THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1935 FRANCE AND THE LEAGUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22243, 18 October 1935, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1935 FRANCE AND THE LEAGUE

Rumour is busy with stories of secret .influences active in efforts to wreck the solidarity of the League against Italy. These stories should bo received. with caution. It is to be expected, of course, that such efforts will be made. They were tried at an earlier sta.ge, before the League Council made it's declaration that Italy had resorted to war and thereby broken faith ; they were part of Italy's plan to forestall a League finding. At that stage they were ostensibly legitimate, for the dispute was then almost entirely a subject of diplomatic conversations by leading European Powers engaged in search for a basis of peaceful settlement. Since Signor Mussolini had hindered the progress of League inquiry, this separate search—separate until it could produce something likely to be of use at Gfeneva —wasvirtually compelled. In the course of :it Signor Mussolini exerted pressure on one of the Powers in conference— France. His endeavours were countered by British insistence and French • realisation that the dispute must eventually come to League adjudication, unless an agreement satisfactory to Abyssinia, the other disputant, could be quickly reached. The conversations, whatever their worth, failed to obviate direct recourse to the League. Soon the position was no changed that the provisions of the Covenant were applied, and after much loss of time, a delay to which Italian pressure on France doubtless contributed, the Council and the Assembly decided to invoke the power to impose sanctions, France concurring. But Italy did not thereupon cease to use suasion with France. Justification for this persistence can be claimed, for although the decision to impose sanctions had been reached the door to negotiations was not finally closed. It could not be : the resort to sanctions was meant to bring Italy to reason. However, as Italian pressure on France was now designed to defeat the aim of the League, to which France was thenceforth committed, any yielding by France to Italian influence amounted to betrayal of the League. Has France so yielded 1 ? It is held, on current rumour, that she has. Certain facts, as far as they can be followed, point that way. The Italian Government, still regarding France as the sheet-anchor of its hope to defy the League, has proceeded to play upon French fears of Germany; notifying France of Italian misgivings about national ability to defend the Brenner Pass—the great 1 gateway sicross the Alps, south of a narrow strip of Austria, into Italy—on the security of which France has demilitarised her Italian frontier, and asking what help France can send to the spot. This is the kind of move Italy can be expected to make. It has a manifest weakness. The Brenner Pass is 200 miles or so distant by travel from the FrancoItalian frontier, and German assault upon France that way means a considerable traversing of Italian territory after invasion. Consequently, only by partial subdual of Italy can Germany threaten France. But the purport of the notification and inquiry is probably to emphasise the Franco-Italian agreement of friendship negotiated last January; under the guise of a need for that friendship, rather than as a warning of French vulnerability, an appeal for continued accord is made. Calm thought in France could dispose of the appeal very quickly. But where fears of Germany are involved France in seldom capable of calm thought, and the diplomatic ruse, while it may not altogether succeed, is calculated to present yet another temptation to put French need of Italian friendship before loyalty to the League. Apart from this fresh effort by Italy to drive a wedge between France and the League—particularly between France and Britain as the strongest exponent of League principles!—the stories of weakening among League members are to be discredited. France, it is true, may still be wondering whether it is quite impossible to run with the Italian , hare ancl hunt with the League hounds, but if she takes the long view thai; British statesmanship has advised E.he must realise that safety will most surely come by staying with the pack. One rumoured sign of French betrayal of the League has disappeared at M. Laval's denial of the report that he has made proposals to Italy in the last few days, Had he done so, he would have violated the right that, with his concurrence, the

League has assumed; it is no longer a right possessed by any individual member, although each may take steps within the League to promote a settlement ending the ,war. There remains, nevertheless, an anxiety about the trustworthiness of France as a pledged participant in sanctions against Italy. Sir Austen Chamberlain, whose word carries a weight practically official, has put this anxiety plainly, expressing pained astonishment at the "apparent hesitation" of the French Government: "the British reply to the question whether she would bo prepared to maintain the Covenant leaves no doubt, but the French reply is doubtful." His words have since been given official force in the British Note to France. The doubt refers to military sanctions ; on economic and financial sanctions France is now unequivocally pledged. It is to be noted thfit the question of military sanctions has not yet arisen. They may be in the offing, but there is insufficient ground, as yet, for charging France with breach of obligations. The utmost blame due has reference to tardiness in reaching a decision against Italy and a hesitation to support promptly the British plan of boycott now before a sub-com-mittee. This attitude is disappointing but not actually culpable. France, however, must speedily give up all looking for emergency exits, and she has good reason to remember that only within the League can she keep the full friendship of the Little Fntente, as important to her as the friendship of Italy. In the meantime, the League front is not seriously broken, and its campaign for peace goes on.