The "News Chronicle," on the other hand declares that "hitherto these Mediterranean pirates have been content merely to attack British interests. Now, apparently they feel themselves strong enough to attack the British navy...... Are we to coo like sucking doves when Mussolini drives us entirely out of the Mediterranean? The patience of the French government, sorely tried for a considerable time, is apparently exhausted. We are not surprised in the least. We are surprised at the report that the British Government is doing all it can to hush the matter up once again. Non-intervention, we have been told again and again, is better than war; but can anybody, in the light of recent events, deny that non-intervention is war?"—Havas,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.