A VIGOROUS ATTACK

Evening Star, Issue 19709, 9 November 1927, Page 5

A VIGOROUS ATTACK

SPEECH BY MR LLOYD .GEORGE FOREIGN SECRETARY CRITICISED. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, November 8. Following Sir Austen Chamberlain’s characterisation ol Mr Lloyd George’s warning as thoughtless and reckless, Mr Lloyd George, in a speech'at the Aldwych Club luncheon, vigorously attacked Sir Austen Chamberlain lor treating his.speech with ponderous lorocity. Hs ashed: Is Sir Austen Chamberlain so dazzled by his own achievements that he is blind to what lias happened, and what is going to happen r Sir Austen Chamberlain apparently considers that tho country is dishonoring a solemn pledge by nut reducing its armies and armaments, but it is too delicate a matter to bo. talked about by common people. A hush-hush policy before tho war was responsible for 10,UOO.UOO deaths. Complete frankness was essential to peace. Mr Lloyd George complained that Sir Austen Chamberlain was disposed to consider tho Locarno Pact as a final step, whereas it should be treated solely as one of a scries. It was no use standing on the shores of Lake Maggiore like a stork on one log looking prctenmtiirally wise and feeling very satisfied because lie lias swallowed one trout. Mr Lloyd George asserted that Sir Austen Chamberlain would not have arbitration because be could not carry the dominions; yet lie was willing to guarantee the eastern frontier ot Franco, which might lead to war. Disarmament would lead to peace. Mr Lloyd George indignantly denied the suggestion that, the Liberals were making a party matter of the League of Nations.

[Speaking at a League of Nations Union meeting in tho Queen’s Hall on October 24, Sir Lloyd George said: “When Austria, Germany, and Bnlgaria wore disarmed the Allies undertook to follow the example. Nevertheless, to-day tho Allies’ forces number 10,000,000, and are infinitely more formidably ecpiippcd than in 1914.” Great armament, ho declared, would always thwart the League; consequently the present European armaments were a gross breach of faith with those nations which entered the war to uphold the sanctity of treaties. “The present European snarls are seriously alarming the smaller States. The Balkans are always fizzling, sometimes spluttering, and occasionally exploding. Russia is sulking in the background, resenting her exclusion from tho society of nations, where she was once received with deference. She is increasing her strength yearly. She is angry because she has been robbed of her provinces, and she is ready to hit back. With tho chances of this bristling everywhere I attach the greatest importance to restoring Russia to the fraternity of nations, because she will ho tho most redoubtable nation on earth when she emerges from her internal entanglements. Another war is inevitable, and it will be more terrible than any in the past unless tho nations determine to seek justice ami protection from established right, and not from force. Only tho League can straighten out the situation: but a League which excludes questions which are inconvenient to powerful nations is a sham and a snare, and sooner or later will be fatal to European peace.”]