But the question of foreign intervention in Spain remains dominant.
If the influx of German, Italian, French and Russian volunteers can be stopped, the internal fire will in time burn itself out and sooner or later mediation will become possible. As usual Britain, France, Russia, and even Portugal, are ready to put a complete ban on volunteers ; as usual Germany and Italy, which pride themselves on quick decisions, are procrastinating and waiting on events. No final reply can be expected from them till General Goering, who is now in Italy, has finished his conversations with Signor Mussolini, though it is fair to add that both countries have accepted the ban on volunteers " with reserva- tions "—which means that their hands are still entirely free. The action of the British Government in banning the departure of volunteers for Spain under the Foreign Enlistment Act is of questionable legality, and it has naturally been criticised as premature and unfair to the Spanish Government, since all other Powers (except Poland) are postponing action till it is taken by all States simultaneously. But British volunteers have been, and are likely to be, so few that the military balance is not appreciably affected by the prohibition, and the Government may reasonably argue that in the negotiations it is initiating it must put itself unassailably in the right. Herr Hitler's New Year declarations exhibit a not unconciliatory spirit, and agreement on a ban on volunteers, effectively enforced by domestic prohibitions and naval surveillance, is still possible.
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