THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1938 DISCORD FROM ITALY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23212, 5 December 1938, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1938 DISCORD FROM ITALY

Apprehensions will be generally felt lest Italy's brazen campaign for territorial revision in the Mediterranean should prejudice Mr. Chamberlain's efforts for European appeasement by the conclusion of a Four-Power Pact bringing Britain, France, Germany and Italy into more amicable relations. In spite of some jolts due to Herr Hitler's Saarbrucken speech and the Nazi excesses against the Jews, the policy of appeasement had seemed to be succeeding. Following upon the agreement at Munich between Mr. Chamberlain and Herr Hitler came a rapprochement between France and Germany, this being the most promising move of all as offering a prospect of ending the ancient feud across the Rhine. Actually the signing of a Franco-German agreement is still planned to take place at Paris to-morrow. Simultaneously the relations between Britain and Italy and France and Italy had seemed to be definitely improving. The Anglo-Italian Treaty was finally made operative and a French Ambassador, M. Poncet, was once again stationed in Rome, both acts involving recognition of the Italian conquest of Abyssinia. M. Poncet was to follow up this opening in Rome by negotiating for a Mediterranean settlement on the lines of the Anglo-Italian Treaty. So the way seemed to be clearing for a Western European concert of the four Powers that would have laid at rest the terrible fears of recent weeks, and months and years, and led on to some measure of armament reduction. Now —led by the Italian Foreign Minister, Count Ciano — comes a discordant chorus from Rome ostensibly directed against Paris but apparently calculated to disturb the growing harmony. Knowing Italian propagandist methods, the world cannot help but regard the agitation with profound disappointment and discouragement.

How far Count Ciano's speech to the Chamber of Deputies gave an unofficial lead to the Italian demonstrators against France and the popular shout for "Tunis, Corsica and Nice," does not appear. Yet such ebullitions do not occur by accident in dictator States. At present, also, it must be regarded as uncertain whether Italy is using the campaign as a pawn in the current diplomatic moves, or whether she is in fact setting up new Imperial objectives. She made a settlement with France through M. Laval in January, 1935, which secured her territories in Libya, Somaliland and the Red Sea and re-defined the status of her 95,000 nationals in French Tunis. M. Laval was said even to have let Italy understand that she could pursue her aspirations in Abyssinia, but France's subsequent share in imposing sanctions was held by Signor Mussolini to have cancelled out these substan- [ tial concessions. Even so, after the Abyssinian affair, II Duce said that in future Italy ranked among the "satisfied Powers," a declaration since discounted by his activities in Spain and the Balearic Islands. Moreover his inexplicable complaisance in Germany's advance to the Brenner Pass by the rape of Austria, and his support of Herr Hitler in the annexation of Sudetenland, suggested that he must expect some quid pro quo. Is it true that the Berlin-Rome axis has defined spheres of influence, Germany to be predominant on the Danube and Italy in the Mediterranean 1 The recent course of events in Central Europe, as the cablegrams note, suggests an affirmative answer. With Germany fully occupied for the time being in consolidating her gains, it may be Italy's turn to play an. active part in the game of aggrandisement by threats. Japan, the third party in the anti-Communist Pact, continues to provide distractions for Britain and France in the Far East, and at both exits to the Mediterranean, in Spain and Palestine, serious problems remain unsolved. Maybe Signor Mussolini hopes again to fish successfully in troubled waters.

Two of the demands shouted at Rome—for Nice and Corsica—appear too outrageous to be taken seriously. Nice with Savoy was conveyed to France in 1860 in exchange for French assistance in the achievement of Italian unity. A sore point is that Nice gave birth to Garibaldi, but then a great French tradition in Napoleon sprang from the soil of Corsica. His family helped to make Corsica a Department of France at the Revolution in 1789. Certainly Corsica lies somewhat awkwardly for Italy, closing the Ligurian Sea, from whoso shores rise Genoa and the Italian naval base of Spezia. But the island is almost as close to the French naval base of Toulon. It may have belonged to Genoa for centuries, but has been in French hands now for 170 years. While, therefore, Italian claims to Nice and Corsica may be considered as makeweights, her interest in Tunis, the land of ancient Carthage, is another and more serious matter. Bismarck encouraged the French to take over Tunis in 1881, believing it would make bad blood between them and the Italians. He has been proved right, although friction was reduced by the Franco-Italian conventions of 1896 and 1935. The fact remains that Italy, disappointed in the possibilities of Libya, casts envious eyes on the comparative fertility of Tunis, where 95,000 of her nationals are established and are now organised in the Fascist fashion. The Mediterranean, especially the eastern end, would be in a fair way to becoming "mare nostrum" ("our sea" in the Italian sense) if Signor Mussolini could induce France to vacate Tunis. Whether he has any such immediate objective or whether he is merely raising awkward questions to serve present diplomatic ends remains to be seen..