AMBASSADORIAL RIGHTS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4953, 9 February 1937, Page 4

AMBASSADORIAL RIGHTS.

Reports have appeared in certain British newspapers that the German Ambassador, Herr von Ribbentrop, has been conducting propaganda against the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden. This has been denied by official circles at Whitehall, but there appears to be some truth in these reports. German ideas of the sacredness of international treaties are well known/ and the Nazis appear to have the same ideas regarding international etiquette. When the war started in 1914, the German Ambassador to the United States was found to be heavily involved in espionage, and was given his papers and asked to leave the country. The German psychology has not changed much the last 22 years, and the Nazi principles have shown no improvement since the

days of the Kaiser. Herr Hitler waxes indignant at the charges made against the German Ambassador, and is considering methods of protecting Herr von Ribbentrop against attack by the foreign Press, but he will find that he cannot muzzle foreign newspapers in the same way as he does those in Germany. Naturally, the British Government does not want to create any feeling with Germany when it gives no official statement on the breach of the international code, but it can be taken for granted that the position is being closely watched. It was stated that Herr von Ribbentrop was made Ambassador to Britain in order to foster abetter Anglo-German feeling, but when he first took up the office he began by making rather boastful assertions on the Nazis’ foreign policy, and it was only when he was quietly told. that such assertions were not welcomed in Britain that he adopted a more moderate attitude. Now he is working secretly to undermine the policy of the British Government. German diplomacy has always been crude and sometimes coarse from an international point of view. British opinion is not likely to be swayed by the German representative, whether working underground or in the open. Britain is anxious to bring about friendly relations with Germany, but when that country refuses to abide by the principles of international honour such relations are impossible. There is not one nation in Europe that places any trust in Nazi German promises. Herr Hitler has made a statement in which he says he is willing to guarantee the neutrality of Belgium and Holland, but both countries, remembering what happened in 1914, place no credence in such promises.