SECURITY PLANS

Northern Advocate, 22 June 1925, Page 4

SECURITY PLANS

The French Note to Germany concerning the pact proposals is perhaps more cordial in tone than most people expected it to be. France is quite willing to open serious negotiations, provided Germany and other nations first comply with certain conditions. In the forefront of these is the stipulation that Germany shall enter the I League of Nations. There should be j no great difficulty on that point, for J Germany has expressed a keen desire : for membership, and she certainly has j made progress towards reinstatement j in the family of nations. But France j emphasises the fact that "a search for j guarantees for security ctnnot involve any modifications of peace treaties." Germany hopes ultimately to secure a revision of her eastern frontier, and she believes Britain to be not unsympathetic towards this aspiration, though in this case sympathy does not imply readiness to interfere. The published j correspondence between Britain and France is clear on this point. There are, of course, many people outside Germany who contend that the eastern boundary should be altered. It was. delimited partly by "well meaning amateurs" at Versailles, partly as a result of plebiscites held in circumstances which rendered it improbable that any very reliable expression o£ opinion would be forthcoming. Despite the pious intentions, the frontier pays little heed to economic considerations. The most glaring anomaly it has created is the "Danzig corridor," which connects Poland with that port, and entirely isolates East Prussia from the rest of Germany; To reach this province by land a German must cross Polish lerritorv, penetrate two Customs barriers, and equip himself with a pass- ! port. .Communications between those i parts of Germany east and west of the Vistula are seriously hampered. This state of affairs is productive of endless inconvenience and irritation, and the suggestion is that it cannot be permanent. Up till the present France has insisted upon the maintenance of the frontier, and her conversations with Britain on that point are by no means over, for Britain cannot reasonably be expected to undertake to guarantee toe Polish-German frontier. Bismarck once said that the whole Balkan question was not worth the bones of a Prussian grenadier. His successors differed from him, and lived to regret it. Britain wishes all nations well, f.nd trusts that they will live in amity. But there is an influential school of thought in Britain which argues that the whole question of the Polish frontier is not worth the bones of a single British guardsman. If it came to the ! pinch, they ask, would Britain go to war to maintain an artificial boundaiy, and secure to Poland a strip of territory of which approximately half the inhabitants are German in stock and language? Moreover, how would the Dominions act in such a situation? In i 1914 the threat to the Empire was direct and unmistakable. The Sarajevo j assassination was plainly a pretext. ! But would the Empire necessarily be I menaced by a boundary dispute in Cen- | tral Europe? A criticism often ad- ' vanced ngainst the Covenant of the ] League is that although members are J theoretically bound to protect each other's integrity, a signatory such as, say, South Africa might not feel obliged to enter tlie ring on behalf of Lithuania. The argument would apply with equal force to a pact which comj mitted the Empire to intervene in the interests of Poland. Germany is aware of the reasoning which prompts the British refusal to furnish a guarantee. Her aim is a treaty in which, while re- ' nouncing militarv action, she reserves j the possibilitv of having the eastern I frontier rectified by mediation. -She believes Britain to be favourable to this. She knows now that France seeks a definite guarantee. The question of the rights and obligations existing under the peace treaties remains one of great difficulty, but that France is willing to discuss it with Germany as well as with Britain is a hopeful j sign.