Under Four Eyes

France's Foreign Minister Robert Schuman visited Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of the West German Federal Republic at Bonn last week. The two men talked in secret—"unter vier Augen" (under four eyes)—as Lorrainer Schuman, a former German soldier, put it.

During the meeting, headlines in the demagogic sectors of the French and German press yipped about the Saar issue. Afterwards, Adenauer disclosed that he had reaffirmed Germany's claim to the Saar; Schuman said he had told Adenauer that France viewed the Saar as a point on the peace-treaty agenda.

For reporters, disappointed that the talk had not produced more news, Adenauer had sensible reproof. "It is accomplishment enough," he said, "that for the first time since the war, Franco-German talks have at last begun at the very top level. Why should we have been expected to begin [by settling] such a red-hot question?"