Lord Grey of Fallodon made an interesting speech at New-
castle last Saturday on the way to peace. His main point was that we all needed a sense of security. He quoted the legend on a French cartoon of the British and French Prime Ministers ; Mr. Lloyd George was saying, "It is never the same man but is always the same policy," while the French Premier was saying, "It is always the same man but never the same policy." "Breathless versatility" on the one side and "unprofitable rigidity" on the other had caused difficulties between the two countries. Lord Grey said that, while our debt to America must be treated on an ordinary business footing, we ought to settle with our Allies at one and the same time the questions of reparation and the inter-Allied debts, which should be handled in a broad and generous spirit. To give France a sense of security, he would conclude with her a defensive alliance, but it should be drafted in such a way that other nations, including Germany, might join it. Lord Grey reaffirmed his belief in the League of Nations as a means of securing peace. The League, however, ought to assure protection to those nations which have disarmed, and it ought to admit Germany, if she seeks admission.
Lord Grey concluded with a plea for a homogeneous Govern- ment in place of a wavering Coalition that no one trusted. The confusion in our domestic politics unquestionably helps to delay the restoration of normal conditions in Europe.
