MR. EDEN CHOSEN

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1935, Page 5

MR. EDEN CHOSEN

FOREIGN SECRETARY HIS OLD POST ELIMINATED REACTION ON CONTINENT SUPPORT OF SANCTIONS ITALIANS NOT PLEASED By Telegraph—Press Assn. Copyright. Rec. 8 p.m. London, Dec. 22. Mr. R. A. Eden has been appointed Foreign .Secretary in succession to Sir Samuel Hoare, who resigned a week ago. Mr. Eden’s former post of Minister of League Affairs will not be filled, thereby eliminating the system of duality at the Foreign Office carried on by Sir Samuel Hoare and Mr. Eden. . ( Italy mistrustfully views Mr. Edens appointment as rendering a conciliatoiy conclusion to the crisis more remote, but Berlin is pleased that Sir Austen Chamberlain has not been appointed owing to his pro-French leanings. A Paris cable states that Mr. Eden s appointment had a lukewarm reception. Official circles would have preferred Sir Austen Chamberlain, but the Left Wing is delighted, inferring that Britain intends to continue the 100 per cent. League gospel, ending M. Laval s semisecret flirtation, with Signor Mussolini. League circles welcome the appointment as auguring well for sanctions. The ! Constantinople correspondent of the Times says that the Turks were greatly impressed and satisfied with Turkey’s decision in agreement with other signatories to the Balkan Pact to support Britain in the event of an Italian attack on her in the Mediterranean. Turkish opinion from the outset has overwhelmingly supported Abyssinia, especially in view of Turkey’s suspicions that Italy harboured hostile designs on Anatolia. FIRM STAND ADMIRED. Britain’s firm stand in the dispute was warmly admired and the appointment of Mr; R. A. Eden as Foreign Secretary fully restores Ottoman confidence in British uprightness. An Athens cable states that the British Minister, Mr. S. P. P. Waterlow, conferred with the Prime Minister, M. D. Jemerdis, who emphasised his desire to adhere to the pledges under the League Covenant. Greece had been asked to send warships .if the need arises, and to allow the British fleet to use Navarino and Crete as a base.

With the exception of the News Chronicle, which maintains that modem .conditions are essential for Foreign Secretaries’ travel, neither the Government nor the Opposition newspapers shed tears at the ending of dual control in the Foreign Office. Mr. Eden’s appointment was no surprise but is regarded as another indication that Mr. Baldwin is going his own way, for as the Manchester Guardian points out, Mr. Eden’s choice will be more to the liking of the country than to many Conservatives with whom Sir Austen Chamberlain’s appointment would have been popular. Mr. Baldwin needed to do something popular with his followers. Recalling that Mr. Eden initialled the notorious telegram to the Emperor Haile Selassie urging the peace plan the Manchester Guardian points out tha* he did so as a subordinate, “but now that he is the principal maybe he will be true to his own instinct and convictions. Consequently we should not have a British policy completely reversing as a fortnight ago.” Mr. Eden is the youngest Foreign Secretary since Mr. Granville in 1851. ACCURATE ANSWER. Applauding the appointment the Tidies says: “The objection to a temporary appointment pending other Cabinet changes was that it might mean a lack of authority which is peculiarly needed at a time when it is of the first importance to reassert the continuity and stability of the foreign policy and consolidate the new confidence at home and abroad in the share in common international action which Britain is prepared to take. Mr. Eden’s promotion answers accurately the requirements of public and parliamentary opinion. With .Mr. Eden’s appointment the Government can go forward again, newly and firmly authorised by public opinion in support of the two-fold policy of resolutely maintaining a common front against the aggressor and finding means of ending an unwarranted and disastrous war by peaceful settlement." It is assumed Mr. Eden will go to Geneva less frequently, Lord Cranboane carrying out most of the routine work there. Sir Austen Chamberlain’s visit to Mr. Baldwin on Saturday led to reports that he had been offered the Foreign Office, which Sir Austen denied. British diplomacy will in future tend to be conducted more and more through ambassadorial conversations in the pre-war manner. “With Mr. Eden’s appointment the Government’s climb-down after its betrayal of the League is complete, for it is an open secret that Mr. Eden resisted Sir Samuel Hoare and M. Laval in the evolution of their plan and headed the revolt of the younger Ministers which culminated in Sir Samuel Hoare’s resignation,” says the News Chronicle. BRITAIN’S "HOSTILITY.” Tire Rome correspondent of the Times says the appointment is taken in Italy as further unmistakeable evidence of Britain’s deliberate hostility to Italian ambitions and policy. Mr.’ Eden for months has been upheld in an almost daily obloquy by the Press and almost no rumour was considered too fantastic to be promulgated as an illustration of his supposed animosity to Italy and alleged personal differences with Signor Mussolini. The appointment was inevitably interpreted as meaning that Britain is more deeply than ever committed to sanctions, while the appointment is re-

garded as shattering any early peace compromise. Further uneasiness has been aroused by the British soundings of the Mediterranean States. Mr. Eden at the age of 17 joined the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1915, became a captain, won the Military Cross, and saw a good deal of service in the Near East, where he became interested in Oriental languages. Back to civil life in 1919, he entered Oxford University, where he specialised in Eastern languages, winning first-class honours, the highest possible scholastic attainment. Mr. Eden immediately turned to politics upon receiving his degree, was elected a member of Parliament as a Conservative, and made his debut in international affairs when he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Foreign Secretary, Sir Austen Chamberlain. When the National Government swept the polls he became Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs and made distinctly more of the position than any of his predecessors. He accompanied Sir John Simon, Foreign Secretary, on many missions to Geneva, and when Sir John was not able. to leave London the task of representing Great Britain was shifted to the shoulders of Mr. Eden. His reputation increased swiftly. Mr. Eden’s Parliamentary training served him in good stead, he has become known as one of the best debaters at Geneva, and he has shown himself a patient negotiator and a hard worker. He was given a seat in the Cabinet when he was appointed Minister in charge of League Affairs, a newly-creat-t ed role.