What those measures can be has no doubt been fully
considered by the British and French Governments. The fact that both Mr. Eden and M. Delbos are being accom- panied to Nyon by the chiefs of their Naval General Staffs is evidence that the discussions will be mainly technical. That is as it should be. It is not a question at this stage of where responsibility for the attacks on shipping in the Mediterranean lies, but of what steps can be taken to put an end to them. If Russia does in fact possess reliable evidence regarding the identity of the submarines which sank two vessels flying the Russian flag last week she may properly seek the opportunity of laying it before an international body. But that body is not necessarily, or most appropriately, the Nyon Conference. If Mr. Eden and M. Delbos, with whom leadership will naturally lie, are wise they will insist on this particular discussion being kept strictly to the purpose for which it was arranged, the suppression of illegal attacks on shipping by whatever agency. Measures designed to that end can be neither as comprehensive nor as effective as they would have been if Germany and Italy had not declined their co-operation, but it would have been a fatal mistake to allow the recalcitrance of those Powers to torpedo the con- ference, which even with the restricted representation to which it is reduced should be capable of adopting effective anti-piracy measures.
