M. Daladier Speaks Plainly

Southland Times, Issue 23781, 31 March 1939, Page 6

M. Daladier Speaks Plainly

CABLE messages from Paris, printed this morning, suggest that the danger of a Mediterranean crisis is less acute than it has been for some time past. The Prime Minister’s broadcast reply to Signor Mussolini provides an interesting and significant contrast to the anxiously-awaited Rome speech. It is concise and detached, free from bitterness and bluster, and it focuses public attention on vital aspects which have been obscured by controversy. His strongest point is that the Italian demands have not yet been framed precisely through the proper diplomatic channels. “Reiterating that Italy’s claims remain unspecified,” runs the message, “M. Daladier said that no one could argue that they had been presented by newspaper articles or street cries.” This draws attention to what may prove the fundamental weakness

in Signor Mussolini’s position. The tactics of fascist aggression are now well known. They begin with the exploitation of minority grievances and are carried towards a crisis on waves of propaganda and mass emotion. So far these tactics have been noticeably successful. But it can be pointed out that in every case they have succeeded only where they have been used by a powerful nation against a much weaker one. When he confronts France with demands shouted in the streets and accompanied by sabre-rattling and insults, Signor Mussolini is not facing a small and frightened nation crouching just over the frontier. The campaign of terrorism and bluff that succeeded against Sudetenland would be ineffectual against a powerful democracy. Moreover, the Italians have now lost the advantage of surprise. The initial agitation subsided, and before it could be renewed Herr Hitler was demonstrating that the real strength of the Rome-Berlin axis was in Central Europe. Every new act of Nazi aggression has stiffened the opposition of Britain and France and made them less willing to take notice of demands backed up by threats of military action. Signor Mussolini’s recent speech had more than a tinge of anticlimax. By brushing aside the attempts to create an artificial crisis M. Daladier is forcing Italy to descend from “noisy claims” to the more prosaic methods of negotiation. And he has announced in advance that France has no intention of ceding “an inch of territory.” Unless the Rome-Berlin axis is much stronger than seems probable in the light of recent events, there is justification for the hope that this time the method of bluff and bluster will be unsuccessful.