NEWS OF THE WEEK T HE diplomatic atmosphere into which Sir
John Simon and Mr. Eden will descend from the skies when they visit Berlin ten days hence should be normal, for Herr Hitler's attack of umbrage has run its course and the ant of the British Ministers seems likely to be genuinily welcomed. Though Mr. Eden's goal is Moscow it is desirable that he should gain some idea of what German policy regarding Russia really is, but his mission in both capitals is simple compared with the Foreign Secretary's. Sir John Simon is to discuss with Herr Hitler the whole range of questions raised by the Franco-British conversations in London, and he has openly—perhaps too openly—laid dewn as one of his aims the return of Germany to the League of Nations. For the mission to succeed Germany must show herself ready to come back to Geneva, to subscribe to the Air Pact, to conclude a general disarmament agreement on reasonable terms, and to sign the Eastern European defence pact. That is a considerable programme, and the attitude of Herr Hitler on such questions is not to be predicted. There is still ground for believing that his own inclinations are pacific, but that is by no means true of a section of his advisers, and others who may not be aggressively militant are obdurately isolationist. But the Coining talks can do nothing but good, and they may do a great deal of good. _
