The Times | 14 Gennaio, 1936

Italy Taking Soundings FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT PARIS, JAN. 13 Signor Cerruti, the Italian Ambassador, to-day called on M. Laval, the Prime Minister, at the Quai d’Orsay. Other visitors were the Ambassadors of Belgium, Japan, and the United States. There is reason to believe that the conversation between M. Laval and Signor Cerruti related chiefly to the possibility of League intervention towards a settlement of the Abyssinian war. It is now possible to confirm the reports that Signor Mussolini is anxious for the League to appoint a committee of investi- gation to proceed to Abyssinia to report on conditions there. This proposal is in- spired by the hope that such a committee would produce a report which might lead to a basis of settlement acceptable to an Italy whose ambitions are beginning to show signs of modification. The Duce has made his hopes known tp M. Laval and has asked for his support, though without asking him to take the initiative in the matter. To the report that the task of submitting the suggestion had been ascribed to Belgium must be added another to the effect that M. Politis, the Greek Foreign Minister, has also been approached. HARDENING OPINION So far, as was pointed out yesterday, responsible opinion in France is far from sanguine about the practical possibilities of such a scheme. Furthermore, feeling against Italy has been steadily hardening ever since Signor Mussolini’s disastrous speech at Pontinia with its contemptuous rejection of the Hoare-Laval proposals. M. Laval himself was furious at the Duce’s cavalier treatment of his efforts to secure substantial advantages for Italy, especially as they cost M. Laval much in prestige and popularity. Since then, the views of the French Prime Minister, if they have changed at all, have certainly not done so to the Italian advantage. According to those who know him best, his present mood shows an equal distaste for further action either for or against Italy. Such questions of feeling apart, the usefulness of the proposed committee is strongly questioned here. It is pointed out that the League could hardly send a committee to investigate on conditions in Ethiopia, with special relation to such matters as civilization and culture, without taking some account of the presence of the Italian Army in part of the territory, and its methods, to say nothing of the degree of security enjoyed by ambulances and hospitals. The project might arouse more interest, if not enthusiasm, if it were accompanied by an intimation of Signor Mussolini’s readi- ness to suspend hostilities. Of that, so far, there has been no word. The principal interest of the proposal is felt to lie in its indication that, whatever he may go on saying at home, the Duce is now speaking a very different language abroad. There is no suggestion that Signor Mussolini’s claims are likely for some time yet to be acceptable to the other party concerned; but it does at least show that his preference for forcible methods has been diminished by their so far unfruitful and unpleasant consequences. GERMANY AND LOCARNO M. Laval’s disinclination to take any further initiative without a real chance of success must not be taken as reflecting any lessening of his desire for an early settlement. French anxiety over the possible consequences of a long-drawn- out struggle has not been eased by German denunciations of the Franco- British Staff conversations as running counter to Locarno, and therefore weakening its provisions, including those for the German demilitarized zone. There has been, of course, no question in the Staff conversations of any disposi- tions to be taken against Germany. The French General Staff have not even mentioned the subject. French opinion is naturally concerned to know whether, in the event of complications with Italy, it might have anything to fear from the eastern frontier, but that, after all, is a matter of public sentiment. ITALY TAKING SOUNDINGS DUCE’S HiNTS TO M. LAVAL HARDER FEELING IN FRANCE