When we write the Government have not yet made their
expected statement on Mr.' Kellogg's peace proposal, _ but we are confident that the reception will be wholly sympathetic. The delay in announcing the British policy—though we think it was regrettable simply because delay is always chilling when a pressing invitation has been given—was really due to a respectable fear of making even the slightest false step. The inquiries pursued by the Government led to a quite unfounded rumour that the wish of the Cabinet was to submit Mr.. Kellogg's draft Pact to a conference of jurists. After. Mr. Kellogg's extremely able examination of the difficul- ties mentioned by France no such conference was really necessary. We suspect that Washington overestimates the impression which has been produced on the British Government by French criticism. Naturally, we are anxious to satisfy France, and it is obvious that the scheme could not be a complete success without her ; but such admissions are a very different thing from con- senting to British policy being put into French leading strings. Sir Austen Chamberlain's invariable courtesies to France—usually in the peroration of his speeches on foreign policy—cause not only Americans, but Frenchmen themselves, to confuse civilities with business.
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