Diplomatic Ice-breakers Diplomatic conversations, official and unofficial, are making some
demand on attention this week. Herr Hitler saw Mr. Hoover on Monday and according to report heard a characteristically American view on the virtues of demo- cracy. On Tuesday Lord Perth made his first contact with Count Ciano at Rome, and Herr von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, who reached London on Wednesday, was to see Lord Halifax on Thursday and the Prime Minister on Friday. Of these the Italian conversations are the most formal, and to that extent the most important, for there is no reason to suppose that Herr von Ribbentrop contemplates more at this juncture than a very general exchange of ideas with British Ministers. Nothing, very wisely, has been dis- closed about the subjects to be discussed at Rome. Successful negotiations need secrecy at one stage and publicity at another. A proposed concession by one party can often only be justified as a return for an equivalent concession by the other. Unless they are disclosed together, as part of a bargain, one or other of them is certain to be denounced as an unjustifiable sur- render. What is imperative is that if a draft agreement is reached, which cannot be predicted with great confidence at present, Parliament should satisfy itself abundantly that it is in the interests of this country and of European appease- ment. But at this stage the conversations must necessarily be private. * * * *
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