AMERICA AND EUROPE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 70, 24 March 1926, Page 7

AMERICA AND EUROPE.

THE HOUGHTON REPORT. *' s< TRENCH RESENT SCOLDING, c LONDON, March 23. b Q The Paris correspondent of the t "Times" says the publication of the fi report of the American Ambassador to t Britain, Mr. A. B. Houghton, on the s European outlook, is acting as a nervous s irritant and will probably do more harm ( than good to French susceptibilities, when are at' present extraordinarily • delicate and are unable to withstand a ' shock so brutally administered. If Mr. Houghton intended his report ] to act as an antidote to Nationalist ambitions it will fail so far as France is concerned, says the correspondent. It has caused even the most sober of the French newspapers to make fantastic statements. They profess to believe that the report is a British and Ameri- a can move against France. 1 These papers say that France has r taken the lead in the movement for ; European peace. She prepared, firstly, the treaty of mutual guarantee; ] secondly, the Geneva protocol: and, q finally, the Locarno pact, all of which ] were designed to obtain European j security and peace, which would result in general disarmament. \ Newspaper comments show that ■ a c strong dose of hostile criticism is sum- i cient to completely unbalance French > opinion. ] France would rather revert to the i position of a nation in arms than sub- < mit to a trans-Atlantic lecture. Tn the course of a leading article the ] "Times" says: "Mr. Houghton's report < is too sweeping and exaggerating when \ it says Europe has learned nothing ; from the war. There is also obviously a reply to his statement that Europe ( does not want America's assistance. l "America suddenly withdrew from Europe at a most difficult time. Those I who hoped her decision mi<jht be modified were constantly reminded th/.t this wa3 impossible. Therefore it was hardly dignified to appeal further, and ! Europe commenced to help herself in her own way. Nevertheless, America's unofficial assistance in reconstruction work was fully recognised. "Mr. Hough ton's criticisms of France are not wholly justified. There have been times when dangerous tendencies have marked the policy of France, but if one thins is certain in Europe to-day it is that French policy is not a desire for war. but an exceptionally acute dread of war" —("Times."