19 MAY 1939, Page 6

Hard things are often said about British diplomacy, and not

all of them are undeserved. But—thanks, admittedly, in the main to Herr Hitler—enough has been achieved by British diplomacy in the past two months to make Herr Hitler sick with envy. Firm bilateral agreements for mutual assistance have been concluded with Poland and Turkey; Rumania certainly and Greece probably have been saved from reluctant submission to the Axis Powers; Sweden, Norway and Finland, encouraged no doubt by the new firmness and initiative displayed in London, have decisively rejected Herr Hitler's offer of a non-aggression pact. All this would go for little if the negotiations with Russia definitely failed. That, fortunately is unlikely; meanwhile the harvest already reaped justifies some modest satisfaction.