A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THERE is an astonishing pasSage in a message published by The Times on Monday from its Geneva correspondent—astonishing though it only confirms what was 'authoritatively rumoured already. Referring to Signor Mussolini's complaint that this country had never made its views on his Abyssinian policy sufficiently clear to him, the correspondent, in the course of a well-docu- mented statement on the subject, writes : " Although the question did not come up officially at Stresa it formed the subject of conversations between officials, andavery serious warning of the consequences of military' action in Abyssinia was given through officials." The italics are mine, and there is good reason for them. Here was a case in which the then Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary of this Country were engaged in intimate private conversation with Signor Mussolini on inter- national politics. Yet not one word was spoken by them, so it is alleged, on the most urgent danger which was then threatening the whole harmony of the League of Nations. The existence of the danger was appreciated (and had been for months : the Stresa meeting took place in April), and a "very serious warning " was given, but not by Mr. MacDonald, not by Sir John Simon. The task was left to officials. Can this be true ? If so, what is to be said of it ?
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