T W O Sets of Triumvirs D . eplorable though it may be,
the average Englishman rather enjoys the spectacle of relays of French politicians trying and failing to form a Government. " Coming up to scratch, the French," he says to his friend on the 8.35; and his friend, with a.itule of genuine pleasure, agrees. It may well be that the Bermuda Conference, having got itself affiliated in advance to what most people here regard as a kind of music-hall joke, may In the long run benefit from the atmosphere of anti-anti- climax which at this stage, thanks to the French, impends over its destinies. If one of the main objects at Bermuda is in fact to be the arrangement of a further conference in which Russia will take part, and if this object is not achieved, it will be a convenience to many that the hopes pinned on Bermuda were not unduly high. On paper, the chances of the Russians agreeing to a Four-Power Conference would seem only less slender than the chances of their allowing such a conference to achieve any useful result. Whoin would the triumvirate of Malenkov, Beria and Molotov trust to represent the Govern- ment of the U.S.S.R. at these deliberations ? And how much latitude in negotiation would he be allowed ? And what would be the effect on his career if he was judged by his colleagues to have mishandled matters ? The general climate may be more propitious than it was in Stalin's day; but the substitution of an oligarchy for a single supreme dictator has raised, when you get down to international brass tacks; some awkward problems.
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