Italo-French Sparks.

Next in importance to the passage of the London Naval Treaty through the United States Senate is the statement by Mr. James Gerard that a war is “brewing”—indeed “imminent”—between France and Italy. Prophecies of war are not infrequent; many of them pass unheeded; but this one cannot pass without notice, coming, as it does, from a man of Mr. Gerard's calibre. As United States Ambassador to Germany at the time when Europe was plunging into the Great War that begun in 1914, Mr. Gerard played an important part in European history at a critical time, and his contributions as an historian are not only valuable in themselves, but seem to reflect a clear and unbiassed mind, equipped with unusual insight and foresight. When such an American as this declares that there is fire behind the Italo-Frcnch smoke, America should become able to form a clearer view of Britain's difficulties in dealing with page 10 naval reduction, and Americans should be able to understand more clearly the safeguarding clause that exempts Britain from the London Naval Treaty restrictions in the event of Continental naval building forcing her hand. Mr. Gerard's statement is in itself a sufficient reply to the Hearst newspaper attack on British naval motives. The interest of the United States and Japan in the Mediterranean is infinitesimal. To the British Empire that sea is vital. It is as vital as the Suez Canal, for what use would the canal be if belligerents set up a Mediterranean blockade?