The Washington herald., 1921-12-29

was echoed not later than yester-
day in the debates which took place
in the French senate. But France
has coast lines which she must de-
fend: she has also. and above all,
a great colonial domain. second in
Importance only to that of Great
Britain. which is distributed over
all the seas. and concerning which
we also may have, I presume, our
anxiety as to its defense, its po-
lice. and its surveillance.
obligations to Colonies.
We have the duty of safeguard
ing the communications of these
colonies with the mother country.
and / have already said here that
in case of war the safety of trans
portation of our troops overseas to
the mother country would be among
the first OF our obligations. This
is not a mere theory. Have we not
in the last war seen a belligerent
transform merchant ships into
auxiliary cruisers or into privatCers
to torpedo our transports; and has
not this been done against all the
allied navies, And should 1t cause
surprise here to see the minister of
cOlOnleS Oh ldNt hNSSNHS ~
colonial considerations and call to
mind that our colonial empire.
though some would seem to be
ignorant of it, really exists and that
its needs, as well as its interests,
must be strongly affirmed. defended,
protected, especially in the matter
of safe communications with the
mother country"
ha hA q
acting under positive instructions
from his home government.
BaIfour Denies Suspicious.
Balfour. in reply. assured Sarraut
that he was the last man he would
suspect of hostile intentions toward
Great Britain, but repeated that ne
saw no reason for France insisting
on 10000 tons of submarines.
Submarines are useless" he de-
clared, against warships or to pro-
tect lines of communications. They
were powerful weapons for one pur-
pose only, namely. the destruction
of commerce, and it was not unrea-
sonable that Great Britain, when
threatened by the establishment
within a few miles of her coasts Of
a vast fleet of submarines which
were of no use except to destroy
commerce, to say candidly that SHE
could not look with indifference
upon the situation that would thus
be created.
sehanxer Expresses Regret.
Senator Schanzer said: I'VE do
not dispute the Importance of an
accord with respect to capital ships
but we cannot do>more than to ex-
press our deep regret that 1t is not
possible to arrive at an arrange
ment concerning auxiliary boats
and submarines.
I'm the absence of an agreement
concerning the Limitation of the
latter naval forces. it is but natural
that each nation should retain full
liberty of action. At the same time
it Is impossible not to realize that
the absence of such an agreement
VIII give new impetus to the COM
petition of naval armament respect
ing auxiliary craft and submarines
which can only have a most unfor-
tunate effect on the finances of the
countries Interested. 1t is not our
intention to discuss what France
considers necessary for her national
security, but we will not attempt
to hide that the naval program an
nounced by France is one which
gives us serious preoccupations
from the point of view of the eco
nomic sacrifices which may follow
for Italy, as well as from the point
of view of the political conse-
quences which 1t might produce
This is all the more true because
the solution of the land armament
problem has been deferred"
Mr.. Hanihara said: Il desire to
be permitted to say just a few
words in order to avoid possib BILE