The Locarno Talks The next meeting between the Locarno Powers
will take place at Geneva during the League Council session which begins on May 11th, and in the mean time Mr. Eden is to seek elucidation of various proposals in t he German peace plan. To have gained an interval for reflection and discussion is something in itself, and the innocuous Staff Talks now in progress in London are serving a useful purpose in reconciling the French to the temporary acceptance of the status quo in the Rhineland. It is very much to be desired that Mr. Eden should have a meeting with Herr Hitler personally.' The German plan is understood to be largely the Fiihrer's own, and elucidations obtained in direct conversation with him would be worth far more than agreement by diplomatic note. Everything, moreover, depends on what Herr Hitler's real purposes in Europe are, and hoW far he is ready for the give-and-take necessary to any genuine agreement between sovereign States. Even per-Jonal talks might not throw decisive light on that, but it is certain that nothing else could. However that may be, there is in the present arrangement this definite gain, that before the Locarno Powers meet again the French elections will ,be over. But one very pertinent question remains—whether there are any limits to what Mr. Eden's physique will stand.
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