Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-04-26
BRITAIN SLOW TO RESENT
: TTALY'S TSANA CONQUEST
Possibility England Could Take Re-
sponsibility for Closing Suez Under
League Order Doubted.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.


TINE collapse of Ethiopia's resist
ance has once more moved the
political storm center from the
Rhine and the Amur River to
the shores of the Eastern Mediter-
ranean.
the hands of the Geneva diplomats.
The real struggle at last has come to
the surface! It is the struggle be-
tween Britain. the old colonial empire,
and Italy, the rising Mediterranean
power.
The occupation of the Tsana Lake
by Marshal Badoglio's forces three
weeks ago was the most severe slap in
the face the British have received in
a century. When the Italian flag was
unfurled on the shores of that British
reservation. the world expected to hear
the lion roar, but he merely groaned.
Twice during the last SO years at
tempts were made by outside powers to
break into the exclusive British zone
of influence on the shores of the Nile.
In 1900, when the intrepid French
colonial officer, Capt Jean Baptiste
Marchand, accompanied by handful
of African soldiers, hoisted the French
flag at Fashoda. little town on the
White Nile, the British did not hesitate
to threaten the French with 'imme-
diate action" And while acrimonious
diplomatic conversations were pro-
ceeding In Paris between Premier Del
prif icl,
sador down in the Sudan Sirdar
Kitchener proceeded with large force
to Fashoda and ordered the daring
Frenchman to get out in Is hours or
he would attack And Marchand got
out without murmur.
Concession Given for Dam.
Twenty-Seven years later, J. G.
White, New York engineering firm,
obtained from Halle Selassie a conces-
sion to build a dam to regulate the
waters of the Blue Nile. which starts
its winding course from the Tsana
Lake in Ethiopia. The British press
and the British government denounced
this concession as a blow aimed at
the heart of Britain's African empire
plan rulers attention to, the treaty of
1902, in which his uncle, Menelik
promised that no dam should be built
without the consent and cooperation
of the British. And spokesman of
the foreign Office emphasized to the
press that 1T is the intention Of the
British government to have no nation
D,-;ta ~, nttill
dam across the Blue Nile"
1T is automatic" he sand. that
Egypt depends upon the waters of the
Nile for her very existence. The Nile
likewise is vital factor in the pros
perity of the Sudan. Abyssinia agreed
80 years ago that the British govern
ment shall build the canal and the
British government intends to build it."
Backed by the State Department,
the J. G. White concern proceeded
with its plans for construction of the
dam with the thought that eventually
some compromise would be reached
with the British government. The fall
in the price of cotton made this firm
less enthusiastic about the exclusive
ness of the concession and persuaded
them to talk business with the British
through the Ethiopian government.
The Italians, with three full divi-
sions and flock of airplanes, now
have challenged the British exclusive
ness" in Eastern Africa and have actu-
ally occupied the lake which controls
the waters of the Nile.
London was stunned by Mussolinis
daring action, but so far the foreign
Office has said little
Fleet Sent to Mediterranean.
Soon after the outbreak of hostili-
ties between Italy and Ethiopia, the
British government rushed to the
Eastern Mediterranean the bulk of its
fleet-some 100 war vessels. The
British garrison in Egypt which. &C
cording to the treaty of 1923 between
the Egyptians and the British govern
ments, should have been maintained
with 1000 men, including the avia-
ton, to be stationed at Ismailia for
the protection of the SueZ Canal, was
increased by some $4,000 men. Regi-
ments from the Highlands and the
Midlands, with all their modern war
paraphernalia, were dispatched post
haste to Sudan and the Egyptian
Libyan border. Alexandria and Haifa
became the principal war harbors of
the British Navy, while new airdromes
we're built to accommodate the $50
fighting planes rushed to protect
Britain's historical rights and privi-
leges against the unwelcome Fascist
tntruders.
The British lion has been roaring
since last October, but when the
Italians entered his den he did not
bite.
In Washington the silence of the
British is well understood. Mussolini
has wounded them deeply, but Great
Britain is not yet ready for reprisals.
Until a few months ago officers of
the American and European general
STATS smiled somewhat scornfully
when the Italian Army was mentioned.
That smile has disappeared now.
Eighty per cent of II Duce's troops in
Ethiopia were young Fascist militia
men, enthusiastic but unseasoned. |
The air force was large one-some-
thing like 500 airplanes-but these
were obsolete and ready for the Junk
heap in the event of a war in Europe.
The tanks, too, were of the World
War type-heavy, clumsy things.
equipped with machine guns moving
only on a 30-degree angle. Seven of
these were caught by Selassies war
riors and destroyed with hand
grenades.
Success Believed Impossible.
Yet with these comparatively pood
war machines and with the young
and untried troops, Marshal Badoglio
and Gen. GRAHAM achieved a sue
cess which no strategist in Europe or
the United States believed possible
the conquest Of Ethiopia in six
months. And there Is no doubt that
Selassie's fighters-about 100000 men
put up a gallant and desperate re-
sistance in spite Of their lack of air.