NEWS OF THE WEEK T HOUGH the article on the Bilbao
problem on a later page was of necessity in type before the debate on the question in the House of Commons on Wednesday, there is no reason to revise, in the light of the Parliamentary discus- sion, anything of what was already written. There are two issues, whether the British Government should have warned British ships not to try to reach Bilbao, and whether it should have undertaken to protect them even within Spanish territorial waters. (On'the diird issue, whether it should protect them on the high seas, there can be no differ- ence of opinion at all.) On the first issue neither Sir John Simon nor Mr. Eden succeeded in justifying the virtual prohibition which the Government has imposed on British foodships. The Spanish Government declares that Bilbao harbour is safe, and that ships are entering and leaving it daily. If British captains choose to run the blockade, as British captains have done in blockades in the past throughout history, being protected up to the limit of territorial waters, then, having been warned of the risk, they should be left to take their chance. But to insist that their cargoes should actually be landed under the protection of British naval guns would be a palpable departure from the non-intervention policy which has preserved peace in Europe almost beyond expectations. On the danger from mines there is a conflict of evidence, but on the main issue the Government's decision would be right, even if no question of mines arose at all.
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