GERMAN DIPLOMACY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 7, 10 January 1938, Page 4

GERMAN DIPLOMACY

BIDDING FOR BRITAIN

LORD HALIFAX'S MISSION

Last year Adolf Hitler sent his chief personal representative, Joachim yon Ribbentrop, to London with the outline of a aeal he was willing to make with Britain for an accord in Western Europe, writes Eugene Young in the "New York' Times."' This was the basis he proposed:

That Britain should give a free hand to Germany to press into Central Europe and towards Russia. That Germany, in return, should give a guarantee not only to abstain from any encroachment on the British Empire but to go to Britain's aid in case of trouble in the Mediterranean or other areas in the west.

This idea is welcome to, an influential section of British leadership. Many of the Imperialists and Tories, wanting to get loose from the ties with Communist Russia arid Leftist France, supported it. The coterie who cultivated King Edward VIII were for it. The Baldwin Government, which had taken the position that the future frontier of Britain was on the.; Rhine-^and which therefore favoured an entente with France —was' against the scheme. When Edward VIII abdicated and the pro-German element was . weakened the idea-seemed to have been lost. PROPOSAL RENEWED. Now, out of the obscurities that have surrounded the Visit of the British Lord Halifax to Hitler, comes the light which shows the proposal has been resurrected by the German leader. -All Europe has since been badly upset over the revelation and its connotations. It. is generally agreed that at Berchtesgaden Hitler outlined' this scheme. . ;.'•'': If Britain should accept he then would be willing to enter into an accord for peace in Western Europe, including some limitation of armaments. Whether he said anything about the situation in the Mediterranean has not come' out. Or the situation in Spain. But there have been hints that he-was ready to agree he would not support Italy in any campaign against British interests and was ready to co-operate in ending the Spanish civil war in* a way that would safeguard the British strategical position in the • Western Mediterranean. The fact that Lord Halifax listened to such proposals has caused a lot of excitement and contention in Europe. In- Britain Foreign Secretary Eden has violently opposed the idea. .'. France became so worried that Premier Chautemps and Foreign Minister Delbos hastened to London to do what they could to block any such arrangement and pin Britain once more down to close co-operation. '"'..- ITALIANS PERTURBED. In Italy there was great' perturbation over the prospect that the "RomeBerlin axis" would be broken in a way that would permit Germany to extend her influence in Central Europe too close for comfort to the northern frontier. - It must be understood, in order to assess the seriousness of what has been going on, that Lord Halifax's mission, which was prepared by diplomatic exchanges in advance, was backed by a majority of the London Cabinet. The "realists" in that body, led by Sir Samuel Hoare and Sir NTohn .Simon, helieve. that,if, Germany's'.pre'serit' need for some successes in the foreign field should be diverted into the East, then that country, already severely strained, would dissipate her energies there arid so would weaken herself so far. that she- could not hope to attack the British,and French Empires for along time to come. ■