The official communiqué ends very significantly by a declara- tion
that the subjeCts covered by the Anglo-Russian Con- vention have also come up for discussion, and that the discussion has proved the identity of view of the two Ministers. This "promises to secure a continuance of the cordial and harmonious co-operation of the two Governments in the settlement of the Central Asian question." We may add that the news from Paris shows that the French Govern- ment has been working hand-in-hand with the Russian and the British. As M. Pichon, the French Foreign Minister, observes, "the London conversations" had proved that 'the Anglo-Franco-Russian Entente was more intimate than ever." We agree with the Times correspondent in Paris in his declaration that M. Pichon's statement constitutes a formal affirmation of the Anglo-Franco-Russian Entente,—" that new and beneficent factor in the politics of Europe." We are also entirely with him when be adds that the Entente "will in no wise seek to impose its will upon Europe in the sense of the old Bismarckian combinations." It is a league of peace and for the Maintenance of a beneficent status quo if ever there was one. No Power that desires the peace of Europe, and is not stirred by selfish ambitions, can have the least excuse for regarding it as dangerous or aggressive.
