Who can doubt that two years ago these three favour-
able symptoms might have been confidently regarded as the beginning of a general settlement ? But to-day it must be remembered that the situation is incomparably worse than it then was. All we can say is that these favourable developments give the Conference which will meet in London on July 16th some grounds for hope. We have all travelled very far indeed down the road to destruction, and the way back is very long and Nrery arduous, but at any rate we seem to have set foot upon it. Confidence is growing that M. Herriot will do his utmost to reach a settlement. What is not so certain is whether he has the political power to carry France with him. A good deal was made of the abstention of the Socialists from voting Ruhr credits on Saturday. It was thought that the stability of the Ministry had been endangered, but we do not think that too much need be made of the incident. We cannot see why the French Socialists should turn out M. Herriot in the certainty of getting a new Government further to the Right. They seem to have adopted the very sensible policy that when the Government has to introduce some measure which is against their principles they do not vote against it, but merely abstain. As such a measure is usually one which the Right Wing of the Chamber must necessarily support, M. Herriot's Ministry does not seem to be in any immediate danger.
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