Great Britain and the Saar While Lord Cecil was attempting
unsuccessfully in the House of Lords on Wednesday to extract from the Government some explanation of Mr. Baldwin's rather unfortunate reference to the collective system, Mr. Eden at Geneva was announcing a wholly wise and welcome decision by the Government in precisely that field. The joint policing of the Saar during the plebiscite period may be collective action on a modest scale, but it is on the basis of such limited experiments that wider action whea necessary can be 'planned. The Govern. meat has taken an unexceptionable course in offering to supply a small contingent of British troops provided a reasonable number of other nations do the same, and provided France and Germany, as the nations most concerned, approve. Italy and other States have agreed to join with Britain ; France has offered to stand aside altogether rather than provide a possibly contentious element; and Germany is understood to be favourable. The whole plebiscite prospect, and indeed the whole outlook for international relationships in Western 'Europe, is thereby immediately and substantially improved; as it always will be everywhere when collective action through the League is made a reality. Our own Govern- ment is to be congratulated on its constructive initiative.
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