Evening star., 1927-04-17
ITALO-HUNCARIAN TREATY
HOLDS THREAT FOR SLAVS
Aspects of FrancO-MussOlini Tension
Seen in Present Situation, But War
Is Held Impossible.

may. too. turn her back upon both
Italy and France and line up with
Russia. while France ard -t2Ir may
be drawn together
Game Is One for Points.
The game which is being played In
Europe at the moment. despite ali the
outward signs and passiny crises, is
not very serious because " IS a game
for points played by statesmen Who
know that their countries cannot afford
to go to war. IL is a maueuver for
position and for prestige. Muss0liui
gains Importance at home and attracts
attention abroad by this series Of ar
rangements. Italy is in the limeIight
and Italian pride is pleased. And
Count Bethlen forces Hungary upon
European attention by similar tactics.
Before the World War the great
powers Of Europe had pooled their Is
sues in two great combinations, Ger
man and auu-Germau For 10 years
before the conflict. the unity of the
respective coalitions became greater
and greater And the smaller powers
little by little were drawn into the
orbits Of these two great combna-
tions. But the postwar period has
seen the complete destruction Of the
rope has been reduced % its com
ponent national elements again.
What lis significant. too, is that
while so far nothing has happened
10 show what new alignments are to
come. cOncOmitant with the various
national maneuvers. French, Italia
and British, there is also taking place
an effort to prevent the creation Of
new coalitions altogether and 10 estah.
lish at Geneva real concert Of
Europe
At the moment. on the continent at
least France stands forth as the
champion Of the league idea. Italy
as the opponent, while Britain accepts
the league i'm principle, but in practice
recognizes its present limitations. And
perhaps the most significant circum-
stance Of the recent Italian Hungarian
treaty is the fact that it has ignored
the League.
league Seen As Experiment
Bethlen and Mussolini in ignoring
the League have certainly undertaken
to weaken its prestige, But perhaps
for different reasons. MussoIini and
all his associates regard the League as
a mere experiment in futile ideailsm.
Mussolini believes that force will
determine the future as the past.
BethIen has a little different point of
view. Nevertheless at Geneva his
personal experience has been un-
pleasant. Therefore the Magyar
prime minister naturally felt no deep
regret at being persuaded by Musso-
lini to deal the League an oblque blow
But the whole episode would he
trivial did it not supply such an adj
mirable means Of examining the pres
sent situation in Europe AS a factor
In permanent European relations the
treaty Of Rome was dead almost st
the moment ii was signed TIE
larger purpose was served when
European capitals began to debate it.
Bethlen and Mussolini acquired neces-
sary prestige because their official
press was able 10 point with pride
to this new evidence of activity on the
part of their national leaders.
Ii is true that looking TO q remote
future there is a certain basis for com
mon concern in Budapest and in
Rome. If Russia should one day re-
turn to her traditional nationalistic
policies. if she should again adopt g
pan-Slav conception. then Hungary
would find herself between the mass
Of eastern Slavs and the solid bloc
of southern. She would then be IN
danger Of being crushed between the
two. And in the same fashion Italy
would be menaced by the arrival of n
vast pan-Slav state at the eastern
coast of the Adriatic.
War Impossible Now.
Were it possible to arrive at some
real adjustment between the Hum
garians and the Rumanians. then and
only then would any real obstacle be
raised to any future eruption of pan
Slavism into the center and southeast
of Europe. 1t is the perception of
this fact which has probably ac-
counted for frequent rurnoTs i'm past
months that there might be some
union between Hungary and Rumania,
the formation of another dual mon
archy. BUT despite the advantages for
both states the chances of such a COM
bination remain remote
The present truth about Europe,
about all European states, big and it,
tie, is that war is impossible because
all lack the financial resources requisite
for supporting the costs of conflict
and in all public sentiment is such
that no statesman would venture 10
run the risks incident 10 assuming re-
sponsibility for an actual outbreak OF
hostilities.
But within these fixed limits all the
various statesmen are maueuvering
for personal and national prestige
The Italian recognition of Rumanian
title TO Bessarabia. Mussolini's treaty
with Hungary, Jugoslavia's s protest
over the treaty of Thrana, British &C
tivity in Poland, French operations at
Geneva. all of these circumstances are
details in the great game Of European
rivalry
And the one reassuriuG circuni-
stance is the rapidity with which ma
tions change sides and exchange part.
ners If France and Italy are rivals
in the Balkans and opponents in the
Mediterranean, they are agreed in de-
clinlng Anglo-American advice about
naval disarmament And Ii at mo.
ments the language used in various
capitals is reminiscent of pre-war
days, all responsible statesmen in an
capitals are equally dominated bv the
perception that war is for their ma
tions out of the question If they are
not too proud to fight all are too
poor to fight, and all know it equally
well.
fCopyrght. 1877