Conversations or Conference ?
Lord Cecil very opportunely emphasized in the House of Lords on Tuesday the danger of too frequently sub- stituting private conversations for public conference at Geneva—this in reference particularly to the endeavours to get Germany back to the Disarmament Conference. This is obviously a question of degree. It is well worth while for the three or four principal States in the Dis- armament Conference to explore Germany's views in private and do their best to persuade her to resume her scat at the Conference, - and the fact that the Prime Minister. is taking a hand in the work is an encouraging sign. But such talks can easily be too protracted. There is no reason why Germany, or any other single State, should he allowed to hold up the whole Conference indefinitely. It is all too easy for a State which prefers not to take a certain course to persist in advancing in private objections it could never sustain in public. The Five-Power conversations are about to be, resumed, If they. can _quickly_ by brought,to factory conclusion; so Much the tottter. If pot, the Conference ought to reassemble and go fOrWard with its work, taking equality for Germany as its guiding principle, and at the same time giving the fullest consideration to the French security proposals. Unless some advance is made towards the French standpoint, we shall get no disarmament. If some advance is, we may get actually more disarmament than France has so far offered.
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