NEWS OF THE WEEK
IT would be a mistake to attach too much weight to the confident declarations of various organs of the Paris Press on France's policy respecting Abyssinia, and it is a pity that London. papers should base their headlines on nothing more solid than some dogmatic assertion of Le Motin or Excelsior. It is quite true that the French Government, with plenty of domestic problems on its hands, and with good reason for anxiety as to what the rival mass meetings of Right and Left in Paris streets on July 14th may bring forth, is disposed to temporize as long as possible over external difficulties. But that cannot go on for ever, particularly if the League Council meets, as it may have to do, at an early date. Sir Samuel Hoare's speech in the House of Commons will have been delivered before these words appear, and it will no doubt be designed, among other purposes, to create an atmosphere of cordiality between this country and France. It is so overwhelmingly to France's interest on every ground to avoid a crisis in the affairs of the League that M. Laval will certainly not be hesitant to discuss with Mr. Eden, either personally or through Ambassadors, any proposal' out of which a solution short of war may emerge. The prospects of success in the search for a solution may not be bright, but they will be incomparably brighter if France and Britain are known to be working at the problem in a spirit of genuine co-operation.
