At lunch, Eden’s wife couldn’t stop complaining about how busy she was and, most of all, about the haste with which everything had to be done. Not a moment to reflect, or to catch one’s breath. Everything moves at breakneck speed, and you find yourself caught in a maelstrom from which there is no escape. Truly, our fathers and grandfathers lived in better times! Everything in the world was quieter, calmer and steadier then. There was time enough for taking a walk, reading a book or having a think. ‘Why wasn’t I born in that time?’ Mrs Eden sighed.

After lunch I talked with her husband. Our conversation revolved around Spain. Eden told me, among other things, that last September and October the British government was already nursing the idea of granting belligerent rights to both combatants. The Admiralty was particularly insistent on this point. Eden objected because he did not want to upset France, who could never agree to this for reasons of domestic politics. He sets great store by the close ties that have now been established with Paris. After Germany and Italy recognized Franco, granting belligerent rights became even more difficult, as it would look like semi-recognition of Franco and would have serious repercussions in England. So far Eden is succeeding in preserving the British government’s current position, which does not recognize Franco’s belligerent rights.

Eden’s position on the Spanish question is, in essence, rotten: on the face of it, England does not care which side wins, because Spain will be extremely weakened at the end of its civil war and it will have to start looking for money, which it can find only in London or Paris. The pound is more powerful than the cannon. Therefore, the British government does not worry too much about the outcome of the Spanish war. On the other hand, Eden is terribly afraid that England might get trapped in the Spanish events, since Spain, according to Eden, is a death-trap for anyone who tries to poke their nose into its affairs. Take Napoleon, Wellington and now Mussolini. Mussolini’s prestige was much higher prior to his Spanish adventure than it is at the moment. And unless he hastens to leave Spain, he is headed for a bad end.

Here Eden added with a cunning smile: ‘You are conducting your Spanish campaign brilliantly: you are doing whatever you consider necessary without getting bogged down. You even preserve the appearance of complete innocence.’ I replied in the same tone: ‘Now even Ribbentrop has stopped yelling about the fact that there is a large Soviet army in Spain.’ ‘An army, you say?’ Eden exclaimed. ‘You’ve given the Spaniards something far more important than an army, particularly an army like the Italian one.’ I grinned and said: ‘The Non-Intervention Committee deemed the USSR’s participation in the war in Spain to be unproven.’