THE CHINA MAIL, MARCH 3, 1937.
BRITISH FOREIGN
FOREIGN POLICY
Labour Critics
Critics In Full-Dress Commons Debate Diplomacy Utterly
Demoralised.
London, To-day.
"
In these words Mr. D. R. Gren- fell, Labour member for Gower, criticised the Government's policy. in regard to Spain in the House of Commons yesterday.
Mr. Grenfell went on to deliver a caustic attack on the conduct of in- ternational affairs.
"There is far too much secret
DIPLOMACY DEMORALISED- Mr. Grenfell said that the back-
That the League or Nations is now in a stage diplomacy going on," he declared. of convalescence was one of the statements con- tained in a general defence of the Government's foreign policy, made in the House of Commons last night by the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden.
bone of the League system had. fallen apart and they had lapsed polities, which had been so general-
into cónditions of balance of power
·ly denounced after the Great War MR. EDEN, REPLYING TO CRITICISMS MADE BY MR. and were so largely accepted as be- D. "R. GRENFELL. (LABOUR, GOWER), TOLD THE HOUSE ing responsible for that catastro- THAT HE WOULD. AVOID WHAT WAS KNOWN AS THE phe. "BALDWIN CONFIDENCE TRICK,” WHILE AT THE SAME The great Nations were arming TIME NOT SAYING TOO LITTLE
against some danger which was never specified, and propaganda
GERMAN THREAT.
It would be better to give it the opportunity of building up its strength again--Trans-Ocean.
MR. ANTHONY EDEN
The state of convalescence in The very existence of the non-itions but because--so far as mili-dangerous and unparalleled in the intervention committee, he con-tary action was concerned-obliga-history of the world was rampant which the League at present found tinued, had reduced the interna- tions of the Covenant were less far- Diplomacy was completely de itself was for the moment compell- tional danger arising from the reaching, less specific and less pre- moralised and the huge expendi-ing the patient to choose between Spanish war.
cise than the Locarno obligations.tures which confronted the nations two dangerous operations... Had it been otherwise there would alarmed every thinking person. BRITISH INITIATIVE From the first the Government had have been no need for Locarno. deliberately supported a policy of It might be argued that the Co- non-intervention, taking initiative venant obligations should be as after initiative.
precise respecting military, action Their policy admittedly had had as Locarno and that all nation: a chequered career but it had prov-ought to undertake in advance to ed to be the right one.
have recourse to military sanctions As soon as the frontier control ought to undertake in advance to scheme was in operation, which he have recourse to military sanctions hoped would be next week, the but that was not the Covenant. text task was to deal with indirect Such commitment would not only beyond the Covenant but intervention, particularly the with- 20 drawal of foreigners fighting in beyond the abortive Geneva Pro Spain
tecal of 1924.
The Government could not
Speaking of Europe, Mr. Grenfell said that all Germany's neighbours were apprehensive about her and to have to her alone. He hated say this as one who had criticised the Allies' post-War policy towards Germany, but he hoped the Foreign Secretary was speaking as plainly to the German Government as cir-
cuntances warranted:*
She must be asked definitely did she want peace and what kind of peace. Did she stand for peace all-
and round.
Mr. Eden spoke understandingly. of the Portuguese difficulties over did not endorse universal military the control plan and appreciatively commitments but it stood by the of the offer which had led to the Covenant and based its foreign po Anglo-Portuguese arrangement now
licy on it. accepted by the International Com- mittee for the Portuguese Spanish frontier.
..
NEW WESTERN PACT
Mr. Eden regretted his inability to give a rosy account of the pro- gress in the new western ment
agree-
The Spanish conflict had militat- ed against its progress but the Gov- ernment was not despairing of get- ting the nations to discuss the issue and achieving some results.
Turning to the question of the former German colonies, the For- eign Secretary repeated the state ment given by Lord Cranborne re- cently that the Government had not considered and were not considering any such transfer.
That statement remained the Gov- ernment's policy, to which he had nothing to add
TWO DANGEROUS OPERATIONS
In the League of Nations there were divergent views, some wish- ing to exclude all sanctions, others wishing to make military sanctions automatic.
