The New York herald., 1921-05-15
Continued from First Page.


whose flaming attacks on capital and
aristocracy and privilege made him
feared and hated by those classes.
Then becoming a member of the Gov
ernment and an upholder OF law and
order, he has now within the last
week entered definitely and openly
into an alliance with the most con-
servative forces in England as has
BRAND in France. Truly, in the pages
OF history no two personalities have
been so closely matched for duel OF
rival ideals upon which the fate OF
Europe depends.
For it is idle TO pretend that there
is not going to be that duel OF Ideals.
1t began at the London conference
when BRAND pressed for an immedl-
ate execution of the penalties against
Germany by march into the Ruhr
region on May 1, and when Lloyd
George by obstinate resistance, per-
suasion and every means of argu-
ment delayed that advance in order
IT, give Germany chance for accept
ance of final ultimatum. 1t is in
evitable that In the near future there
will be a further trial of strength
between these two men because the
policy Of France, which BRAND repre-
sents. In its logical conclusions is
antagonistic and challenging to the
traditional instincts and interests OF
conservative England.
All students of English history
know that her foreign policy has been
directed for centuries to the skilful
support of balance of power so that
no nation in Europe should over
whelmingly dominate and become
menace to the liberties of surround
ing countries. Above all, imperial
England has been jealous of any
power which might interfere with her
interests and influence in the world
of commerce.
strong Bid by the French.
Now it seems that France, in spite
of the ruin on her soil and her stag
gering debts, Is making a bid for a
complete military autocracy as dicta-
tor, in her alliance with Belgium,
Poland, Hungary and the anti-Rus-
sian States.
A 4 ic nf
in France of great intellectual ability
on rather narrow, old fashioned lines
inspired by historical memories which
90 back further than Napoleon-as
far back indeed as the glory of
France under Louis XIV. Marshal
Foch and some of the Catholic Gen.
erals in the late war are under the
spell Of this tradition, and among the
French masses there undoubtedly has
been an awakening of the old and al
most forgotten claims to the right
bank of the Rhine and political SUI
prcmacy far beyond the frontiers of
1870.
al
grudge her this new sense of exalta-
tfon after victory, this consciousness
of power over a brutal enemy, this
determination to make the most of
her present advantage for the good
and the. glory of France. But l see
great danger in her present policy
because OF her exhaustion In man
power, her poverty, the general need
OF economic recovery in Europe, and
above all because it raises again the
spectre of future wars which are
inevitable if once the power of the
sword drops from her hands, as one
day it must. and If other incalculable
forces now on the move break down
her system of alliances.
Poland, for instance, is an ever
present danger, and In her recent ac-
tions In Upper Silesia is already
threatening to smash the treaty Of
Versailles, which gave her freedom.
stand by the Two Leaders.
BRAND, representing Franco Is
willing to take all those risks. Lloyd
George, representing England, is un.
willing to give unlimited support to a
policy which might involve US In an.
other European conflict and might
finally destroy our chance of indus.
trial recovery and almost certainly
would secure the prestige of France
at the cost of our own place and
power IN the League Of Nations.
Here, then, we get the tug Of war
between the two sets of ideas which
is already putting a strain upon the
friendliness OF our two peoples to the
enormous grief of all that believe IN
maintaining the entente cordiale fol
which so many OF our comrades died
The gravity Of this crisis was acute
during the London conference and q
painful situation was averted only
by the genius for compromise which
Lloyd George possesses. But beneath
rhe surface this strain Is still belne
felt and 1t is an open secret to the
Germans, who, with their usual cum
ming, will try 70 take advantage Of It.