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Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 91, 15 October 1934, Page 8

The funeral of M» Barthou in Paris and the arrival of little Peter II at his palace' in Belgrade were carried out on Saturday amid immense and sympathetic crowds with no reported sign of disorder or discord of any kind. The presence in the French cortege of M. Sarraut, ex-Minister of the Interior, separated from his late colleagues and on foot, may have represented a sufficient sacrifice to the spirit of party to ensure the Government against any further display of hostility until Parliament meets. Tn Belgrade, the widow of Stefan Raditch, the Croat leader who was shot on the floor of the Skuplsuhina six years ago, was the only shopkeeper to refuse to close in honour of the dead King, and it may be hoped that even she did not carry her savage hatred forward to his eleven-year-old son. In the funeral oration with which M. Doumergue honoured his late colleague he doubtless did full justice to a task which is far better suited to the temperament and genius of France than to those of Great Britain. The first of the two points reported was one of which all but the best-informed of foreigners must have been glad to be reminded. How many of us were aware that, by forcing the Chamber of Deputies to accept three years' military service in the year before the War, M. Barthou had made a material contribution to the security of France and of the world? It is even possible that a few of his own countrymen had forgotten it. The second of the French Premier's reported points was obvious but essential. He praised his late colleague for the work of peace on which he was engaged at the time of his death, and he associated in the eulogy the "wise and chivalrous friend who was visiting France for the same purpose" and was killed at the same time. A work of peace seemed to be the very last thing for which M. Barthoii was qualified when he first made the outside world fully aware that he had returned to politics less than six months ago. It was not peace but a sword that he appeared to have taken with him when he made his debut at Geneva on May 30. Recognising that "the very existence of the League might be at stake in the present session" of the Disarmament General Commission, M. Barthou laid about him in a fashion admirably calculated to extinguish the last flickering hopes of disarmament and. even "the very existence of the League." There was rejoicing in Berlin, where it must have been recognised that if Dr. Goebbels had had the drafting of the speech he could hardly have made a better job of it. At Geneva, however, and most other places there was, to say the least, serious anxiety, but London was fortunately not included in the majority- After all, it was only Britain and her Foreign Minister that had been attacked, and they are used to such things. After a day or two behind closed doors the proceedings at Geneva went on very much as. before, and when M. Barthou visited London a few weeks later he had an excellent reception, made an excellent impression, and did some very good work. Some day John Bull's tough skin will be recognised as a hardly less valuable security for the peace of the world than his once invincible Navy. It was, however, not in London but in Eastern Europe that M. Barlhou's crucial difficulties lay, and these he had already tackled—with a considerable amount of success. At the Peace Conference Poland was the special protege of France, and till about a year ago the close financial and military relations which were established between the two States immediately afterwards were regarded by both of them as essential to their security. But Poland's enthusiasm for her French alliance had weakened in recent years, and when by the most brilliant of his diplomatic feats —perhaps the only really brilliant one —Herr Hitler in November last arranged his ten years' NonAggression Pact with Poland, it was a severe blow to France. To meet what she regarded as a threat to her security in Eastern Europe has since been a capital object of her diplomacy. After M. Barthou had become Foreign Minister of France in February last and the hopes of disarmament grew fainter and fainter, it was natural that the thoughts of the Minister who had arranged the French alliances immediately after the War should look for substitutes of the same kind. With this object in view he arranged a number of official visits. It was probably rather as a matter of courtesy lhari with any bright hopes ihal. lie pul Warsaw first on his ii.sl. lie was there from April 22 to 24, and if he came away empty-handed that was doubtless just as much as he expected. M. Barlhou was assured that the Franco-Polish alliance was ! nol prejudiced In tin1 I'olishi German, rapprochement, but he was

politely informed at the same lime ; that Poland would formulate her own policy in Eastern Europe. In ; Prague a few days later (April 26-28) M. Barthou was in a different atmosphere and received an emphatic confirmation of the ties linking his country with Czechoslovakia. What happened at Geneva ■ in May, June, and September? There M. Barthou landed the biggest prize of all —the biggest possible—by gelting Russia admitted to the League of Nations with a permanent seal on its Council, and thus clearing the way for the alliance which he had made contingent upon it. Reverting to M. Barthou's activities in Eastern • Europe we may briefly mention the brilliant and significant successes which he achieved in Bucharest (June 20-23) and in | Belgrade (June 24-26). The welcome given to him both by the peoples and by the Parliaments of each State is described as "triumphal." At Bucharest he naturally excited the enthusiasm of his Rumanian audiences by declaring the uncompromising opposition of France to any revision of the Peace Treaties and to any territorial readjustment. "Know that if a square centimetre of your territory is touched," he said, "France will be at your side." On the eve of M. Barlhou's visit to Belgrade, the Premier of Yugoslavia, M. Uzunovie, had expressly associated himself with the recent declarations made by MM. Benes and Tilulescu. on behalf of the two other Little Entente States, Czechoslovakia and Rumania, against revision, as equivalent to war. There is, he said, not one lluuiaiiiau, Czechoslovak, or Yugoslav who would permit tho frontiers to be touched, without ;i sen of blood being shed. Sentiments of the same kind 'were interchanged during M. Barthou's visit to Belgrade, but the supreme importance of the negotiations which he opened up on that occasion but has not been allowed to complete is too large a subject to be discussed