# The New York Times/1929/10/24/Britain is Worried by Briand's Fall

Layout 2
BRITAIN IS WORRIED BY BRIAND'S FALL
Sees Young Plan Agreesments and Naval Parley Endangered by Shift to Right.
BERLIN ALSO FEARS CHANGE
Doumergue Is Not Likely to Find New Premier Soon Because of Party Clashes.
By EDWIN L. JAMES.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Oct. 23.—The fall of the French Government is a matter of no little concern to the British Cabinet. Naturally a change in the French foreign policy at this stage might make a great difference in the foreign plans of the MacDonald Government.
President Doumergue is having such difficulty in creating a new alignment in the Chamber of Deputies that he may not be able to find successor to M. Briand until next week.
One might wonder if Philip Snowden, Chancellor of the Exchequer, feels any responsibility for the situation in Paris. Certainly attempts will be made to lay that responsibility at his door because the concessions which Mr. Snowden obtained from the French at The Hague conference contributed to alienate the Nationalists who voted against M. Briand last night, and thus made possible his defeat.
Of course, if M. Briand forms another government or remains Foreign Minister, all may be well for future cooperation with Foreign Secretary Henderson. But if, as a result of the crisis, Downing Street finds itself face to face with André Tardieu, taking orders from Raymond Poincaré, the British Cabinet may find that its Hague victory was not all clear profit, even if Mr. Snowden did bring back the prospects of $10,000,000 more yearly from German reparations.
All Galns Might Be Lost.
If the French Parliament does not ratify the arrangement to which Mr. Snowden obtained M. Briand's consent, then there will be no profit at all in his Hague victory. At the resumption of the Hague conference here may be a French spokesman who, taking a leaf from Mr. Snowden's book, says he wants something and that no one else can have anything until he gets it.
Also, there lies in the French situation the danger that Mr. Henderson's Hague accomplishment of speeding up Rhineland evacuation, which has given much satisfaction in England, may prove to be evanescent.
It stands to reason also that out of the French crisis may come trouble for the five-power naval conference. It has been said for some time that M. Briand, who had to endure much criticism and even Parliamentary defeat for having accepted what the French regarded as a humiliating ratio on capital ships, did not wish to represent France at the naval conference. But, had the government remained in office or the Parliamentary majority remained as it was, there would have been every chance of the French policy being relatively conciliatory.
But if out of the shake-up comes a Right Government there will be many difficulties in the way of London and Washington obtaining from Paris, that cooperation for which they hope. The accession to power of M. Tardieu or any other Poincaré lieutenant would undoubtedly increase the element of nationalism in France's position.
Left Too Divided to Rule.
Admittedly, this is looking at what is for the British Government the darkest side of the picture. Numerically the French Chamber should ​support a Left Government. That would be logical were it not for the fact that the Left is so badly divided it is doubtful whether it would stand behind any government, especially since the Socialists have all along refused to participate in any Cabinet including members of other parties, and they are not strong enough to govern alone.
The brightest prospect for completing the half-done plans made at The Hague and for a conciliatory position of the French at the naval conference would be for M. Briand to form another government. Such a result would be received with great thankfulness by the Labor Administration in London. The British Cabinet would certainly be most unhappy to see the Poincaré group back in power in Paris.
Henderson Not "Pessimist."
The defeat of M. Briand, in the opinion of Great Britain's Foreign Secretary, is not going to assist The Hague settlements, but Mr. Henderson is "not pessimistic." Addressing a political meeting in the East End of London tonight, Mr. Henderson said:
"Within the next few weeks the last of our British soldiers will have arrived home from the Rhineland. We were definitely committed to this peace policy. It is quite true there has been a little hitch. Some of you may have been struck by the vote given last night in the French Parliament. It is a little unfortunate that such a defeat should occur just at this juncture. It does not, in my opinion, assist in achieving the great object we had when we sat at The Hague, but I am not going to be at all pessimistic.
"I believe the settlement which was there achieved is so fair that, whatever French Government takes the place of the government which resigned Tuesday, it will find it necessary in the interests of France and Europe, and in the interests of the peace of the world, to seek to apply that policy in accordance with The Hague agreement in order that the wholesome results we hoped would follow might yet be successfully achieved."