New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-03-21
Continental Nations Feel They
Have Been Deserted by Their
Anglo-Saxon Allies
By Frank II. Simonds

By Frank II. Simonds
DRESIDENT WILSON'S BIT
ter comment upon the pres
n ant state Of French affairs
and the open charge that a
militaristic party Is now in control
IN the counsels Of France has its
origin in the developments of the
Paris Conference, where he encoun-
tered the demand of France for Sc
curity against Germany. This Sc
curity, for the present as for every
other generation Of Frenchmen, is
represented by the Rhine barrier.
1t Is an odd fact, characteristic
of both Anglo-Saxon nations, that
while each is obdurate in its in
sistence upon the maintenance Of
tRse circumstances which mean Sc
curity for it, they can agree in re-
garding as immoral similar demands
by their neighbors or allies. Thus,
the British have, from the very out
set Of their history, sought and
maintained the supremacy Of the
sea, which was essential to their ex-
sstence as an island people, while
the United States has more and
more inclined to fortifying the Mon
roe Doctrine, which has the same
value. But at Paris the British and
the Americans united to block the
French desire for the Rhine barrier.
GUARANTEES of Safety
Moreover, because Of the mainte-
nance Of sea supremacy, Britain has
not been invaded in centuries, while
the. United States has escaped all
foreign incursion, save in the case
of the British in the War of 1912,
largely because no European nation
has had adequate bases for such an
operation. In 1866, when Napoleon
Ill was seeking to establish Maxi
milan In Mexico, the United States
interviewed peremptorily. and the re-
suit was the execution Of Maximili-
an and the collapse Of the Napo-
leonic scheme.
Now, in the century between 1914
and 1914 the French have been in
vaded by the Prussians and Germans
four times. Each invasion has been
marked by the seizure of French ter
ritory-half the Sarre Basin in 1914,
the other half in 1915; Alsace-Lor-
-eaine in 1871. and, finally, in 1914,
the German plans envisaged forci-
BILE annexation Of everything from
the Briey Basin to the Channel ports,
all France north Of the Somme and
east Of the Mouse, including the
fortified barrier from Verdun to Bel
fort.
The attacks Of 1870 and 1914
were entirely unprovolsed and pure
~ predatory. Further than this,
from 1871 to 1913 France has ex-
listed In hourly peril as a result Of
German menace, which was trans
lated into German invasion. and
devastation in August, 1914. AS
consequence France came to the
peace conference seeking, as a
guaranty against new attacks and
new devastations, that Rhine bar
rier which Marshal Foch and every
other soldier of prominence from
the days Of Caesar regarded as the
single insurance against Teutonic
snyasions.
In tho Paris Conference Britain,
which had taken the German fleet
and all the German colonies as a
guaranty against any German
menace to her; and the United
States, which, through President
Wilson, demanded that the Monroe
Doctrine be recognized as the law
Of the world, both promptly vetoed
ahe French demands for security at
Che Rhine. France found herself
after her sacrifices, which surpassed
those Of all other Allied and asso-
ciated nations, abandoned by her
friends at the supreme crisis.
Aeague to Guard France
In terms, the French were told
that the league of nations was a sure
guaranty against German aggres-
sion. But when the French sought
TO ciothe the league Of nations with
real power by providing it with an
active army both the United States
ana Great Britain objected, and
both nations emphasized their OBJ
1ect'ons by promptly withdrawing
the great bulk Of their armies which
had been serving In France, leaving
the burden Of the task to France
alone.
France then refused categorically
to resign the Rhine barrier, Clemen-
ceau acting with a written opin-
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