ITALIAN BID

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 55, 2 September 1937, Page 10

ITALIAN BID

THE MEDITERRANEAN

CONCERN OF THE POWERS

FACTORS FOR PEACE

The W.E.A. Class in Current History •resumed its session at the Trades Hall, Vivian Street, on Wednesday night, when Dr. A. G. Butchers delivered a lecture on "Mediterranean Problems."

The limit was rapidly approaching, said Dr. Butchers, to what the democratic nations would stand in the matter of intervention in the Spanish war by Powers which were members of the Non-intervention Committee. He showed photo-lithographic reproductions of Italian Army Orders captured by tne Spanish Government forces at the routof the Italian army at Guadalajara. It was well known that Franco had no submarines. The submarine operations in both Western and Eastern Mediterranean \vaters and, in particular, the blockade of the Dardanelles, constituted a flagrant example of intervention on the rebel side. France was quite naturally and properly alarmed at the prospect of hostile military occupation of Spain, the Balearic Islands, the Canaries, and the Spanish African colonies. Not only would such occupation threaten her on , her southern border, but it would cut her off from her supplies of oil from the Eastern Mediterranean and her resources in man-power from French Africa.

ITALY'S IMPEKIATj GROWTH.

All round the Mediterranean Sea the nations were composing their differences and collaborating with regard to their mutual defences against possible Italian invasion. It was common knowledge that in every Italian school beside the picture of Mussolini was displayed a map of the old Roman Empire at the zenith of its power, with the Mediterranean shown as Mare Nostrum ("our sea"). In 1911 Italy wrested Libya from the Turks by war; in 1912 the Dodecanese Islands, now a strongly fortified naval and air base. After the Great War she deprived Austria of an outlet to the sea by .the occupation of Fiume. Albania was virtually an Italian protectorate, the annexation of which might be expected to follow when the opportunity arose. Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt all knew quite well both the past history of their countries and what Mussolini had in mind for their future. That was in part at least'the explanation of the Balkan Entente,.the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, and the proposed Asiatic Pact between Turkey, Irak, Iran, and Afghanistan. All the small Powers were entering into alliances with one another and with larger Powers. The Danubian nations were working towards the establishment of a bloc .which would comprise seventy-five million people determined to preserve their liberties from either German or Italian aggression.

BRITISH COLLECTIVE SPIRIT,

Mussolini, by completely destroying the confidence of small nations in collective security under the League of Nations, had consolidated the British Commonwealth of Nations in a way that nothing else could have done. The Imperial Conference clearly showed that collective security within the Commonwealth meant something vital and real. The threat to the Mediterranean route to the had aroused all the partners to. a realisation of the situation. There was talk of Britain being unable to maintain her position in the Middle Sea; but every month .that passed would make her more secure. By 1940 Britain would have an air force of 5000 planes; by 1942 a fleet of 25 capital ships. She possessed in Cyprus an invaluable base which was being developed to the best advantage. As for shutting the gates of the Mediterranean, that was a game that two could play. The weakness of Italy and of her Abyssinian Empire if Britain sealed the entrances to that sea must be patent to pll. Within the Mediterranean the long sea coast of the Italian promontory rendered her conspicuously vulnerable to attack by sea and air. Italy's financial position and her lack of raw, materials made it impossible for her to keep pace with wealthier nations in an armament race, which must in the end be won by Britain and America. - *

During the tension of the sanctions against Italy, Britain negotiated treaties of mutual aid with France, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey against the possibility of Italian action against any one of them. "Whereas Italy jeered at the League, though remaining a member of it, Turkey had secured an alteration of the status quo regarding the Dardanelles by negotiation, just as Egypt had done with respect to the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and the abolition of the capitulations. The difficult problem of Alexandretta' had been solved within the League. These instances showed that # the revision of treaties and the removal of anomalies could be achieved by peaceful negotiation. I

POSITION PALESTINE.

In the same spirit' Britain was endeavouring to solve the problem of^ Arab-Jewish conflict in respect of Palestine. The Mandates Commission "of the League had already approved of the principle of partition embodied in the report of the British Commission and had eloquently; reminded both parties to the dispute of their respective obligations to the Mandatory Power. If partition was adopted both Jews and Arabs would achieve independence and self-government, with ultimate membership of the League in the same way as Irak, Egypt, and Syria, the special interests of Britain being [safeguarded by separate treaties in each case, i In these ways Britain was seeking to liquidate her Near-Eastern problems, so that a strong Arab confederation might be developed friendly to herself, as well as a friendly Jewish Palestine bound to her by treaty obligations, securing Alexandria and Haifa as naval bases and safeguarding the oil deliveries from the Irak oil wells. ■

"THE HOPE OF THE WORLD."

Britain, concluded Dr. Butchers, was not decadent in diplomacy, in strategy, or in the strength of her people. Circumstances associated with her disinterested unilateral disarmament had compelled her to be cautious and even to compromise with aggressors for a time; but the day was approaching when she would no longer have-to do so The hope of the world lay in the co-operation of the two great Englishspeaking democracies, the United States of America and the British Commonwealth of Nations. . . An interesting discussion followed the lecture. The subject of next week's study will be Germany's claim for the restoration of her former colonies,