Evening Post. MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 1937. "UNPRECEDENTED MENACE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 2, 4 January 1937, Page 8

Evening Post. MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 1937. "UNPRECEDENTED MENACE"

Do Germany and Italy sland together concerning Spain? Since ■ this question was discussed on Thursday three important events • havs happened: (1) Italy has not replied to the Anglo-French representations concerning "volunteers" for Spain, but has made a noncommittal communication on the subject to the Non-intervention Committee; (2) Britain and Italy have signed an "accord" in the Mediterranean that is described by Signor Gayda as "a voluntary and frank liquidation of the stormy past" and as "a handshake"; (3) under an avowed policy of "reprisals" for the Spanish seizure of the German steamer Palos, a German warship has fired at and interfered with a steamer under the flag of the Spanish Republican Government (or the Basque section of that Government) at a point which is said to be within the three miles limit. Some reports state that the German navy has committed two such acts of reprisal. Italy's notification to the Nonintervention Committee of willingness to give the "volunteer" question priority of consideration is so loaded with provisos (a ban on financial assistance to Spain, etc.) that no real promise of speed is conveyed. On the other hand, Germany is acting in Basque waters with all speed. On its face, the signing of the Anglo-Italian Mediterranean •'accord" should be a calming influence, yet it leaves one fact outstanding: Britain has not recognised the annexation of Abyssinia; Germany has. The actual happenings concerning German naval interferences with a Spanish steamer or Spanish steamers are still in doubt, but the very word "reprisals" suggests a new and dangerous stage in that progress, familiar to history, by which acts of search and seizure at sea, such as the Spanish Government's seizure of the Palos, lead to disputes concerning that vague thing "right of search" —disputes ending either in arbitration or war. If the power to "press the button" either for arbitration or for war passes into the hands of one man— as in fact it did in the case of Italy and Abyssinia—peace hangs by a very slender thread indeed. This is not the'first time the world has heard of "reprisals." Nor will it be the last.

Legal argument concerning the rights and wrongs, in law and in morals, of the seizure of the Palos and the detention of her alleged contraband, and, concerning the "reprisal" interferences, could be endless. Quite likely it will be. Legal argument and negotiation certainly could be used for "marking time" until the soldiers and the men of action are ready for their next move; and, whatever that move may be, to impart to it, in propaganda, some colour of legal or moral right will not be difficult. So the tendency is for legal "briefs" to pile up without hindering policies of action, by which in the last two years history has been made. Germany's naval Christmas and New Year in Spanish waters have already produced some New Year gifts which certainly do not reflect peace and good will. After whai: happened in Abyssinia, undue reliance must not be placed on military estimates, but, if there is any truth at all in current estimates, the civil war in Spain has reached a deadlock which can be broken only by undisguised interference on the part of one of the several external "backers." That of course might precipitate interference by all. The text of the "accord" between Britain and Italy, with collateral exchange of Notes, comes to hand as this article is being concluded. To illustrate its value, the "Morning Post's" suggestion of a German plan to establish German bases in Morocco and in the Canary Islands, and otherwise to appropriate Spanish territory, may be cited as att example of suspicions disturbing to peace. To the extent that the bond and assurance of Italy can do it, Siguor Mussolini and Count Ciano have: put an end to any such suspicion, as directed against their country, by confirming Britain's assumption that, "so far as Italy is concerned, the integrity of the present territories of Spain shall.in all circumstances remain intact and unmodified." A similar assurance by Germany would at least remove suspicions of territorial designs, but it is not forthcoming; and Herr Hitler's New Year gift, "reprisals," contrasts sharply'with that which the Italian and the British Governments were able to consummate, significantly enough, on the last day of the Old Year. British-Italian accord with regard to the Mediterranean status quo and transit rights does not say the last word about Spain, nor does it determine" what tactical use Rome may make of any new Spanish "situation" brought about by German precipitancy, but it is at least one step to peace. It does riot add fuel to fire in a world which, to use the words of Herr Hitler's New Year messiage, is "unprecedentedly menaced by grave international dangers" —of which the gravest undoubtedly is Herr Hitler himself,