ANNEX OR ACQUIRE?

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 137, 9 June 1917, Page 6

ANNEX OR ACQUIRE?

Speaking in Ithe French Senate, the Premier of France, M. Ribot, has reaffirmed France's demand for the restitution of Alsace-Lorraine, and for reparation for atrocities And damage committed upon French territory. "I am convinced," he adds, "that you will find these ideas reflected^ in President. Wilson's Note to Petrograd." This is a clear affirmation that the United States backs the Entente in its demand foT Alsace-Lorraine and for reparation to France; and it can hardly be doubted that the latter includes reparation to Belgium also. But there is still no light as to the attitude of the United States towards the German colonies. In this connection M. Ribot was designedly non-committal. He remarked, significantly enough : "We must, demand guarantees to safeguard our children from the return of such horrors. Shall we find them in territorial acquisitions or temporary occupations of territory or neutralisation of territory? All these questions must be considered when the time comes." Thus questions of acquisitions and neutralisations are purposely left open, and this is done without using the word "annexations," which has become like a red rag in a certain section of the Russian bnll-ring. The comment passed in these columns last Saturday on the reported remarks of the French' Premier remains • true today, , viz. : that he has been "not exclusive in his stipulations. Ho insisted that the recovery of stolen property was not annexation, but he used no general words which forbade', the annexation of conquered territory outside of Europe." Whatever the final opinion of inarticulate Russia may be, France has certainly not-"banged the door" against acquisition of some or all of the German Pacific and African colonies. Has. the United States banged the door against such acquisitions ? That is, one of . the big questions possibly hinging on the terms of the undisclosed American Note to Russia.

To annex a thing is to, take it. To acquire a thing may mean—and generally does mean—to . buy it. Therefore, .between an annexation and an acquisition there is a "vast difference; although a buyer may be in a position to buy on such terms that his acquisition ia practically an annexation.' Such a thing sometimes occurs in such an every-day event as a forced sate; and history is not without its forced sales, arising perhaps out of the fortunes of war, perhaps out of other circumstances. If annexation is a tabooed word", a similar result may, without friction, be attained .by buying at a favourable price. In considering this phase of the question, it must be remembered that the European re-settlement will not be a simple transaction; it will be Sofch. compound and complex. Even if annexation is .vetoed, restitution and reparation are comprehensive quantities, and the acquisition of German Pacific or African territory might figure in ithe account .without seriously disturbing the oatiannexationist sensibilities of those Russian fanatics toßo wish to change everything but the stereotyped frontiers upon the pre-war map. After all, there is a good deal in a name; andl it is quite possible that , the French Premier's choice of words lias* a significance of its own. If Russia had aided the Entente in 1917 to the expected extent, Germany .would probably have been willing by now to buy peace by selling her Pacific colonies at a price sufficient to save her face without straining our purse. .As things have turned .out, the German military predicament may not have reached the required ■ intensity, but the end is not yet. A good deal depends on the undisclosed contents of the American Note—on the extent of the United States' President's concession to Russian extremist sentiment. Reparation and acquisition are matters of wide scope, in a marine as well as a territorial sense; and the German flag will not easily reappear on the high seas so long as Anglo-French ■ requirements In the matter of . lost ships, and of strategic points in the colonial spheres, Temain unsatisfied. Whether satisfaction is obtained under one name or under another is a subordinate question, 'so long as the main purpose is achieved.