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DANGEROUS SIDE-ISSUES.
The world has become linked together
by modern communications to such a
degree that every part of it has now
become sensitive to any large disturb
ance in any part. That iact is most
strikingly illustrated by the tremors of
feeling set moving by the threat of
war between Italy and Abyssinia, as re
ported hi today's news. These side
issues may well become of greater
moment than the original dispute itself.
Paris sees in the British clash with
Italian policy the beginning of an
Anglo-Italian struggle for supremacy
in the Mediterranean. The countries
of the Little Entente, it is reported, are
envisaging the breakdown of the League
and the attempt made, under French
leadership, to create a collective system
of security in Europe, and considering
the prospect of turning from it to
treaties of non-aggression with Ger
many. From South Africa the philo
sopher-statesman, General Smuts,
whose sight is long and clear, sees the
danger of intensifying an already Con
tinent-wide tension between White and
Black.
In this century and the closing years
of the last, other great colonial and
imperialistic ventures have caused
European disturbances nearly violent
enough to cause European wars. The
British occupation of the Sudan pro
duced Fashoda, with its imminent
danger of war with France; the South
African War at one time threatened, or
seemed to threaten, the embroiling of
Great Britain with France and Russia;
and the French occupation of Morocco
created the Agadir incident, and aligned
France and Great Britain against Ger
many. Finally, when the march of
Austrian troops against Belgrade led to
the World War, it became clear that
the world's peace was endangered by
any breach of the peace, and the League
of Nations came into being as the
beginning of an attempt to cope with
that ever-threatening fact. The dif
ference between the political philosophy
of the pre-war world and the- order
now struggling to exist cannot be better
illustrated than by comparing the words
of General Smuts with the extract from
the Italian semi-official newspaper,
'Giornale dTtalia.' For the Italian
newspaper the only way of setting the
bounds to the biological needs of a
nation is by war; the prophet of the new
day declares that 'This adventure can
not be regarded as an isolated move;
it will shake the whole system of
civilisation to the foundations should
the League of Nations fall.'
The tremors are widespread enough
as it is. If Italy has set before herself
a course of Imperial conquest— on the
Adriatic coast as the Yugoslavs fear,
towards the Aegean islands and Asia
Minor as the Greeks and Turks dread
—or even if Northern Africa bounds her
horizon, then control of at least the
Eastern Mediterranean will be neces
sary to her. Malta would then become
the bone of contention with Great
Britain. Sentimentally it is so already.
The Maltese are not Italian either by
race or language, but largely by Italian
ecclesiastical Influence they have be
come vociferously Italian in sentiment,
and received much encouragement from
the Italian Press. This great naval
base is only a few hours by air from
Sicily. France, of course, will insist on
a fleet strong enough to guard her
Moroccan communications, but a rivalry
with Italy in the Mediterranean would
be costly and dangerous to Great
Britain, and alter the alignment of
nations hi Europe.
If anything can stiffen the attitude of
France hi the present dispute, it is the
threat of the Little Entente to secede
from her collective policies. Of these
three countries, two, Yugoslavia and
Rumania, would prefer to see an
Austro-German Union rather than an
Italian military protectorate established
over Austria. They would all prefer a
genuinely independent Austria, safe
guarded by collective guarantees, to
either of these alternatives. But if the
League is to collapse and the collective
system to prove worthless, their talk of
making then: own terms with Germany
may prove more than an idle threat.
Italy and France, with a thin and pre
carious line of communication between
them, would be left alone to withstand
German ambitions towards the South
East.
The danger of increasing emotional
heat between White and Black that
General Smuts sees has already enough
inflammable material in its range. Re
cently, in the copper belt of Rhodesia
the blacks have shown that they are
capable of rioting with an efficiency new
to them. The natives of the Union
are very sore at then* repression; the
Basutos and the Bantus of the neigh
bouring protectorates dread the pro
spect of being dragooned into the
Union of South Africa, whose Govern
ment wishes to settle its own natives in
their waste lands; the natives of Kenya
south of Abyssinia are angry at being
dispossessed of their fertile highlands
by white settlers. To the north of
Abyssinia the Sudanese are fanatical
Moslems, whose conquest is a matter of
yesterday, and further north the
Egyptian nationalists chafe at the re
maining vestiges of British influence.
France and Belgium might well have
their troubles also in Morocco and the
Congo, respectively. The doctrine of
colour-supremacy will not be extended
without challenge.
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