Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, FEB. 26, 1938. FOREIGN POLICY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 76, 26 February 1938, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, FEB. 26, 1938. FOREIGN POLICY.

The resignation of the Foreign Secretary (Mr Eden) is claimed to be a'victory for Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini, and perhaps the resignation may appear so, but in the last analysis observers believe the two dictators will be very much disappointed. Mr Eden’s basic charge against Italy seems to be duplicity, and that therefore the Duce’s word cannot be trusted. Furthermore, Mr Eden declared that Count Grandi’s proposals contained a threat, which the Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain) denied and said that Count Grandi had stated that his Government desired the conversations to be as wide as possible, emphasising formal recognition of the conquest of Abyssinia, and not excluding Spain. There is obviously no distinct threat in this, but there certainly appears to be a veiled one. The Duce desires the conversations to be as wide as possible, but the main topic from the Italian point of view is the recognition of the conquest of Abyssinia. Signor Mussolini seems anxious to get Britain to recognise the Italian conquest, and emphasis is given to this in the request that Italy be given a share in the protection of the Suez Canal. If we exclude Abyssinia, Italy has no territory east of Suez that would warrant acceding to her request, but if Britain did yield it would be tantamount to recognising the conquest of Abyssinia. The request, however, has not'been made with any hope of its being granted, but it is good publicity for Arabs and Mohammedans.

The danger is that Mr Chamberlain is more timid of war than anxious for peace, as the London Times puts it. A man of this character may be apt to yield too readily to open threats or even veiled threats. There is, however, the fact that the debate on the resignations in the House of Commons has revealed the temper of Parliament, and the new Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, and the Prime Minister, will be careful not to disregard the opinion of Parliament. Thus, instead of Signor Mussolini scoring a .victory he may have to forgo many of his cherished plans, and -the recognition of the conquest of Abyssinia is one of them. It is quite 'possible that Signor Mussolini, as a matter of habit, will continue to threaten Britain, but he has no intention of drifting into war with Great Britain. This is said with the old proverb in mind that barking dogs seldom bite. It is assumed that as a result of the discussions

in Parliament Britain’s - foreign diplomacy will be stiffer than it has been. At all events, the new Foreign Minister will be extra anxious to avoid yielding any point that would appear to be giving in to a threat. The desire of the Italian dictator is that the world, and Britain in particular, should recognise Abyssinia as part of the Italian Empire, and the German Dictator wants Britain to give back to Germany her former colonies. These are the pet schemes of the dictators, but few can visualise either picking •a quarrel with Britain if his efforts fail. There has been just a little talk about the probability of this arising out of the British crisis, and that little has been too much. There will, competent observers believe, be no war, although there may be plenty of war scares.