· UNDERTAKINGS Intervening later in the debate, Sir Austin Chamberlain suggested
that they did not want a new con- ference or new agreements but an undertaking to keep all agreements already made.
ONE OF DANGER SPOTS Mr. Geoffrey Mander, Liberal Member for Wolverhampton East, complained of the obscurity of the Government's policy.
He pointed out Czecho-Slovakia as one of Europe's danger spots, but no attack would be made on this country, he said, if it were known that Britain was there to support her.
Firm British assurances on this point, he said, would secure peace. -Beuter.
Mr. Lloyd George
And Mr. Churchill Silent
He observed that Germany had
Contrary to expectations in some complained of her difficulties about raw materials but now had declined quarters, neither Mr. Lloyd George To force the individual view to attend the meetings of the com- nor Mr. Winston Churchill parti would be a risk of smashing the mittee at Geneva which was to in- cipated in the debate, which. fol- League.
vestigate the whole question of ac lowed traditional party lines.
The Opposition ascribed much of cess to raw materials.
The Foreign Secretary, Mr. the present evils to the alleged Anthony Eden, replied that it feebleness of the League in the and the was his personal conviction that Sino-Japanese dispute politics were conducted more Abyssinian war, for which the Bri- openly than was beneficial
tish Government shared the blame. LABOUR THEORIES
The League was
a state of con- valescence and it was therefore not the moment to offer the patient the choice between two dangerous operations.
BRINK OF W
REARMAMENT PLAN Almost throughout the world the British rearmament programme had
Mr Noel Baker, Labour member been welcomed because
Defending the non-intervention for Derby, said that the Labour abroad failed to realise that Bri-called the words of the French Pre- forces to uphold international law, no body committee in Spain, Mr. Eden re- Party favoured the use of armed tain would not enter into a war mier last summer that we had been and if the Government got the sup- contrary to the. League Covenant brought to the brink of war from port of France, Russia, the Little While regretting the necessity which the non-intervention commit- Entente, Belgium, the Netherlands, for rearmament, Mr. Eden believed tee alone had saved us.
Scandinavia, Finland and Poland, that everyone on the House was con- Such dangers as remained, he they would make irresistible LEAMINGTON STATEMENT
vinced that Britain should have continued, would be completely combination. Referring to his recent statement in Leamington to the effect that if greater power to and the forces of eliminated by the new control mea Viscount Cranborne, winding up
peace. the occasion arose
the debate for the Government, de- arms In rearmament the Government Turning to the League. Mr. Eden clared that the discussion had would be used in defence of France were making the greatest contribu admitted that it had not turned out shown little difference between the and Belgium against unprovoked tion in their power for preservation to be all that had been hoped for policy of the Government and the aggression in accordance with of the peace of the world Reu- but on occasions it still proved it- opposition. treaty obligations, he added that if ter.
British
new treaty could be negotiated we should be ready to extend a similar. understanding to Germany
Begarding obligations under the Covenant, of which the opposition
complained, Mr. Eden said that he
had been less definite. It was true that at Leamington he drew a dis- tinction between obligations to-1 wards France and Belgium, and it night Germany, and general Covenant obligations.
deny
Peace Conference Urged
Settlement Before The Catastrophe!
Įsures
self alive.
APPEAL FOR MODERATION One should not overlook the-fact, Both had agreed that British he said, that in the last ten years forces would never be used for ag- the Leue had overcome many dif-gression and both upheld collective ficultie
SUCCESS AND FAILURE
security.
It was better that the forces for
It was true that it had failed in this be too strong than not strong the cases of Manchukuo and Abys- enough, because in the latter case sinia, and it was also true that you would have heavy expenditure (SPECIAL TO “CHINA MAIL”)
these failures had made a deeper and war London, To-day. impression on the public than the He appealed to the opposition to The League of Nations should successes attained.
attitude and avoid immediately convene a world peace However, it was illogical for the
the appearance did not exist. That was not because His Maconference in order to arrive at a Opposition to demand greater pow Government were seeking to settlement of the Spanish dispute ers for the League and at the sam
motion was de time attack rearmamení general Covenant obliga- before catastrophe overtakes
LOCARNO COMMITMENT:
by 243 votes to 184–