One of the indirect results of the: recent troubles. has been that greater responsibility has been thrown upon: the Chinese Christian leaders and almost without exception they have risen to the occasion. The policy of the IMS. method by which it has been reached seems to be open to objection. Sixteen months ago the Preparatory Disarmament Commission of the League was engaged in drawing up draft skeleton treaty for the considerati~-. of the General Disarmament Conference for which we have been waiting #0 long. The Commission made important progress, but reached a deadlock on naval armaments, which France claimed must be-dealt with by limiting the total. tonnage of all classes of vessels together, and: which we' claimed must be dealt with by. a separate imitation of each separate class, "The Evil of Secret Bargainit The point was one which concern. ed every naval Power alike, and on which it is plain, neither side was wholly. right. - For it is clear that without: limitation by classes the Umitation of the greater navies of the world could not be. effectively carried out, while for the smaller navies some adaptation of the method of total tonnage must be allowed. It was, therefore, precisely the kind of point which should bbe dealt with not by secret "conversation" between two. individual naval Powers, but by general and public debate among the representa. tives of all the Governments concerned: For sixteen:.-months the Preparatory Commission has accomplished. literally nothing, because the French and British Governments have: insisted that nothing: should be done until' their "conversations" should have led some result. It is hardly surprising that the other naval Powers, and especially the United States, Italy,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.