Britain, France and Italy The French, Italian and British naval
experts are reported to have made their plans for admitting Italy to an equal share in the anti-piracy patrol of the Mediterranean. That is one prac- tical outcome of the gesture to Italy made by France and Great Britain. A second indication of the desire of these two countries to pursue co-operation with Italy was given at Geneva when the British and French delegates to the League Assembly refused the request of the Spanish Government that the arms ban should be raised. But it is no secret that the French Government would not be able to maintain the ban and keep her own frontier closed if Italy continued to pour troops into Spain. The next step on the road of conciliation rests with Italy, who before the end of this week will have received the Anglo-French note asking that the policy of non-intervention should be made effective, and that a conference of the three Powers should meet to discuss terms. It is unlikely that Signor Mussolini has heard anything from Herr Hitler this week to encourage his obduracy. Agreement from Italy is likely to be forthcoming in principle. But we have had agreement in principle on non-intervention before, with the Non-intervention Committee as its sole outcome. The French will require something more definite than that.
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