A FORGED LETTER.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19448, 23 October 1928, Page 11

A FORGED LETTER.

NAVAL CO-OPERATION SCHEME. PUBLISHED BY NEW YORK PAPER, (raoM ocb ows coebespokdent.) LONDON, September 7. In the New York "World" on April 25th there was published what was described as a paraphrase of a letter said to have beeu written by Sir Austen Chamberlain to Mi Briand, in which a scheme for co-operation between the British and French Navies was set forth in outline. Tile same newspaper, ou the following day, quoted the British Foreign Office as declaring officially that the letter "must be a forgery" and that "no communication has ever been made bv Sir Austen Chamberlain to M. Briand even remotely in the sense suggested." The framers of the boj£Us document probably hoped to obtain its publication in certain New York newspapers as propaganda against the Peace Pact.. It came to the knowledge of the British Foreign Office that the forged letter was being offered for sale to certain American newspapers. It consisted of three sheets of unheaded typewritten foolscap paper, which the person who offered it for sale vouched for as an exact copy of a letter, on Foreign Office paper, which he had seen. The original letter, he said, was in the archives of the Quai d'Orsay, Paris, and a duplicate in the Foreign Secretary's records at Whitehall. It was stated at the Foreign Offire that Sir Austen Chamberlain had never ".vritten to M. Briand in any way approaching the terms of the bogus letter. The document w->s a fabrication from beginning to end. It is recognised that if the forgery had not been quickly exposed it might .have had serious international consequents. Full of Minor Mistakes. The letter was written in England; it was full of minor grammatical mistakes.' These, however, might possibly bo errors in copying. But its context and style change fundamentally towards the end,' and give the impression that the letter is not written by one hand. The opening is "Dear Briand," a mode of address, it is understood, which is not used by Sir Austen, who usually writes in French. The signature is "Chamberlain," a form onlv used in this country by Peers of the Realm, although in both America and France surnames alone are often used in affixing signatures. The last sentence of the letter states that a French translation is enclosed; this would be an unexampled incivility when writing to a foreigner in a languge he considers he understands. The London correspondent of the New York "World" : said in an interview : "I do not feel at liberty to state the facts for publication, but if the British authorities wish to investigate the matter I aqi willing to supply all the. information. "I should like it to be known that the letter was not offered for sale to the 'World.' If it had been, the .'World' would not have bought it." Mr Balderston, the correspondent, visited the Foreign Office for a conference 'with officials, but no request was made to him to reveal the source of the forged letter, and Mr Balderston did not volunteer the information. Opinions are divided as to the reasons for this forgery. The original price asked for the letter suggests thai the idea was prompted by monetary considerations. On the other hand, the policy laid down in the letter follows closely the plan, of naval spheres of in r fluence, rumours,,of which havg. been current for tiie past month in certalii political quarters' abroad.