Rumania and the Franco-Soviet Pact Nuremberg and Prague have overshadowed
Geneva in the last week ; yet it would be hard to overestimate the importance of some of the consultations made possible by the meeting of statesmen for the League Assembly. The most important perhaps were the series of conversations be- tween M. Litvinov, Mr. Butler, the British Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, the Rumanian Foreign Minister, and M. Bonnet. After the meeting between the Russian and the Rumanian Ministers it was announced that assurances had been given that in the event of war neither of their countries would remain neutral. The announcement, though vague, would even on its face value be a useful indication of Rumania's attitude in the present crisis ; but it can hardly be doubted that the conversation turned chiefly on the passage of Russian troops across Rumanian territory, and that Rumania by no means vetoed that. If that is so, she has removed the last, and serious, obstacle to the practical appli- cation of the Franco-Soviet Pact. Abandonment of neutrality by Rumania to the extent of allowing the Red Army to cross her territory would allow the U.S.S.R. to come immediately to the assistance of Czechoslovakia in the event of aggression. Rumania clearly understands what her position would be if Czechoslovakia fell under German domination.
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