Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1936 WHAT WILL THE LEAGUE DO?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 13 March 1936, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1936 WHAT WILL THE LEAGUE DO?

THE meeting of the League of Nations’ Council in London is likely to be of the utmost importance, if not momentous, in view of Germany’s military occupation of the demilitarised area of the Rhineland, and her consequent breach of the Versailles Treaty and of the Locarno Pact. The French Government takes the most serious view of the situation thus created. A prominent London journal says: One result of the Paris conversations (between Mr Eden and the French Premier) is that the British believe if the League decides that Locarno was violated, Britain is pledged to cooperate in any assistance France and Belgium seek. This is interpreted to mean that if Hitler refuses to removo troops from the Rhineland, and Franco and Belgium should decide to endeavour to force them out, Britain is pledged to assist. It is not to be supposed that France and Belgium will make sucli a decision on their own initiative, for the protection of the demilitarised zone is surely the duty of the nations of the League as a whole, and it will he the function of the League’s Council to decide what should he done in such an emergency. That is why the meeting of the League’s Council in the Locarno room at St. James’s Palace will he of such momentous importance. It would be unwise to anticipate tlie view which the League’s Council will take of the situation, but it will he remembered how grave a view it and Hie League took of Italy’s invasion of Abyssinia, with the result that Italy is to-day boycotted by the nations of the League in the matter of trade. Germany

has deliberately floated the League, which is responsible for the demilitarisation of the Rhineland, and cannot ignore Germany’s action without acknowledging that the League is impotent, and its Covenant a dead letter. Even the Soviet Government’s Ambassador in London lias denounced Germany’s action, and has declared, "The illegal occupation of the Rhineland is but a link in a chain of aggressive acts. . . . Europe could be saved from an aggressive war (created by Germany) only if a resolute stand is made now.” That of course means that Russia is with Britain and France in the view which they take of Germany’s defiant action. So it will be seen that Britain, France, and Russia, on the one hand, and Germany on the other, must settle this matter, peaceably if possible nr forcibly if necessary. (No great reliance can be placed on the assistance of Italy, since her energies are occupied in Abyssinia.) For it must bo realised that the League has no military means of enforcing its edicts. It must necessarily rely upon the Powers which • belong to it, to uphold the Covenant by force of arms, if necessary. Germany is not bound by that Covenant, for she resigned from the League —probably because she proposed to break the spirit of Us Covenant. The next move rests with the League’s Council, and it will be obliged to decide upon its action presently, when it meets in London in order to formulate its policy in the present crisis, and to function generally in the interests of the League. What view will it take of Hitler’s denunciation of the Versailles Treaty, and of his defiance of the Powers responsible for the sanctity of that Treaty? The League possesses immense powers, slowly manipulated it is true, but there is little doubt as to the outcome if once they were brought into action. Probably because he imagined (he League to be impotent, the German Dictator occupied the Rhineland with his troops. The next week will possibly reveal how great a mistake he has made, for if the League’s Council staunchly upholds the principles for which it stands, the German dictator will find himself confronted by a most difficult situation.