THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

ESTABLISHED 1840 REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER

VOL. 170 No. 5072

LONDON JULY 24th, 1937

SIXPENCE

PRINCIPAL

THE WORLD WEEK BY WEEK

RECOGNITION AND VOLUNTEERS ; PLAYING UP SCARES ; THE VENDETTA ; MARCONI ; HESITATIONS OVER PALESTINE : CHAUTEMPS’ FIRM STAND AGAINST DISORDER ; THE END OF THE HOTEL STRIKE ; RESTORING THE FRENCH FINANCES ; JAPAN'S TERMS TO CHINA ; COMMUNISM AND CHINESE UNITY ; INTERNAL CONFLICTS IN CHINA AND JAPAN POLITICAL CHRISTIANITY 112 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN WORKERS OF

FRANCE ...................................................... 113 OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL . . . 116

By R. A. KNOX AMERICA AND THE EUROPEAN SCENE 118

By CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS RELIGION IN SPA IN .......................................... 119

109

CONTENTS

ROME LETTER

TALKING AT RANDOM .............................. 121

By D.W. BOOKS OF THE WEEK .............................. 122

SOME RECENT WORKS ON NEWMAN ; THE CURSE OF CREDIT ; GERMANY’S NEW RELIGION ; CHRIST AND WOMANKIND ; GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY : FOR LAWYERS AND OTHERS ABOUT BOOKS FOR CHILDREN .. 128

By CECILY HALLACK THE CHURCH ABROAD

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

.132

THE REUNION OF CHRISTENDOM—II .. 134 THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF

CATHOLIC NURSES

O B IT U A R IE S .............................................. 140

120

130

135

THE WORLD WEEK BY WEEK Recognition and Volunteers

Behind the differences which have emerged over the British Non-Intervention Plan, lies a profound, and on each side an unyielding opposition. The French and the Russians will only reluctantly consider conceding belligerent rights to the Spanish Nationalists. Such rights will greatly ease the Nationalist position at sea, but they will be not less important as an admission that the Nationalists are not to be dismissed as a group of ambitious and unscrupulous upper-class Spaniards, fortified by German and Italian troops and weapons. The Italians, the Germans and the Portuguese are, for their part, equally opposed to the attempt to make the withdrawal of volunteers precede the acknowledgment o f belligerent status. They do not believe that the withdrawal of volunteers from the service of the Valencia Government will take place, because most of the volunteers are already denationalized men. If they could believe that Russian aeroplanes, Russian technicians, and the steady surreptitious assistance of the French, would stop, both Germany and Italy could sit back confident that the Spanish Nationalists would prevail, and that the danger of a Red Spain, a bastion o f revolution in Western Europe, would be effectively removed. Behind arguments about the order in which the withdrawal of foreigners and the granting of rights shall be discussed, lies this far-reaching cleavage. We hope that the British Government, which has done well so far by following the principle of treating these issues concurrently, will not, in its anxiety to maintain close relations with the French, come down emphatically on the French and Russian side. It is the line of least resistance ; it placates the Opposition and the French ; but it weakens the essential strength of the British position, as author of the plan. The two issues should be advanced side by side. Playing up Scares

The Government is receiving but little help from the House of Commons these days. The tea-cup storm over Gibraltar was a perfect and rather alarming illustration of the way Parliament and the Press can needlessly aggravate a sufficiently delicate situation. Mr. Randolph Churchill had told his father about the big guns he had seen mounted in Nationalist Spain, within easy reach of Gibraltar. Mr. Churchill, whose mind these days is concentrated on Germany, raised the matter in the House, suggesting that the Germans were behind these twelve-inch howitzers. Mr. Lloyd George, to whom the information was new, at once joined in the outcry, and the popular Press came out with great headlines about Gibraltar being dominated, and only printed quite inconspicuously portions of the complete denial which the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Lord Cranborne, gave to the scare-mongering suggestions. Lord Cranborne said that it was not unreasonable for General Franco to mount guns at spots like Algeciras, which had already been attacked by his enemies ; that the guns were not twelve-inch howitzers at all ; and that they could be immediately silenced by the much more powerful armaments at Gibraltar. But his speech has not prevented a question in the House suggesting that the Government should ask for leave to inspect these armaments, to make sure that they do not constitute any potential threat. It is a question which illustrates how hard it is really to concede equality of status to foreigners. The Vendetta

In the Spanish debate, Mr. Eden spoke very well, and his speech, with its clear restatement that while the Mediterranean route is a major British interest all the way to the Indian Ocean, our policy there is to live and let live. The speech had immediately a good effect in Italy, particularly for the pointed sentence that “ the word vendetta has no English equivalent.” Everybody who is in touch with Italian opinion, knows how widespread among Italians is the idea that Great Britain is smarting under the failure of the sanctions policy, and is preparing huge armaments while refusing to recognize Italy in Abyssinia, in order to have a good occasion for picking a quarrel when the armaments are ready. That is the view, and it is extremely important that it should be dispelled. As long as there is a National