Referring to criticisms of the nonintervention policy, Lord Halifax said he had never minimized either the extent or the mischief of breaches of non-intervention which had taken place, but he did not believe that non-intervention had been a one-sided policy working in favour of Gen. Francisco Franco. Moreover, it was only the non-intervention policy which had prevented the Spanish civil war from developing into a general European conflagration of which no one could foresee the end, "This nation," the Foreign Secretary declared, "will have no Spanish blood on its hands, and it has been our privilege to render help to both sides through different forms of humanitarian and rescue work which have brought both honour and gratitude to those engaged in them.
"It will be everyone's hope that, before long, we may be able no less to render disinterested service in tasks of peaceful reconstruction."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.