NEWS OF THE WEEK.
qiiiE proceedings of the Washington Conference do not seem .1. wholly to justify the optimism which is generally expressed in the newspapers. We devoutly wish that it were otherwise, but when ono ardently desires a certain thing to happen—as we do ardently desire the limitation of armaments to be made possible—one is extremely sensitive to any unfavourable syinp- toms, however small in themselves. We have written elsewhere about the tone of Japan, which is unlike that of the united voices of Britain and America. M. Briand's speech, also, though of course it dealt much more with disarmament on land than with the immediate problem of the limitation of naval armaments, was not so helpful as it might have been. Nevertheless, it is still open to the Conference to accomplish very great things. For desperate diseases bold remedies are necessary. If we are not Prepared to be bold we shall fail miserably.
