The Puzzle of the Pacts

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21805, 10 June 1936, Page 10

The Puzzle of the Pacts

When M. Blum assured the French people that his government would adhere to the policy of collective security, he also gave a hint broad enough to reassure those who could recall France’s commitments under regional pacts of mutual aid, especially those who remembered the Foreign Minister’s plan for something closely resembling Briand’s “ united states of “Europe.” The extent to which the regional understandings cover Europe and interfere with the progress of international politics and influence the discussions at Geneva is not generally appreciated, nor is their complexity fully realised. Agreements to give mutual aid can bind one nation with two others not linked in any way and even faced with the possibility of conflict. For instance, the defensive treaty of March 3, 1921, associated Rumania and Poland, and Poland is linked with France under the Treaty of Aid and Assistance signed on October 18, 1925, the date of the Locarno Treaty binding France, Germany, Belgium, Britain, and Italy to preserve the existing frontiers, France at the same time effected a treaty of mutual guarantees with Czechoslovakia; but Poland has no such understanding with Czechoslovakia

and is nervous about what is regarded as the menace of Russia. France last year signed a mutual aid pact with Russia and this was followed by an agreement committing Czechoslovakia to a similar understanding with Russia. A Russo-Rumanian pact for mutual aid is reported to be in preparation, and if this is signed, Poland will find herself committed, in the event of attack, to give aid to two of the three countries tied to Russia. In the south, Italy is linked with France under the Locarno Treaty and with Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia for the maintenance of Austria’s independence, but she has no arrangement with Russia. Jugoslavia is involved in the Balkan pact which links her with Rumania, but with neither Russia nor France. Thus, if Russia attacked Poland, France and Rumania would be bound to give her aid, while at the same time they would be committed to assist Russia; if Czechoslovakia and Rumania came to blows Russia would find herself committed to help both, while France would have an equally awkward puzzle to solve, because Poland would have to succour Rumania and with Czechoslovakia would have the right to call on the French to assist. The network of pacts has been complicated by the FrancoSoviet understanding of last year and no doubt the plan is to carry the mutual agreements further until comprehensive and cohesive structure is reached, but in the meantime the lines of committal are a web in which efforts of those who seek to develop the policy of collective security through the League become entangled. M, Blum has had to recognise, too, that for France foreign politics provide complexities demanding outstanding tactical skill. If the relations between Italy and Britain can be improved, the French Foreign Minister will breathe more easily because he will again command a solid bloc against Germany; but the British policy of late has been to use Germany as a counterweight to Italy in endeavouring to induce France >to stand firmly by the provisions of the League Covenant. The difficulties from the French viewpoint can be understood more readily if the puzzle of the individual pacts is examined. Mr Eden must also find the maze of “ understandings ” a difficulty added to an already difficult task.