The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1923. THE EUROPEAN TANGLE

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 162, 27 March 1923, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1923. THE EUROPEAN TANGLE

It is again reported to-day, this time by the Berlin correspondent of the Paris Matin, that the German Government is expected shortly to make proposals to France respecting the Ruhr. Yesterday the Geiman Chancellor (Herr Cuno) was quoted as declaring at Munich that negotiations not based on the prior evacuation of the Ruhr were impossible, and that reports that Germany had attempted negotiations were absolutely untrue. ~ , , , x The Matin correspondent’s report and the Chancellor s statement are not necessarily as inconsistent as they may appear to be at a surface glance. For reasons of internal as well as external origin, the German Government is at present under the necessity of walking rather delicately. It is of material importance that Herr Cuno made his defiantly-worded speech in the Bavarian capital. Bavaria is the hotbed of German monarchist sentiment, a breed-ing-place of plots against the Republic like that which was reported yesterday to have been checkmated by the arrest of some of the principal conspirators. In Bavaria monarchist conspirators aie not content to develop secret military organisations under the. guise of gymnastic clubs. Their sympathies are quite openly displayed. The London Times recently published photographs of a parade march which the so-called Bavarian hascisti insisted on holding in Munich in spite of the action of the Government in declaring a state of siege. Thd marchers included a body of uniformed . "storm troops,” and standards carried were adorned with the Imperial eagle. This appears to be typical of ruling sentiment in the principal South German State. Bavaria is little inclined to submit to the control of the Federal Government, and the Chancellor and other Federal Ministers when they speak in Munich no doubt are uneasily aware of the possibility that Bavaria may elect to break away from the German confederation. . . , The tone of Herr Cuno’s speech at Munich is perhaps explained by the report that, a reactionary coup d’etat in Bavaria is rumoured to be imminent. The Chancellor probably was anxious rather to placate popular sentiment in Bavaria than to show that negotiation with Franco was impossible. It has been, suggested that France would welcome the. collapse of the German confederation, and even that she aimed deliberately at hastening such a collapse when she fastened her strangle-hold on the Ruhr—the heart of industrial Germany. Such suggestions are a poor tribute either to the integrity or the intelligence of the French Government. It is . particularly obvious that France has everything to lose, and nothing to gain, by the Balkanisation of Germany. If events should take that course all hope of collecting reparations would finally disappear, and the economic chaos into which Europe is already plunged would be deepened ancr intensified. But it is even more important that the dismemberment of Germany would produce a state of confusion in Central and Eastern Europe, and destroy any prospect France now has of obtaining stable guarantees of national security. With the German States split asunder and thrown into the arms of Russia, it would be hardly possible to look lor any other outcome than devastating wars indefinitely prolonged. The policy of wisdom for France undoubtedly is such an adjustment of her present policy as will enable her to re-establish co-oper-ation with Great Britain and secure such assistance as America is ready to offer. The emphasis laid in France on . alleged offers by the German Government to negotiate suggest that some sections at least of her public opinion are being converted to this common-sense view of the position. Assertions to the contrary, like those attributed to-day to tho Paris Figaro, are perhaps less indicative of positive opinion than of a perverse disinclination to admit and accept plainly established (truths. According to the Figaro, Britain is responsible for Germany’s failure to meet her reparation obligations, and this is capped by the still more amazing assertion that the interests of France and Britain are so opposed “that with the best will in the world the Entente is impossible.” It is, of course, obvious that France and Britain have an absolutely common interest in rehabilitating European credit and establishing safeguards of European peace. Britain has never suggested that Germany should be allowed to evade her obligations. .What she has maintained is that a form of pressure which makes it impossible for Germany to restore Her financial credit and re-establish her economic life is worse than useless.