Evening star., 1937-09-05
MEDITERRANEAN BOILING
WITH EUROPEAN RIVALRY
French and British Interests Under
Attack as Italy Challenges ''Middle
Sea" Control.
BY PERTINAX.
n OL1T1CAL parties in France
. and in England are taking
passionate interest in the


course of the Spanish civil
~ar-they are with Gen. Franco Or
with the government of Valencia The
hearts of men have been enlisted in
the cause of revolution or of counter
revolution, and both the French Quai
d'Orsay and the British foreign office
for over year have been hard put
to it to explain that policy of non-
intervention best suits the national
interests of France and Great Britain,
that both countries ought not to enter
the fight between communism" and
'fascism.'
Fascsm versus communism! 1t is
to be deplored that the Spanish situa-
tlon should have been described in
such deceptive terms-the very terms
of which such an extensive use has
been made by Hitlerian and Musso-
lnian propaganda.
The truth, of course, is that behind
that screen of words there has de-
Veloped contest between the two
great democratic nations on one side
for control of the western sector of
the Mediterranean.
Controlled Meditsrranean Till 1886.
Until the outbreak of the Spanish
civil war the British and French gov
ernments were in undisputed COM
mand of the middle sea-" Yes, un-
disputed command, if the experts are
to be trusted, notwithstanding the
fact that, in 1e35-36, Messrs. Baldwin
and Laval lacked the courage to assert
1t SO as to bring the Italian conquest
OF Abysslnia to an end and to vindi-
cate international law l have it from
very close observer of Mussolinis
movements during that critical period
mat despite his wild boasts he would
have surrendered if the oil supply had
been cut off.
In November, 1885. Augusta Rosso,
the eminent Ambassador of the Fascist
government in Washington, was in
despair about the attitude of the
united States, which then was dis
tmctly inclined to act in cooperation
with the League Of Nations and his
reports spread terror in Rome, But
the Duce gambled and won.
The abJect defeat to which the
League OF Nations had to submit in
the Spring and Summer of 1896: the
paSslVlty shown by the French and
BRITISH governments in March of the
same year when Adolf Hitler tore the
treaty OF Locarno to pieces; and the
loss OF authority and pestige they
consequently had to suffer throughout
europe; the bold interference of Ger
many and Italy in Spanish affairs and
the extensive landing of their vol
unteerS' on Spanish soil; the political
actlon OF Italy around the whole Medi-
terranean seaboard-all these things
nave gradually undermined Anglo
french hegemony.
Italians Occupy Majorca.
For the present let US overlook as
100 remote and uncertain the prospect
OF Spanish Fascist regime which
would enter into an active alliance
with Berlin and Rome and comnel
france, IN a crisis, to divert part of
i's lorces 10 the Pyrenean frontier. The
nara TACT remains, nevertheless, that
leallan mllltlamen have Maiorca and
1VlIa Islands under occupation. that
lhey nave built alrplane and submarine
statlonS there, that German tech
hlclans are at work eGuipping the
spanish coast of Morocco. both on the
Mediterranean and the Atlantic and
the other dependencies of Madrid in
the same manner.
recently a competent French ALL
thorlty ordered survey of all those
preparations to be made. It was
found that at Melilla, Alhucemas
Ceuta, Larache, at Ifni, in the Rio
de Gro and on the Canary Islands the
same types of aerial and maritime
bases were being put in shape. They
generally consist of a shelter for sub |
marines, an oil depot, an electricity
generating plant radio station and
an aerodrome. Moreover. against the |
retlcent and uneasy denals issued in
LONDON the same authority maintains
!nat 1alrly heavy guns have been put |
IN position at Ceuta and Algeciras-
guns that can easily fire across the
Straits of Gibraltar. All this infor- |
NATION, including photographs, has
been sent from Paris to London
I tAlI Ousll OlllCldl C0dnnelS.
90 not want to eXaggerate For
instance, contrary to many reports in
the press, the Italians have made little
progress with the military works in
Fantellerla. the island which lies mid
way between Sicily and Tunis, and
would be intended to block the narrow
passage there in wartime. But. as
things are today. it would take the
British and the French navies an ar
duous fortnight or three weeks to clear
1ntruders from all the hooks and cor
ners OF the Western Mediterranean and
the Eastern Atlantic. Mobilization of
the French Army (were it required by
oeVelopments on the Continent) as
well as the transport of men and
supplies to the eastern part of the
Mediterranean by the admiralty in
whitehall, would perforce have to be
delayed by so many days-possibly
with very material results in the fate
OF the hostilities.
War Council at Work.
At the present moment the French
superior council of war composed of
armies on the battlefield) is doing its
best to remedy those adverse strategical
factors brought into play by the Span
ish war. They are working out alter
native solutions probably
means that the scheme of mobiliza-
ton is about to be rendered more
elastic and the French military action
on the Rhine hencetorward is not to
depend so completely upon employ
. ment of North African manpower.
Moreover, in wartime. France and
Great Britain, for all the formidable
forces at their command-forces
which are steadily increasing as re-
armament proceeds-could not achieve
very much in the way of offensive
operations if their fleets were unable
to move freely in the Mediterranean