody else to making British trade unionists (of the Sir Walter Citrine type) supporters of military sanctions, which are practically the same thing* as preventive war. So the peace camp is now divided by two views—the one that looks no further than the published text of the. GermanAustrian agreement, which damps Austrian fires; and the view that the two Dictators of the two most unsatisfied and military States in Europe cannot, in the nature of things, give peace. If there is any sincerity in agreements, Austria's own hope of peace is. brighter than for years, especially if the Schuschnigg Government returns, via amnesty, to constitutional methods. But observers of the deterioration of France see in the- German-Austrian agreement a new Dictator front, which has long been feared, but which, it was hoped, was rendered impossible by rival expansionist aims. Apparently the Dictators are able to agree about Austria; Avill they, then, be able to find a common policy concerning other disturbed regions, such as Danzig? And will their policy in other regions be, as in Austria, the maintaining of treaty-guaranteed independences, or the reverse?

Italy, says the "Popolo d'llalia," admits her active part in bringing about the ' German-Austrian agreement, "and in the common policy [of Italy and Germany] which will follow." What that policy is, or will be, is undisclosed. But Herr Hitler will claim that he has made the "contribution" to European peace appealed for by Mr. Baldwin—he may even apply for, the Nobel Peace Prize—and Signor Mussolini will claim to be a co-operator. Although the text binds only Germany and Austria, the Duce's own statements about it, and the Rome comment generally, seem to establish that he was fully in it, and that as regards Austria "the Dictator front" is complete, and is represented as yielding far more results in a weekend than were given by the Stresa front in years. And that claim points particularly to the deterioration of France within and- without — to the tragedy of a lost "hegemony." In his first important speech the new Premier of France, M. Blum, said candidly that since the formation of his Government France had lost influence in European affairs; and he could have added that much influence had been lost already by French Governments before he arrived. But it is not necessary to apportion responsibility. Events have long indicated, and continue, to do so, that France's internal unrest, I diplomatic failures, and Lavalism are the pivot on which European changes of 1935-36 have turned. The slightest examination will show that the pilots of the Abyssinian policy,, of the German policy of breaking armament clauses, and of the Rhineland policy of March had accurate Reports of Paris weather. In a message to Austria greeting a new step to peace, important to Europe and especially to "the I Danubian Slates," Signor Mussolini stages that "the Italian Government and people salute" the agreement, which recognises special arrangements undertaken in the Rome protocols regarding Austria, Hungary, and Italy. An Italian Note to Belgium makes a significant suggestion that Germany should be invited to the preliminary discussions of the Locarno Powers; Italy herself, it is understood, will not attend till the Mediterranean naval pledges of mutual help, as well as sanctions, are removed, and it is now cabled that July 15 will see the end of sanctions as well as of the pledges riven

to Britain by France and Greece. Times have marched since France, Italy, and Britain were sufficiently in line to meet at Stresa and condemn German breaches. The Mussolini of today now makes special recommendation that next time the Locarno Powers meet, Hitler shall be there. If this is to be the roule by which vital subjects raised in the British questionnaire shall be approached with effectiveness, the new GermanItalian diplomacy will claim a further triumph over that of France. It might be contended that the Austrian development supplies a sufficient reason for Germany's not answering the questionnaire; but if Austria alone was the unstable point, why did the Nazi-supported Danzig outburst break Geneva's peace at this precise moment? Was it coincidence, or a notice that the pending Austrian agreement was not .Germany's last word in the southern and eastern fronts? The insult to the League has not improved the atmosphere in which a German-attended Locarno Conference will meet, nor will the realignment of, Germany, Austria, and Italy (the old Triple Alliance) give reassurance if the price of Austrian peace is a new putsch elsewhere.