It is all of a piece with the conduct of some of the most energetic apostles of world amity that the International Peace Conference should have passed a resolution expressing the opinion that the policy of non-intervention in Spain was not only unsatisfactory but dangerous. The resolution recommended an active policy for the maintenance of peace and asked the European and American governments to resume the role of mediator in Spain. It is perfectly clear from all that has gone before that mediation stands no chance of success whatever, It stood little enough when General Franco's position was much less favourable than it is at present, and it is inconceivable that he will now consent to any intermediation calculated to deprive him of anything which he hopes to gain, Mediation which might serve to whittle down the fruits of a victory which seems almost inevitable would appear to be entirely out of the question. One valuable characteristic of the non-intervention agreement, however much it has been honoured in the breach, is the fact that it has forced assistance to either side more or less under cover. That both sides are in receipt of outside assistance is unfortunately only too apparent, but it is an unhappy fact that, so long a: is is done surreptitiously, reasons for a major conflagration are not so pressing as they might otherwise be, and afford the statesmen of Europe an opportunity of turning the blind eye to a state of affairs, which if it were openly admitted to exist could only bring about that major conflagration, which the world so greatly fears. If it be contended that this is a somewhat cynical expose of the situation in Europe, it should be pointed out that it is not without its parallel elsewhere and must be considered as normal in a world which seems no longer to be concerned with the task of banishing war for all time but with the speculation as to how long it can be avoided
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.