Relations with Italy The decision of this country and France
to convert their legations at Addis Ababa into consulates-general is part of the inevitable recognition of a situation which the two countries bear consideiable responsibility for creating. If their co-operation had been as close and cordial a year ago as it is today the Ralo-Abyssinian conflict might have had a different outcome. But what is .done is done, and it is useless to shut our eyes to it. It-would be futile to maintain any longer in the Abyssinian capital officials accredited to a government which no longer exists. We could of course decline to be repre- sented at Addis Ababa at all, but that would involve sacrificing to no purpose the interests of a number of British subjects with a stake in_ the , country. There can be no question of condoning Italy's misdeeds ; Anglo-Italian friendship has undergone a strain from which it will not recover in a generation. But we have to live in the same world with Italy and our relations with her affect the whole issue of peace and war in Europe. Nothing is gained by driving her towards Germany. It is much better to reach reasonable under- standing with her, for example, over the position in the Mediterranean, than to let our perfectly reconcilable needs in that sea appear irreconcilable. And to refuse to make the Addis legation a consulate would do no good to Haile Selassie and none to the League of Nations.
