MR. EDEN RESIGNS

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 44, 22 February 1938, Page 7

MR. EDEN RESIGNS

Difference wifh Premier The Policy of Withdrawals from Spain

United Press Assn.—By Elect LONDON, Feb. 20. The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, and the Parliamentary Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Lord Cranborne, have resigned their offices. It ia understood that Mr. Eden conveyed his resignation verbally after the resumption of to-day’s Cabinet meeting at 7.30 p.m. It is expected that Lord Halifax, at present Lord President of the Council, will become Foreign Secretary, the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, handling Foreign Affairs in the House of Commons. 9 Mr. R. A. Butler, Parliamentary Secretary of Labour, is expected to succeed Lord Cranborne. The Australian Associated Press says that by 9 p.m. events which started with an extraordinary Saturday emergency meeting of Cabinet reached a stage where not a single syllable had been uttered officially about the happenings. Consequently, with Cabinet reassembling at the unprecedented hour of 10 p.m. on Sunday, everyone outside the actual members of Cabinet remained in the dark. They were more perplexed than ever when a rumour, renewed yesterday, that Mr. Eden was resigning, was circulating all over Loudon by to night. When Mr. Eden left Downing Street at the conclusion of Cabinet’s first session he told journalists, “I have nothing to say.” He returned to No. 10 Downing Street when Ministers, but not Cabinet, met at 7.30 p.m., and remained only for a few minutes, after which ho entered his car and left the vicinity. Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting of three and a-quarter hours and this afternoon’s meeting of three and a-half hours, followed by the Ministerial meeting, with full Cabinet reassembling at 10 p.m., constitutes a series of meetings which is unparalleled since the war. Briefly the issue is that Mr. Eden wants guarantees that Italy will withdraw from Bpain before commencing discussions for a comprehensive AngloItalian settlement, while Mr. Neville Chamberlain feels that the commencement of discussions should not be conditional on the Spanish question, “WE WANT EDEN” CROWDS IN LONDON CONTROL BY POLICE LONDON, Feb. 20. The scene, amidst bitter cold, in Downing Street to-night recalled the abdication of Edward VIII. The crowds were so great that a big force of police was used to control tnem. Mr. Eden’s appearance resulted in shouts of “We want Eden,” “No pact with Italy,” and “No mure Spain.” Communists issued handbills urging no pacts with dictatorship countries. Mr. Eden will make a personal statement in the House of Commons to-mor-row, after which Mr. Chamberlain will move the adjournment of the House and also make a full statement. Mr. Eden will probably hand over the seals of his office at Buckingham Palace tomorrow. Owing to the speeches by Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Eden in the House of Commons to-morrow, Anglo-Irish talks will be postponed, probably until Tuesday.

trio Telegraph.—Copyright. portance to a preliminary agreement regarding non-intervention in Spain, at least to the'extent of Italy’s adherence to a system and time of withdrawal, which other Powers accepted. Moreover, Mr. Eden felt he was not the best man to carry on negotiations with which he was widely supposed abroad to be out of sympathy. Accordingly, the difference appeared to be reduced to a question oL’ procedure. There was no question of accepting or rejecting definite claims from Count Grandi. However, Mr. Eden’s colleagues agreed with Mr. Chamberlain that Count Grandi should not be placed in a position to say he harl been repelled and tried to persuade Mr. Eden to relent, but Mr. Eden’s determination was based on broader grounds than the immediate point at issue. The Daily Herald, in a leader, says: With Mr. Eden goes the last pretence that the Government cares for ;he ideals of international justice to which Britain has repeatedly committed itself. Mr. Eden has been sacrificed to Signor Mussolini, but to secure Signor Mussolini’s friendship much more than a Foreign Secretary will bo sacrificed. The Telegraph, in a leader, says: The country learns of Mr. Eden’s resignation with profound regret. He has filled the office with the greatest distinction. The Daily Mail, in a leader, says: The country will be relieved to learn of Mr. Lrien’s resignation. Mr. Eden’s policy produced uncertainty at bcAne and bewilderment abroad, allowing Geneva to colour the whole policy. Viscount Halifax succeeds him with a firsthand valuable contact with the international situation.

The Telegraph’s Rome correspondent says it was claimed that Mr. Eden’s position was untenable when the Italian Press wrote last week that agreement with Italy was impossible while he controlled the Foreign Office. Italy expresses the opinion that her new Ease African empire gives her a right to share in the defence of the Suez Canal. A Berlin message says that Germany does not regret the resignation of Mr. Eden, who, according to the political spokesman, was the personification of prejudice against her. France’s immediate reaction is disappointment at the withdrawal of a good friend to Franco and peace. She wonders how far the subsequent reversal of British foreign policy will go. MR. EDEN’S CAREER Mr. Anthony Eden first entered the House of Commons in 1923 as member for Warwick and Leamington, and from the outset of his Parliamentary career devoted special attention to foreign affairs. He was Parliamentary private secretary to Sir Austen Chamberlain when Sir Austen was Foreign Secretary from 1926 to 1929, and was appointed Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the first National Government in 1931. In order that he might devote his time specially to the work of the League of Nations he was made Lord Privy Seal, but without a seat in the 'Cabinet, in 1934. In June, 1935, he was promoted to Cabinet rank with the title of Minister without portfolio for League of Nations affairs. At Geneva he made a marked impression, and in 1934 he was invited to visit Sweden, Denmark, and Norway as the guest of the several Governments. One of the most important of the missions abroad on which he has been sent on behalf of the Government was his tour in February, 1934, when he undertook conversations on disarmament in Paris, Rome and Berlin. In December, 1935, he became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Eden spent .some years in the Diplomatic Service before taking to politics, and he speaks several Eastern languages (he took a first at Oxford in Oriental Languages). He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, and served in the Great War with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps and as brigade major. Mr. Eden married a daughter of Sir Gervase Beckett in 1923, and they have two sons. He is a son of the late Sir William Eden. As a young M.P. he dabbled in journalism, writing art reviews and other articles. In 1925 he attended the Imperial Press Conference at Melbourne. His book, “Places in the Sun,” was based on his travels in Australia and New Zealand at that time, as well as in Canada. Mr. Eden’s record as a youthful Secretary beat by two months that of Lord Rosebery. Mr. Eden was 38 years and six months when appointed; Lord Rosebery was 38 years and eight months when he became Foreign Secretary in the short-lived Gladstone Ministry of 1886. Lord Grey of Fallodon was 43 when he first became Foreign Secretary. The youngest Foreign Secretary of the last one hundred years was Lord Granville, who in 1851 was Foreign Secretary at the age of 36. LORD CRANBOTJRNE Lord Cranbourne, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who is 44 years old, is the eldest son and heir of the Marquis of Salisbury and a member of the famous Cecil family. He has been in the House of Commons as member for South Dorset, since 1929, and was appointed Under-Secretary in 1935. He was formerly in the Grenadier Guards. He has been Britain’s representative on the Spanish Non-Intervention Commitee.