Crisis in Gibraltar
f my brief letter on Gibraltar (May 7; too brief. 1 see, but would you have printed a long one?) disturbed any folk there; I regret it. I have been there, by land, sea and air, many times and had kindness and courtesy; from Spaniards also. I was merely trying to say that it is fair to consider a few points in the other side's case and feelings, since there are two sides and ours has had full publicity. And I did say, 'without any commitment et any kind.' I meant that, as to any positive action, I had no specific suggestion. Sir Joshua Hassan's charge of 'emotional thinking' means really, I think, objection to recognising any justice in Spain's feel- ings. (By 'foreigners,' r meant not Spanish— obviously, 1 should have thought.) Anyhow, 1 cer- tainly agree we have an obligation to Gibraltarians not to hand them over to Spain or any other regime, nor to treat them with an insensitive, horny-handed haste, as with India-Pakistan in 1947, causing the utmost disaster to many millions.
For Gibraltar I should suggest (if asked) a special judicial commission of the first quality, accepted by all concerned. And one could imagine it even de- ciding that restitution has by now become imprac- ticable; or that natural justice should be done by certain other mitigations of 'might is right' (which [Continued on page 664
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it sometimes is), and of 'what I have I hold.' No singfe person can decide this tangled question, which, like others, needs its precise and particular scrutiny. Analogies and parallels, though not exact, may have some relevance. None of the three answering letters, by the way, answers my first question, how we should like it if a foreign power held one of our own promontories, however legally, against our will. I might add, finally (again keeping brief and prob- ably inviting misrepresentation, if worth it), that I am personally more imperialist than anti-; feeling that the best' medicine for our uneasy world would be for all of it tolnlong to the Commonwealth (or
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