Evening star., 1935-10-20

Great Britain with such aid as it
can muster among League nations
can doubtless crush Italy as Germany
was crushed in the last World War.
But the ultimate consequence of such
an operation must be not to restore q
democratic Italy but to insure a Com
munist nation. And while this proc
ess of destruction is going on Europe
will be shaken by a fresh German
enterprise designed to undo the effects
of that war which was to end war
and autocracy at a single blow.
Moving Toward Major Conflict.
AS long as any part Of American
public opinion harbors the delusion
that there is any peaceful way to
coerce a nation at war, which has
staked its all upon the outcome of
that war, so long Judgment upon this
side Of the Atlantic will be obscured.
What has to be faced today is the
fact that in order to punish Italy for
precipating a minor war, the League
of Nations, under the leadership Of
Great Britain, is moving steadily
toward producing a major conflict.
AS to what Fascist Italy has done
and is doing in Africa it is easy for
the moralist to find unlimited reasons
for indictment and condemnation.
Nevertheless the realiSt Is bound to
recognize the problem of whether the
League of Nations, which was estab-
lished to prevent war, should be en-
ployed to make war even In order to
punish what it could not prevent.
Moreover, this situation arises from
the fact that two governments, the
Italian and the British, have en-
barked their domestic political for
tunes upon conflicting policies and
are now committed to the point where
withdrawal must produce a crisis Of
regime for the former and an elec-
toral disaster for the latter.
In the earlier stages of the present
affair completely mistaken view pre-
vailed in London and Rome. The
British were unable to believe that
Mussolini would dare to go through
with his enterprise once the British
had taken a stand against it. The
Italians did not even suspect that
British opposition would 60 beyond
The limits already traced in the Man.
churian episode. Accordingly when
Sir Samuel Hoare INDUCED in his
significantly warning speech before
the League, England was astounded
because Mussolini did not stop and
Italy was unmoved because 1t &C
cepted the utterance as words and
only words.
II Duce Unable to Retract.
On this point Italian public opinion
was quickly disillusioned when the
British feet was rushed to the Medi-
terranean. But British astonishment
was not less complete because II Duce,
even in the face of the most colossal
threat of postwar history, continued
with his enterprise. And he con-
tinued because the time had long
passed when he could conceivably re-
tract. If the British had been able to
bring themselves to take Mussolini's
Ethiopian enterprise seriously last
Winter and had made their warnings
sufficiently explicit without putting
Mussolini on the spot publicly, some
thing might have been accomplished.
Then he might have held the risks
too great and dismissed his dream.
But when he had established ESQ.,
600 troops on African soil, strained
the slender financial resources of his
country to the breaking point. reused
the nationalistic spirit Of his people
to the point Of frenzy, then there
was no longer any possibility of his
giving way. for surrender then would
have revealed imperial and Fascist
Italy as no more than the servant Of
British policy.
Now such hope as exists in the
that punitive opera
tions of Geneva will not, thanks to
British inpulsion, end in another
world war must rest with France.
Only the French in all this confused
situation are actually working for
peace. But their efforts are fright
fully handicapped by the fact that
they are so anxious to insure British
support in the war with Germany
which they see just over the horizon
that they are not ready to interpose
decisive opposition to British policy
In respect to Italy. Again and again
the French are being tempted by
fresh British concessions in the way
Of promises of cooperation against
Germany in return for French sup
port against Italy. But when all Is
said and done I do not believe that
the French will permit themselves
to be dragged into an Anglo-Italian
war fought in the name Of the League
Of Nations.
If the British continue to push the
League forward along the pathway Of
coercion Italian resentment and pas
sion will be correspondingly exacer-
bated and the chances of an incident
will be steadily increased. So far
Mussolini has been able to keep the
situation admirably in hand. But If
privation and distress in the penin-
sula follow the application Of sane
tons, the Italian people will charge
the responsibility for their sufferings
to the British and hatred of Eng
land will rise to dangerous pitch.
In the same way delay or defeat in
Ethiopia will be charged to British
and material to
the Ethiopians.
That is the direction in which
events are now headed, that is what
will happen If the Tory government
In England, driven on the one hand
BY its electoral anxieties and ON the
other by its imperial concerns, goes
10 the length of forcing the imposi-
ton Of really effective sanctions upon
italy. So far 1t has left a door open
'or retreat. Once it has established
n the minds of the British champions
of the League the belief that it has
lone its best but, owing to the re-
.usal Of the United States, Germany
md Yanan tn ioin in economic pres.