Evening star., 1935-03-24
Armed Truce in Europe

see any prospect of agreement on
terms unsatisfactory to themselves,
will take appropriate action.
In such a situation a Talleyrand
| or a Metternich would be hard put
to it to bring off anything worth
while. and poor Sir John Simon is
neither the one nor the other. On
the contrary, he is an exceedingly
| ambitious and highly distrusted pub
lie official who is generally regarded
as the weakest foreign secretary the
British have had during the present
century, at least. Very successful as a
barriSter, he brought to the foreign Of
flee the technique of the bar and has
acted rather as If he had been
"breifed" for various actions than
were he the advocate of any principles
| responding to his own convictions.
During the days in Geneva when
the League was wrestling with the
Manchurian case 1t used to be said
that from time to time Sir John forgot
which side was his client and inad-
vertently served the japanese more
usefully than any of their own ad-
vocates. But it is the British foreign
secretary's personal ambition which
may well play a big part in the
Berlin conversations. Probably the
most unpopular member Of the un-
popular national government, always
excepting Prime Minister Macdonald
himself, Sir John Is in desperate need
of a personal triumph and may be
tempted to accept a German proposal,
q orfffrltU dnciGnad fn oil tha iY-
dividual British desires.
| In sum, the real question about the
Berlin conversations is whether they
will result in a German victory, dis
closed in the production of new feel
ing of distrust between Paris and
London, or whether Sir John will
stand fast to the general program
agreed upon by Macdonald and
Flandin in London.
What an American audience has to
recognize once for all, in the presence
of the complicated maneuvers of Euro
pean diplomacy which are now in
progress, is the fact that like such
fiascos as the Disarmament Confer
ence, they are only of importance as
they disclose the realities of the Euro
pean situation. They cannot have any
positive result because before results
could be achieved there would have to
be a modification Of the national pol
icies of the countries, whose states.
men used to go to conferences and
now indulge in conversations. Before
they 60 to converSationS-and the
same used to be true when conferences
were the chic international wear-na.
tional statesmen are instructed what
not to do and the results of the meet
ings are thus foreshadowed.
League Dead as Mutton.
AS far as the present European sit.
uation is concerned, the League oi
Nations Is as dead as mutton. It has
been thrust aside because the very
assumptions upon which it was estab.
lished have been proved unsound. NJ
nation will engage the lives Of its citi.
zens or their prosperity to defend ths
security of another country save where
its own interests are directly engaged
France will not seek to check Japa-
nese aggression In Manchuria. Britain
will not undertake to halt Germany
In the Ukraine. But France will de-
fend the independence Of Austria al
the Danube and Britain assures thu
security of France at the Rhine be-
cause at these points these nations SCI
their own interests at stake.
In place of the League the French
are trying to construct system o.
alliances including all the countries
large and small which 4 e Threatened
| by German purposes. for the Ger