The reaction as a result of M. Paul-Boncour's speech on
Tuesday was carried too far. ' That utterance represented France's first word, not • her last. -She still demands security as the price of disarmament, but that is inherent in the British -plan and -to a- lesS extent: in the American declaration. To revive the old .Tardieu idea of placing offensive weapons in the hands of the League instead of destroying them was tactless and untimely, but the French Government is in no impregnable position at home and its representative at Geneva might well -have thought he needed to put his demands high as basis for some compromise later. Germany is clearly enough anxious to push France into a position of isolation, but M. Daladier has shown too much genuine goodwill in the last couple of months to make it credible that he will accept the responsibility for creating another dead- lock at Geneva, now. An agreement is still distant, but the confidence that recent developments have created need not yet be abandoned.
