News of the Week T HE French Prime Minister's visit to
London can 1. hardly -fail, for all the scepticism expressed about it, to carry the disarmament discussions a definite stage further. Details of the French plan, so far as they can be accepted as accurate, suggest that it demands very serious consideration, particularly if it be true that a number of States at Geneva outside the regular French circle are ready to support the project. Continental regional agreements, which would involve this country in no commitments going beyond the Covenant and Locarno, were what Sir Austen Chamberlain always envisaged after he had done his part in making the eastern frontier of France and Belgium safe. A consulta- tive pact in which America would join, or at any rate a formal acceptance of the unofficial Stimson interpretation of the Kellogg Pact and its interpretations, would add distinctly to the world's sense of security. And it will be a misfortune if the first reaction to the renewed inter- nationalization of civil aviation proposal is an attempt to see how many objections can be found to it. Two other contributions to the creation of confidence may reasonably be asked for. This country should Make it plain to the world that it does' not regard the obligations of the Covenant as something to be evaded whenever possible. And Germany, in -return for an acceptance of the recog- nition of status principle, ought to be willing to renounce unequivocally and specifically all idea of attempting to change her eastern frontiers by war.
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