Transatlantic The dinner attended by the Prime Minister and the
American Ambassador at the House of Commons on Tuesday to consider how mutual understanding between this country and the United States could be further fostered is of admirable omen. The two countries are as capable of misunderstanding one another in lesser matters as they are certain of finding unity in funda- mentals, and the former tendency can do a quite dis- proportionate amount of damage to the good relations which should subsist between them. As Mr. Bingham has more than once pointed out, this country needs to cultivate acquaintance with the west and south of the United States as well as the more familiar eastern seaboard—from which alone nine-tenths of the news of America in British newspapers appears to emanate. It is, moreover, a profound mistake to imagine that America has forgotten the War Debts as we here find it convenient to forget them. The token payments should never have been suspended. They cost us little, and did at least indicate recognition of a principle which it is neither just nor expedient to repudiate. France is despatching a special envoy to Washington to discuss the resumption of her own debt-payments to the United States. It would make an admirable impression if we did the same, and will make a singularly bad impression if we hold back where France goes forward.
Previous page
