LONDON AGREEMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 35, 11 February 1935, Page 9

LONDON AGREEMENT

SIR JOHN SIMON IN PARIS

GENERAL INVITATION

(British Official Wireless.) (Received February 11, 11 a.m.) RUGBY,, February 9. Sir John, Simon's. speech at the British Chamber of Commerce in Paris (summarised on Saturday) was delivered in the presence of the French Prime Minister (M. Flandin), who himself spoke later. ■ The British Foreign Secretary, referring- to: the Anglo-French conversations, had emphasised that work then done was not ■' directed against any other country. ; . "We..are not aiming at some limited understanding, but we are seeking to promote the peace and well-being of all by putting forward suggestions as a basis for free and equal negotiation between all concerned in order that the structure of peace may rest on the surest and wisest foundations. If it is recognised that we are working together in that spirit'and if others whom we invite to consult with us will make their contribution in ( the -same comprehending spirit, then I believe that in this year we may see a great advance towards, the. establishment of those conditions upon which political confidence I and commercial prosperity must de-1 pend." "The Times" says that this passage, delivered with emphasis, was intended to convey an assurance to the German Government that the preliminary con-. sultations between' the French and British Governments did not in any sense imply a 'reluctance for a simultaneous and equal discussion of the questions involved with all the Powers concerned, as soon as this became possible. In a speech made later M. Flandin said that the French arid British Governments had achieved a complete unity of purpose. They had made a solemn appeal to" the human desire for peace. Their first aim was to prevent ruin and murder. Those who fought in the war believed in a better future for humanity, In flying across the Channel .one saw that France "and Great Britain had the same sky—a sky which they would not allow to become the conveyor of death. Sir John Simon flew back to England on Saturday afternoon. He had no political conversations with M. Flandin- or with M. Laval, who, indeed, is in bed with a bad attack of influenza.