M. Georges Bonnet, French Foreign Minister, in a speech before the Foreign' Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, has made the position of his government on two important points perfectly clear, and there cannot now be any possibility of further misunderstanding. In reply to Mr. Neville Chamberlain's recent remark that "Our relations with France are so close as to, go beyond mere legal obligations as. they are founded on an identity of interests," M. Bonnet has clearly set forth the position of his own country, "I declare in the name of the French Government that all the forces of France would immediately and spontaneously be utilized for the defence of Great Britain in the event of unprovoked aggression." This emphatic reaffirmation of Anglo-French solidarity is of paramount importance, clearly defining the, position of the two Powers for the general enlightenment of the world, and involving implications which should not be without some influence upon political trends in the Far East. It was indeed only to be expected that this would be the case, but the speech is interesting as placing on record that recent attempts to drive a wedge between the two countries have failed, and further that by reason of this clarification, undeniable bonds have undoubtedly been tightened. That is all to the good, for the removal of any uncertainty in this respect may prove to be one of those factors tending towards peace, which it is claimed was absent in 1914 owing to the alleged ambiguity of Great Britain's position with regard to Belgium. Their community of interests, and the democratic ideals, of which the two nations are the chief champions in Europe today, make it imperative that they should stand together, for if ever there were danger fu the disunion of the two countries it would be in times such as these. The Anglo-German Non-aggression Pact, the similar document concluded between France and Germany, as well as the Anglo-Italian Accord are now placed in their proper perspective, they are more or less guaranteed as instruments of peace by the very manifest completeness of the Anglo-French understanding.
The second point which M. Bonnet has made quite clear is with regard to the recently commenced agitation in Italy for the return of territory which it is claimed should be regarded as Italian. In this connection it should be pointed out that the demonstration in which Italian deputies clamoured for Tunisia has been disavowed by the Italian Government. As to the validity of that disavowal there will be varying opinions, but the fact that there have been two such demonstrations in a country, regimented in the way that Italy is, must naturally carry more weight than were their spontaneity completely unquestionable. At the moment Italy has made no such claims, and it is possible she never will, but the existence of such an agitation and the possibility of such a demand eventually being made must have an unfortunate tendency upon the development of better relations between the two countries.
M. Bonnet has stated quite definitely that France would never agree to surrender the slightest part of her territory to Italy, and that any such claim would result in war. It is probable that what the Foreign Minister actually said was that any attempt to force such a claim would lead to that very deplorable event, and as at present no such claim has been made it may be regarded rather as an academic point than an issue in practical politics. The provision of the Anglo-Italian Accord, guaranteeing the maintenance of the status quo in the Mediterranean may be taken as a factor operating against the formulation of any such demands in the near future, and it is to be assumed that in any formal rapprochement between Paris and Rome a similar provision would be sought in the document recording it. Even if it were not, Italy appears to be estopped from making any such demands by the Anglo-
Italian agreement, for obviously any attempt to change existing conditions in the Mediterranean would amount to a nullification of that instrument and a very definite deterioration in the relations of the two countries, which have been mended at the expense of a great deal of trouble.
It is by no means clear that there is any very real merit in this Italian agitation. At the very most it seems to be nothing more than an Abyssinian afterthought, though it might have been started for the purpose of gaining concessions elsewhere, notably at Djibouti, the maritime terminus of the railway to Addis Ababa. If that is indeed the case, it is clearly covered by the declaration of M. Bonnet quoted above. As part of French territory it will not be abandoned even at the expense of war. In the cabled reports of M. Bonnet's speech there are no references to eastern Europe, and the attitude which France is likely to adopt in the event of there being further movements for the extension of German influence in that area Franco-Polish relations have undergone a substantial cltange during the past few years, and the ties which bound the countries together are in all probability by no means as strong as they originally were. That doe not necessarily mean that what are said to he German ambitions in that part of the world will be fulfilled without trouble, for there must undoubtedly be opposition on the part of Russia, which could not lightly afford to see the establishment of an independent Ukraine, even if Poland were also obliged to contribute her portion to such a creation. In this connection the situation is not clear.
While it is claimed that the manner of the solution of the Czechoslovak crisis placed considerable strain upon Franco-Soviet undertaking these latter have not yet been denounced, and, that being the case, there is always the possibility of their being invoked should the German trend towards the east become too embarrassing. The situation is obviously an interesting one, in which there is important play of factors which are at present imponderable, but which might become very apparent if and when future crises arise. Be that as it may the most important point at the moment is that the attitudes of Britain and France on certain well-defined problems have been clearly enunciated, permitting of no future misunderstanding, and giving Europe generally emphatic notice of where the two nations stand.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.