The Temps says in this connexion: "A Naval Convention Las
recently been concluded between France and Russia. Every Naval Convention implies between the two countries who sign it a well-defined division of duties in case of war, and we must believe that the three fleets—English, Russian, and French—have mapped out their mutual obligations." .Several English newspapers remark that all this means that there is a naval alliance between Britain, France, and Russia, and that it has been entered into without the authority or even the knowledge of Parliament. We have two things to say under this head. First, our trade routes in the Mediter- ranean are too important to be left to look after themselves, or to be handed over to the keeping of the French Navy, unless the most urgent necessity requires the concentration of all our available naval strength in the North Sea. Such an 'urgent necessity would, we admit, override every other con- sideration. But Mr. Churchill has not produced any proof that such an urgent necessity exists.
