Evening star., 1925-08-17
The French Note
BY Frank III. Simonds.

Inc announcement from LONDON
that the British and French foreign
ministers had reached complete ac-
cord over the text of the answer the
French government Is to make to the
recent German note on the guarantee
pact clears the way for a new inter
national conference between Germany,
Britain and France to discuss the
terms of a settlement of conditions
of permanent peace between France
and Germany. The fact that the
American Ambassador in London,
Mr.. Houghton, has met the French
and British ministers also suggests
that he may have a role to play in
the latter meeting.
The situation at the moment is
simply stated. Germany in February
proposed a guarantee pact, France
in July replied with certain conditions
embodying her own view of what the
pact should be. Germany still more
recently answered the French note in
dicating her reservations. All notes,
however, whether German or French,
Indicated a keen desire to continue
the discussion, and a similar British
desire has been emphatically voiced.
The main points of difference be-
tween the French and the Germans
turn upon circumstances which are
outside the western field. France
from guaranteeing eastern as well as
western frontier she shall make her
accompanying pledge, not to seek by
force to change eastern frontiers, ef-
fective. To make 1t effective, Ger
many is asked not alone to negotiate
arbitration treaties with Poland and
Czechslovakia but also to consent that
France shall guarantee them.
Both Ally and Judge.
Germany points out cogently that
this would make Of France at one time
the ally of the eastern Slav states and
the judge of the performance of Ger
many. She would thus be able to de-
clare that Germany has violated her
treaties, and having declared this
would be free to move her troops over
German soil, that is, to invade Ger
many without doing violence to the
western pact, which Britain guaran-
tees.
What Germany would ike would be
situation established in treaty law
| by which France, having her own
frontiers guaranteed, would be unable
| to intervene in Germany, no matter
what Germany did to the French allies
| in the east. But Great Britain has
conceded to France that she recog-
nizes the justice of the French con-
| France Of the right to defend her
allies if they were wantonly attacked
The question then is TO find q way
! to give Germany protection against
any French intervention not justified
! by German action and to give France
| a way of establishing her right to act
! if German action justifies interven-
ton. The solution lies obviously in
| IVesting in the League eff Nations, in
some fashion, the power and duty to
decide whether any eastern crisis
warrants French intervention or not.
Germany, were such an agreement
made, would gain protection against
any separate French Intervention
made without British consent, like the
Ruhr. because before France could
act the league would have to pro-
nounce Germany guilty of aggression.
! Then French action would be justified
under the covenant of the league it
| self. France, on the other hand,
would retain the right to aid her allies
| if they were attacked wantonly. And
/ both nations would be restrained from
precipitate violence because such vio-
lence would quite obviously prejudice
their case with the league judges.
Both Would Be Benefited.
Patiently this solution would not
| give Germany an absolutely free hand
| in the east in return for concessions
| in the west, that is in return for
| recognizing as permanent her loss of
| IAlsace-Lorraine. France might and
will complain that such an arrange
ment might delay fatally her move TO
assist her allies. But the differences
are. after all. rather academic by con-
trast with the fact that by such an
( arrangement France would gain a
real British guarantee of her integrity,
! while Germany would obtain protec-
| ton against any French coercion or
! invasion which her own actions did
not undeniably invite.
| Any such solution would. however.
/ make it necessary for Germany to
! join the league, if for no other reason
/ than to defend herself before the
/ league if her actions We're called into
| question. That is the explanation of
! the public statment of Freiherr Won
! Nathan, the German Amba sSadOr,
made at Williamstown the other day,
| that Germany would soon be in the
! league. True, Germany is still hold
! ing out for special concessions which
would excuse her from action and
! close her territories TO the troops of
other nations acting if Russia attacked
| Poland. But this is hardly likely to
prove an insurmOuntable obstacle in
/ the end.
To Confer as An Equal.
Germany will doubtless soon go to
another conference, where she will be
hreceived as an equal, and the treaty
| which is negotiated, if one is made,
will in every sense be the free will
| agreement of Germany. II will, in Il
word, signalize the end of the era in
which Germany appears as a con-
! quered foe, as a prisoner under SEN
! tence and awaiting sentence. More
! over, when Germany enters the league
| il will be with an assured place on
| the council awaiting her. Behind
I these, circumstances, too, lies the tacit
| understanding that the completion of
| the pact will open the way to new
| German loans in America and Britain.
We are likely to see the pact and
| the German entrance into the league
because no one of the nations directly
| interested and no one of the cabinets
represented can afford to bear the re-
| Sponsibility for failure. The value of
| the pact in the distant future may be
debated. but its immediate usefulness
| as a contribution to StabiliZation can
not be exaggerated. Assuming that
| the pact will arrive, what is of more
| Importance now is the speculation as
| to whether Germany will be ready to
| join the league at the September ses-
sion, which is now close at hand.
| Otherwise, unless some new way is
! devised, her entrance would have to
! await next years meeting. This is
unlikely, as Baron Won Nathan sug-
gested. Therefore, interesting develop
ments at Geneva are almost certain.
| Copyright. 1925)
Muzzling the Hot Dog.