Evening star., 1925-04-26

IS hkely to continue in Herriot's foot
steps long. A change in foreign policy
as great as that which followed the
shllt from Macdonald to Baldwin in
orItaln is therefore more than likely
IL | may add one word of caution
the dlfnculty in the French situation
uoeS not arise as a result of anv
new access of militarism or any
ammunition in the we'll l-nigh universal
ueslre OF the French people for Deace
A return OF Poincare would not mean
that the reactionaries have won the
country. What has happened Is that
the radicals, the Observation-Disclosures
you choose to call the present crowd
nave deliberately thrown awav
thelr chance. They have stupidity
and little malevolently taken adj
vantage of sudden rise to power To
pay the meanest and most misera BILE
OF domestic political games.
III there is real change in gov
ernment. either through the making
! OF a. BRAND cabinet, with more con-
serVat1Ve support, or through an open
break and return to Poincare or
Mlllerand, 1T will be the result OF
| domestic and not foreign issues, il
| VIII be because the mass of the
french people have become alarmed
Tor the security, not so much of
French frontiers, as of France within
her own frontiers; it will be because
the innate sense of order and system
of the nation has been affronted by
one OF the maddeSt and saddest ey-
periments which has been made out
side of Russia since the war.
! Meantime, 1T should be quite OBJ
vious that with this political tur-
| moil in France there is precious lit
tie use of discussing conferences to
deal with armaments or proposing
| negotiations to handle intera Ilie,l
! debts. France, all France, is absorb
ed in her present domestic troubles,
political and financial, while the Ger
man election gives food for thought
! in the matter of foreign dangers.
Conference Is Opposed.
| think l can say without exagger
alton that there is unanimous oppo-
sltlon in France now to any new
| Washington conference - Opposition
which will certainly find some way
of expressing itself and would Sin the
end make such a meeting futile. AS
for debts, since French ministries are
for the time being almost certain to
be shortlived, there would be little
chance of accomplishing much by
| talking debt settlement terms with
| a finance minister who was sure to
80 OUT ol ONCE before the converse
tions reached any decisive point.
The simple truth is that for some
time to come France is certain to be
in state of political paralysis. /,
has no responsible government, in the
sense of a government solidly found
ed upon legislative support, and the
situation is such that no responsible
government is likely to arrive fol
some weeks and even for some
months. Beyond the present mess
one can see a definite solution takins
form. one can with some degree OF
cert. .inty forecast that 1t will be G
conservative government which will
finally emerge from the storm, but III
one can accurately invoke the. timt
element. The disease from which
France has suffered carries it's owr
cure, but it is far from unlikely tha
there will be further crises before i
runs its appointed course.
AS it stands only the enemies o.
France could fail to feel sympathy fol
which are as incompetent as those %
Herriot and Painleve or as thick
skinned as those of CaillauX. To fine
q parallel one must, as / have said
go back to the moment when the fail
ure of the offensive at the Aisne il
1917, frequently ascribed to Painleve
for moment brought despair TO the
whole nation. And it is at leas
worthy of note that the names of the
leaders of that hour and of the pres
lent are pretty generally identical.
tcopyright. 1851