When the eighth Assembly of the League of Nations ended its deliberations (TIME, Oct. 10) Sir Austen Chamberlain, British Foreign Secretary, hastened to the sea coast and there boarded his yacht, the Dolphin, and was no more heard of until, off Majorca, the principal Balearic island off Spain, he entertained General Primo de Rivera, Dictator of Spain.
The Chancelleries of Europe experienced a thrill. What were these two statesmen up to? Enquiries were made and elicited from Spanish representatives in London and Madrid that the conversations between the two statesmen were no more than an exchange of official courtesies. Diplomats then put the whole matter down to an attempt on the part of Sir Austen to guide Spain back into the fold of the League of Nations. How else explain his friendliness for a nation that was not on good terms with the League?
There, with a few embellishments by rumor, the matter might have rested had not Don Primo de Rivera, in the teeth of the official nonsense about courtesies openly declared that he had discussed three projects of great importance with Sir Austen.
These three projects may be tabulated thus: 1) An Anglo-Spanish entente to be cemented by a new treaty,
2) Cession by Spain of her north African possessions (specifically the protectorate over the northern strip of Morocco) to France in exchange for "some satisfactory" arrangement.
3) "Place in the sun" for Spain in the European scheme of things political, under the tutelage of Britain.
The nature of these concessions nobody could say. There were many guesses, none of them probable. Certainly it seemed that an effort was actually being made to induce Spain to return to the League and that some sort of a compromise was being worked out concerning the future status of Tangier and there were hints of tariff concessions; but as to what France might have to offer Spain remained completely in the dark, and as to what Dictator Benito Mussolini of Italy might think of the negotiations (in which he is closely concerned) was equally obscure.
So far as Britain was concerned the matter was not entirely one of conjecture. That country, to protect its communications with India, has a prime interest to serve in bottling up the Mediterranean Sea, which it does from Gibraltar; Tangier opposite, under international control, being "everybody's dog is nobody's dog," and therefore does not count. Whatever Sir Austen may have said, it seems a logical deduction to suppose that he aimed at increasing Britain's hold on the Mediterranean and possibly did offer Spain much needed tariff concessions in return for her aid in strengthening the British position in Tangier.
Points from Primo de Rivera's statement merely noted that Sir Austen "is a charming host and a clever politician, possessing a truly amazing insight into international affairs. ... I am fast becoming of the opinion that Spain would be better off without her interests there (Morocco) . . . but it is always dangerous to relinquish possessions to another power unless some satisfactory compromise can be arranged. It is that that Sir Austen may arrange. . . .