The New York herald., 1922-01-08
French Demand for BIG
Submarine Fleet Is Men,
ace to England.
GERMANY DIVIDES THEM
Recovery Desired by British,
French Opposed to Per-
hitting Tt.
BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS.


Special Gable to THE New York HERALD.
LONDON. Jan. There is no uues-
ton so important now in it's bearing
on the future peace settlement of the
world as the political attitude OF
France toward European reconstruc.
ton and her state Of mind regarding
England. This is difficult question
to discuss frankly by an Englishmar
who is friend of France, as most
Englishmen I know desire to be, re-
membering with admiration and emo
ton the heroism of the French people
with whom the flower of our youth
fought and died.
1t is not only difficult but impos-
sible for us to believe that with SC
many fields Of France filled with our
dead there should quickly after that
war be differences in view so vital, sc
passionate, so menacing that they
should conjure up. however family
the awful possibility Of conflict be-
tween us in coming years.
Yet I should be liar if I disguised
the painful truth that our differences
are of that extreme and perilous kind
and that the French demand for great
submarine power. following a three
year campaign of bitter criticism Of all
England does and desires, has caused
the most shocking sensation and anx-
iety throughout the British Empire.
can hardly expect to be believed
by Americans when I say that ever
since the discussion of the peace
treaty at Versailles, when French
criticism Of our political views began
to be heard with increasing asperity
there has been a benevolent con-
spiracy Of silence on the part of the
British press, hiding from our own
people many of the ill natured COM
ments and hardly veiled insults in the
French journals. That that is true
every English journalist still bears
witness, especially every journalist In
Paris who has long been mortified and
irritated by the continued campaign
of calumny, not done by irresponsible
writers nor with the usual license of
French satirical papers, but obviously
directed and engineered as official
propaganda.
British Press Patient.
1t is to the honor Of the British
press, by no means spotless and con-
sistently high souled, that there has
been very little retaliation beyond oc-
casional protests, and few general re-
ports as to this unfriendliness. From
the Times all along the line the Brit
ish press has been patient and gen.
erous with France, trying to make full
allowances for her point Of view, en-
deavoring-though as I must admit
generally failing-to understand her
state of mind. Now, over submarines
and German reparations, the strained
relations have reached such a pitch
that they cannot be slurred over by
friendly platitudes any longer, and
the British public is face to face with
the fact that French opinion, or at
least French Government policy, is
utterly hostile to our own. and is pre-
pared to sustain that hostility by
measures which directly challenge our
future existence.
That is so at least until the French
Government entirely wthdraws it's
claim to the vast expansion of sub
marine power. There is not single
man or woman i'm Great Britain who
doesn't agree absolutely with Mr. Bal
four that we can never willingly allow
France to sew the Channel with, sub
marines which can have no other OBJ
1ect at all than to sink British mer-
chant ships and British cruisers in
time of war. There is no other use
to which such weapons could be put
and France has so far declined to
name an alternative use. though
treating the suggestion that IL men,
aces Britain as an insult unworthy an
answer.
IT needs no argument to show that
Britain is utterly dependent on the
highways of the seas for her vital
needs, whereas France is immune
from attack by sea owing to her con-
iinental position. Great Britain could
be strangled to death in three months
'f cut off from communication. II
would stop her arteries, her hearts
blood on the other hand. no British
army could infiict a mortal blow on
France in three months, or three hun
dred.
France Has No Grievance.
Now. what is behind all this French
policy? Has France real causes Of
grievance against the British nation I?
Have we betrayed her. stepped across
her path. acted in any way ungener-
ously? If I believed we had done so
] should say so, regardless of conse-
ouences. but / cannot discover any
single case in which we have not
dealt fairly and squarely with our
French neighbors. They accuse us of
intriguing against their interests In
Syria. So far from that being the
case, our officers. as / happen to know,
were instructed to defer toward
France in every way at Beyrouth.
Aleppo and in Cilicia. and they carried
out their instructions in the most
friendly spirit.
They say that we gained everything
out Of the peace treaty, that France
gained nothing. That indictment cam