NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE 'deplorable accident at Geneva is now a thing of The past, and all men and nations who really believe in the League must turn their attention to saving it from a similar accident in the future. On the whole, Sir Austen Chamberlain came well out of the debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday. But our wonder is all the greater that he should ever have had to stand there in the posture of defence. We venture to say that if Mr. Baldwin, whose statements have always been sufficiently clear, had. been .Foreign Secretary there would not have been the confusion and the obscurity about British policy from which we have suffered. There was never, of course, the least question about Sir, Austen Chamberlain's sincerity or zeal for the League ; the chief trouble was that he did not show quite enough acumen in dealing with foreign statesmen, and thatWhen asked for explanations at home on what was happening his oracular habit of speech actually deepened the mystery.
