Evening star., 1935-09-01
BRITAIN SEEKS i. S. AID
TO SAVE COLONIAL EMPIRE
Unprepared to Oppose Italy Alone and
Unable to Enlist Support Of France
and Russia, She Calls ON America.
BY FRANK HI. SIMONDS.

to remember the fashion IN
which British propaganda was
L employed during the World
War in an effort to bring the United
States into the struggle on the allied
side will discover an admirable ex-
ample of that enterprise in British
performance at the present time. Be-
tween 1914 and 1917, that is, while
we were still neutral, Great Britain
was fighting for its life in Europe.
Once the battle of the Marne had been
fought and the campaign in Flanders
had begged down in mud and fog, it
became plain that the conflict would
be long drawn out, although 1t was
not until 1877 that Englishmen began
to realize that it might be lost.
Naturally and accurately, the British
perceived that the entrance of the
United States into the conflict upon
the allied side would not merely de-
eide the issue, but would inevitably
shorten the struggle which was i'm
posing upon them a frightful toll of
blood and treasure. Before the sink
ing of the Lusitania it had seemed
possible that in defense of its neutral
rights the American Government
might come to blows with the allies
after that event the only question was
whether we should remain neutral or
Join the allies.
Reminded of Duty.
The case which the British pre-
sented to the United States was based
upon the assumption that the war
between the allies and the central
powers was a conflict between de-
mocracy and autocracy. between lib
erty and tyranny, between law and
violence. America, as democracy
as a lover of liberty. as a champion
of international law, was thus re-
minded that her duty to all these
things could be fulfilled only if she
Joined Britain and its associates who
were fighting as democracies against
autocracies for the rights of small
peoples and in defense of international
law.
The war itself was represented as
the result of the deliberate decision Of
the Kaiser, the invasion of Belgium
was employed as a means OF con-
victing the Germans alike of the
purpose to destroy the independence
of that small state and of disregard
for treaty obligations which made
them a menace to all mankind. Amer
ica's duty to democracy compelled
her to fight, her continued failure
to enlist constituted a betrayal of
the principles which all Americans
had long and loudly professed. Will
sons "too proud to fight" speech be-
came at once the text of British
publicity seeking to arouse the Amer
lean people against the neutrality
policy of their own Government.
Again in Difficulties.
Two decades later, the present day
sees Great Britain again in difficult
situation. The Italian purpose in
East Africa has for Great Britain
quite obviously unpleasant implica-
tions. How unpleasant these are may
be judged from the fact that nearly
40 years ago, when French expe-
dition headed by Marchand appeared
on the Nile, after Kitchener had
conquered the Sudan at Omdurman,
the British, with brutal frankness,
bade the French quit Fashoda or fight.
And the British government of that
hour was prepared to fight because
the French expedition had estab-
lished itself upon the Cape-to-Cairo
road Of British imperialism.
Today the Italian venture prom
ises, on the one hand, to establish
Italy on the flank Of this same Cape
to-Cairo road and, on the other, to
create a great colonial possession
on the most important of all British
lines of imperial communication, that
which runs through the Red Sea from
England to India and Australia. In
addition, the repercussions of the
prospective conflict between Italy and
Ethiopia among the native races
subject to British rule may be con-
siderable and costly. Thus, while the
stake of England in the present Sit
uation is by no means as large as
1t was in the World. War, it is far
from inconsiderable.
AirpIanes Change Situation.
In 1885, moreover, it is not possible
for the British to deal with Italy as
they dealt with France in 1898 for
number of reasons. In the first place,
the introduction of aircraft has revo-
lutionized the entire situation. A
generation ago the British Mediter-
ranean fleet was in a position to
dominate the inland sea and at the
same time to hold France at bay in
the Atlantic and the Channel. But
now Italian aircraft could forbid the
use of the Mediterranean by British
=, merchant ships and bomb Malta out
of existence into the bargain. In the
second place, while France was handi-
capped by the enduring hostility
awakened in Germany by her re-
fusal to accept the loss Of Alsace-
Lorraine as def1nitive, no similar re-
straint operates to check Italy today.
Besides, after the various limitations
imposed upon the British navy by the
several conferences, it does not feel
able to undertake task so heavy as
that Of trying to keep open the road
to the Far East by Gibraltar, Malta
and Suez.
To make war upon Italy in order to
preserve the security Of British i'm
perial interests is thus held to be out
Of the question by the present British
government, If Britain is to be forced
to act alone as she was, in fact, ready
to do In the Fashoda crisis. Quite
naturally therefore the British have
turned to the League Of Nations and
: undertaken to employ the machinery
, OF Geneva to safeguard their interests.
Legally, too, they have as good a case
against Italy in the matter Of Ethiopia
as they had against Germany in that
Of Belgium, for Mussolini, like William
II, is at one time flouting treaty law
and engaging in an enterprise Of plain
aggression.
Italy's Withdrawal Feared.
Unluckily for the British, however,
the League is not available for effec-
five action To watch over British rights