Sept. 13.
When Italy's case for aggression in Bthiopia is shorn of its rhetoric. and melodrama there remains the: argument that the richly-endowed, members of the League, like Great Britain and France, have done nothing to assist Italy in securing access to material resources vital to her economic development. Italy's need of supplies which Ethiopia can give is held to justify her proposed burglary because the "retired clencies. Sir Samuel Hoare has boldly faced this argument. With the British nation behind him he offers collaboration in an tional commission which shall be} charged to inquire into the whole problem of the supply of raw! materials, That this was no mere; improvisation to meet a passing, crisis was evident from Sir Samuel Hoaro's affirmation of British!
Adelity to the League so long as that body remained effective in bridging the United Kingdom with the Continent of Europe. Moreover in thus placing the principles of the Covenant before the individual Interests of Great Britain, Sir} Samuel has given the first definite expression to a readiness to pool national sovereignty in the cause of world peace through the League. The other day Sir Norman Angell posed the issue somehow like this: he declared that until Great Britain showed that she regarded the de~ fence of the Covenant to be as important as the "defence, say, of some small West Indian is Government's assertions that the:
Covenant was the "keystone" the "sheet anchor," the ""life-line" of its foreign policy were unimpres sive. Sir Samuel has taken up th challenge and his announcement foes a long way in promising British support for consolidation of the League's authority on lines which will be far less exposed to the danger of war-mongering than.
re at present. It is clear that the Foreign Secretary's speech has made a great appeal to the member gathered in conclave at Genevi Until M. Laval has spoken, it premature to attempt to form final conclusions on the influence which it is likely to exert on the issue; immediately under discussion, even though it seems clear that French and British views are closely allied.
Italy's position arouses sympathy. Here is a great opportunity for her to prove her full endowment with the qualities of a nation, strong in the sense of justice and equipped to enforce that justice in company with her peers. If her policy, as brought under review in friendly consultation with her sister-states, is found to need adjustment in the Light of advice tendered to her, she should be competent to effect the necessary realignment without any loss of dignity. "But Italy is not free to vindicate her sanity in that manner—unless Signor Mussolini wills. The issue then turns on his attitude and his ability to face the logic of facts arrayed against him. Were he possessed of the courage of true greatness and were that Togic to penetrate to the recesses of his mind, he would realize that, however far he had gone in Iaunc! ing his expedition against Abys-sinza, he possessed an ascendancy which could transform admission of error into a moral victory. Even it he had to dissociate himself from. the nation for the nation's good, the price would be well paid.. He! would earn the esteem due to a statesman who placed his country before his own personal aggrandizement. Signor Mussolini has shown himself devoid neither of courage nor of certain attributes of greatness, Is it possible that at this eleventh hour those qualities can be invoked to save him and Italy one of the parties encouraging. to of be wilful blindness to the sincerity of Sir Samuel Hoare's unemotional but unequivocal insistence on the collective system of security which Italy's apparent proposals must sorely jeopardize. The pernicious doctrine of "war for war's sake," as the British Foreign Secretary described it has been instinct in Signor Mussolini's speeches and actions for many months past. Can be brought to see the yawning. abyss to which he has brought his mation—and perhaps others with These questions are, for the moment, academic. It is clear that! the chief hope of securing opportunities for their serious considera tion lies in the ability of the League to exercise such collective pressure that even Signor Mussolini will be disposed to halt in his career. Much depends on the tenor of M, Laval's speech the text of which will not be available for comment here to-day. It is assumed. {that France will develop her support of the British thesis by insisting. that the Council's Committee should. formally devise proposals for solution of the dispute. By the reception accorded to those proposals the situation can then be assessed for the purpose of defining the action to avert hostilities, if necessary, Great Britain and France are united in no pedantic search for sanctions. Solicitude for the sanctity of pledges, of written undertakings, of treaty obligations, is their urgent care. Whether the League or any individual member in the past has been sufficiently vigilant in that regard is indeed a matter for reflection, It 1s pertinent to suggest that whatever remissness has been discerned in that respect in the past, its. significance is being felt] in full force just now when the; Italian threat to Ethiopia portends menace to the whole fabric of peace-construction on which the: very stability of Europe and the comity of nations the world over! vitally depend. Sir Samuel Hoare has crystallized the obligations of the collective system. He has pledged Great Britain's readiness to ce-operate in the preservation of the League and thereby the League offered a golden opportunity for full recovery of its tarnished) authority. The alternative is oblivian.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.