FRENCH VIEW OF LLOYD GEORGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 132, 5 June 1923, Page 5

FRENCH VIEW OF LLOYD GEORGE.

A MAN OF SOPHISTRIES. NO FRIEND OF THE FRENCH.

Mr. Lloyd George has made no secret of his views of the French so it would he interesting to know what on the other hand our brave allies think of him. A well-informed French writer takes Mr. Lloyd George to task for his criticism of the. French enterprise in the Ruhr. "All Mr. Lloyd George's argument." says the article, is based on the assumption that the French Government is •'leading France to disaster.' - Mr. Lloyd George who has never ceased to oppose the just demands of France from 1018 to 1023 is obviously the very man to give advice of this kind. But let us accept his reasoning. In that case it is essential that if Mr. Lloyd George is deceived and if the French policy results in something better than a disaster, is in fact, a success, then he must revise his judgment, and abandon the conclusions to which he has come. We will remind him of this when the time comes. "Like all the sophists. Mr. Lloyd George simplifies problems. According to him our enterprise in the Ruhr simply" puts the reparations in danger." He omits to mention the second object that France has in view in the action she has taken in the Rhur, namely getting security, and apparently he would consider that if we obtained security without the reparations we would have lost the game. But if (as we are convinced they will) the operations in the Rhur in thwarting the German projects of revenge, ami the dream of a Russo-German alliance, give us in addition some commercial mortgages, will Mr. Lloyd George still persist in crying out that "it is necessary to save France from an inevitable disaster?'" "Does he not see that in fixing definitely the amounts the German must pay we will also re-establish the economic" prosperity of the world, and that imposing on Germany the realisation of her definite military defeat, we will guarantee to the universe an era of peace that no on? will disturb'; He states that even if the operation in the Rhur succeeds we will not recover the reparations, but. he does not give US any reasons; he simply contents himself with making the bald statement. Never, perhaps, has a statesman of his importance tackled with a similar amateurishness those problems that a little good sense and a little good faith would suffice to define and solve. "Still a further error of judgment on the part of Mr Lloyd George. The national spirit of Germany has during four years been humiliated. We have, according to Mr. Lloyd George, whipped it, over-excited it. and revolted it. As a matter of face the national spirit of Germany has not been humiliated in the slightest. Triumphal arches were in 191S raised by every German in hi 3 heart every day of his life to the invincible army, and they only waited the favourable moment to start the conflict again. The youth of Germany were brought up to kate the Allies, an< Ludendorff, without opposition, helt reviews of troops in Munich. "How silent Ludendorff has becom since we went into the Ruhr: If h thought to make a tour for the pui poses of propaganda, as he did in Au tria, he would !>e spat upon. 'You wei responsible!' is cried at him on all side: And it was not until February. 1021 when we entered the Ruhr, that Gel many recognised her defeat. Mr. Lloy George, then, is grossly deceived: th national spirit of Germany has not beei excited except in the sense that th soup bubbles up under the influence o the fire, and the soul of Germany is be ginning to lose some of its frenzies an< Its ill-will. "Still another error of judgment oi the part of Mr. Lloyd George! Hi puts on the same level France and Gei many as 'two great nations.' He fo: gets that one helped to save England, while the other wished to destroy her. "If Germany breaks up, France will have to deal with six capitals, and all jontrol will be impossible." says Mr. Lloyd George. Wiry? "If there be a revolution in Germany it would be a <till greater danger for France than a. militarist Germany." Why? Because a revolution in Germany would give power to the Extreme Left? Does Mr. Lloj-d George imagine that if the assassinated Kurt Eisner governed in Bavaria, and the assassinated Liebknecht governed in Prussia, we would be less tranquil and more exposed to an invasion? "It is the man that argues thus poorly that proposes the British Government should disentangle the French from the enterprise in the Ruhr, that we should have recourse to the League of Nations, and that the United States should be asked to intervene. It is this amazing person that wishes to give the French lessons in wisdom. At Cannes in December. 1921. Mr. Lloyd George wanted to tie up France by a Treaty Guarantee that was a trickery, in which we would not 'have been helped except in the case of an 'unprovoked' aggression. That must mean that in the case of a 'provoked' aggression we would have found ourselves disarmed and nwerless! In February. 1023. Mr. oyd George, who has the audacity to say* that the amount of payments fixed by him in May, 11)21, had* never been taken seriously, wished to tie us afresh through the medium of the League oi Nations. "Yea, Mr. Lloyd George has done us ill enough; let him rest awhile."