ISOLATION FOR BRITAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1935, Page 11

ISOLATION FOR BRITAIN

PLEA OF BEAVERBROOK CAN THE EMPIRE STAND' ALOOF? ' '■ ' WOULD PERISH WITH LEAGUE. W * — The London Daily Express of Septem- '■ ber 24 carried a special front page editorial on the Italian crisis by its owner, Lord Beaverbrook, entitled, “We Have Risked Enough.” In it the point of view . '' so often put forward by Lord Beaverbrook is advanced again, namely, that ’.d Britain should withdraw from the politi- , ; cat complications of Europe and from the League of Nations, says a.writer in the , Winnipeg Free Press. Suggesting that the League would split - on the question of sanctions against Italy,?-. - and that «Germany, Japan and the United States will not “support economic sane- ; tions,” Lord Beaverbrook asks if in-such circumstances it is “conceivable that Bri- . - tain will make any progress in the direction of peace by almost single-handed use of this instrument.” He then asks if it is not time to say that “we have spent enough of our energy on the League of Nations, that we cut ourself free from those troubles with a clear conscience, and that the time has come when :we . ;.... must devote -our attention to pur own business, our own Empire, and,the wel- j fare and happiness of our own people?" The curious view put forward with ap- 1 • ? parent seriousness by Lord Beaverbrook is that Britain can enjoy the benefits of her Empire without accepting responsi- ’■' < bility for what is going on in the rest of the world; Europe in particular. Such energy as England has spent ’in the League, and in the Italian crisis, Lord Beaverbrook regards as a sort of voluntary offering on the part of Hhe British- - Government in matters which do not really concern it; and having reasoned ' and pleaded unsuccessfully with the Italians and other League members on the question at issue, Britain, he urges, should now announce that she is bored by the hopeless wrangle, and retire to - a . useful life with her own dependencies ‘ and Dominions. . ■ TERRITORIES REMAIN. Unfortunately for Lord Beaverbrooks idea the territories of -the British Empire' ' cannot be extracted from the geographic- ' ■ al surroundings and. segregated as a unit of any description—political - or economic. The geography in which, the Empire is embedded gives everything which goes on in that geography*' not only a real; but a vital, perhaps a fateful, interest for England. How could England retire witn a tired yawn from the present Italian ad- \ * venture when the locale of that adven- 7 \ lure is the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez - Canal, and the Red Sea? ■ <■ , Lord would, agree-that for the Empire to enjoy its own resources and advantages it is necessary to keep the Spez route Open to British. Imperial .’. interests. Does he suggest that if Eng- . . land withdrew from European politics . # she could- keep the Mediterranean Sea as ° • the British Lake'which it now is? _ It would be interesting if Lord Beaverbrook would work out his ideas in detail, -'if 1 he did'so, it might become apparent why / the’ alleged blessings of isolation from Europe have so little charm for British Governments. r , It would also become a little clearer/ 7 too, why Britain, so far from -withdraw'-. . ing from, the. League,. is .working it in the closest relationship. In taking this enlightened course she is choosing, from - the viewpoint of; even, the keenest realist in foreign affairs,-the-better path? What * is .essential to .an effective international settlement by which ■ peace . really, willbe guaranteed -is 'a- mutual ■' equilibrium agreed upon and accepted by the European nations. The Italian attack on Ethiopia is, in. one of its aspects, an indication that such an equilibrium does not exist, and it is also, to some extent, an attempt on dhe part of Italy to >, the international balance-to a greater de-* : gree in her favour.' ■- IMPORTANCE TO ENGLAND. 1 , Such a rearrangement in such an area would obviously be of supreme import-j — ance to England; it would, bring'her into the situatioh in the fullest way hadi - , the League of Nations never existed, but / ■ the existence of the League, .together. . with the principles for which the League stands, albeit it is now undoubtedly rather draggled. by bad treatment, en- • ' ables Britain to deal with the crisis fran'fZ a much more broadly-based and imper- K sonal position, which is all to the good so far as the general problem is con- ;: . cerned, and to her own advantage so far asjher personal interests are at [stake: Lord Beaverbrook’s reading of the situ- ' ation is a strange tone. It is the Do- .■ -f minions, • - Canada •jn particular; - which ■ have the minimum ofgeographical inter-” est in Europe in the development of their national life, and it is their League mem- . bership and little else that brings them into the orbit of the ItSlo-Ethiopian ‘ crisis. -• " -T// The Dominions are in the. League, , strange as it may appear,-to further’the / - • disinterested ideal of world peace. EngL land’s connections and problems in , . Europe are not their problems, and-were • the League to vanish, and the ideal of > world peace vanish with it, Lord Beaverl brook might find that the influence had > also disappeared which brought the na- , tions of the Commonwealth together ; . . around a common table in the discussion r of world issues. » In siniple words—if the League vanished, the Empire might also vanish; a bjgr ger risk, indeed, than Lord Beaverbrook i has yet'discussed. ... This, no .doubt, is well understood in t London, wnere the emphasis on having 1 a League settlement of the Italian ques— - , lion is ,being steadily maintained.