Confirming the Pact
All the discussion on the terms of the Atlantic Pact, published last Friday, has done nothing to suggest that they need to be amended,in any particular. Firmly confined within a wall of fact— the Pact was inevitable, its exclusion of aggressive aims was un- questionable, its maintenance is essential—the discussion can take nothing away from the decisions already made. The hectic debate in the Italian chamber was to be expected, since Italy is not a certain signatory and her weakness is so serious that the Communists were bound to exploit it to the utmost to promote confusion. A certain uneasiness in France could hardly have been avoided, since it is impossible for a country which, as M. Ramadier openly announced last Saturday, is militarily weak, and which possesses a large and powerful Communist minority, to take so crucial a step with complete confidence. Even the protests of isolationists, the Hearst Press and Mr. Walter Lippmann could be foreseen. But if the first bout of discussion has taken nothing away from the strength of the decision of the Atlantic Powers, it may quite possibly add something to it. Nobody can now persuade himself that the mere signature of the Pact will be enough in itself to produce the full sense of security in Europe. Indeed it is clear that the calm and satisfaction with which its admirably clear and purposeful terms were received in this country I ave no exact parallel anywhere else. In every Continental country the fear of a Russian reaction is stronger than it is here. It will not be removed by the assurance of American aid in the event of Eastern aggression. It can only be removed by a growing sense of military strength based on solid economic success. What can be done by the pooling of resources will now be done. It remains to make those resources so formidable that even the possibility of a Communist adventure can be ruled out.
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