The New York herald., 1921-01-02

friendliness to their own country.
Nor can one fail to put down beside this
the fact that there is going on in Great
Britain a corresponding anti-American agi-
tation, with Horatio Bottomley playing in
England the odious role played by Hearst in
the United States. If in the United States
there is a feeling in certain quarters that
Great Britain sought to entangle us in Eu-
ropean affairs to her profit and our loss,
there is in England very keen resentment
Of the apparent course of the United States.
not only in abandoning the British friend
Of Paris, but in giving aid and comfort to
the Irish rebel.
In this situation what is British policy to
be for the future? Is it to be a continuation
of the old course followed since the days of
the Spanish war; the labor to
create that Anglo American partnership
which seemed for moment realized at
Paris, only to crumble into dust almost be-
fore the ink was dry the signatures Of
the Treaty of Versailles? Is it, by contrast,
to be a swift or even slow return to the
old order of ideas, the preservation of the
balance Of power in Europe by the creation
OF a new system of alliances? And at the
bottom of the system of alliances lies the
question of France.
One must face the fact that If there is
strong element in British public life and
public opinion which clings to the idea Of
the Anglo -Frenoh alliance there is an even
stronger faction which is hostile to France
and has consistently labored for the Amer-
can arrangement and at the same time tire
lessly endeavored to communicate to the
United States its own hatred Of France.
Roughly speaking the lines divided between
the Conservatives and the Liberals, with
Labor standing solidly with the vanishing
Liberals.
On the whole. the old Conservatives out
number the old Liberals in the present Coali-
ton Cabinet but in the nation the prevail
ing sentiment is not friendly to France and
the Cabinet has followed the line of least
resistance.
British Alliance With Other Nations
Against France Is One of Possibilities
Still, it is apparent that if the sentiment
in the United States remains nelly hostile
to any foreign partnership; if, as most
Britons believe, the bitterness and suspicion
of the present hour permanent factors;
it, as many Britons now believe, an intense
period of commercial and perhaps naval
rivalry between Britain and the United
States is approaching, then persistence in
the policy of pursuing American friendship
and seeking American partnership only
lead to disappointment and may lead to
worse.
attractive There is a double alternative:
To restore the Anglo-French association by
creating formal alliance between France,
Britain and Italy with Belgium now joined
to France by alliance, as an immediate part
ner and Poland as an eventual ally. Against
this may be set the possibility of the erec-
ton of an anti-French combination, with
Germany and Italy immediate partners
and Russia as an eventual participant. The
- kl-A
petuate the victory in the recent war; but
the latter would fall in with British COM
mercial and industrial necessities Thus the
French alliance is warmly championed by
those who were conspicuous during the war
and responsible in the main for the victory.
while the latter is advocated by the men who
opposed British entrance into the war the
French side and have resumed their hostility
to France
But the construction of a new alliance In
Europe is not the simplest matter in the
world because it carries with It the neces-
sity to recognize not few aspirations of
Continental nations which are by no means
ccnsonant with British interests French
and British policies have steadily clashed
over Germany and over Russia, British,
French and italian policies conflict in the
Mediterranean, and particularly in the old
Turkish Empire. Eager as are the French
for the British alliance, they would not con-
sent to pay for It by any modification of
the Treaty of Versailles and they would be
hardly less determined in the defence of
their Russian policy. But this raises bar
riers to British economic rehabilitation.
which seems to rest in some measure upon
the reopening of Russian and German
markets.
Present European Troubles Traced to
Break Between France and England