Other incidents in the controversy to which we may refer
are the letters published by the Times from Mr. Wickham Steed and Mr. J. M. Keynes. We had supposed that Mr. Steed, when he was Editor of the Times, had been on the whole favourable to French policy. In his letter—a very able one—which was published on Tuesday he says, " For more than three years I have been steadily opposed. to the occupation of the Ruhr, which I have always feared would begin by wrecking the Entente and end by destroying the economic and political inde- pendence of France." lie wants the British Government not to look on any longer but to take action. " Were the British Government to succeed in promoting.a settle- ment, no matter at what cost to their apparent diplomatic or logical consistency, they would enjoy the gratitude of the whole world, including the bulk of the French people. Should they fail the situation would be no worse than it now is." Mr. Keynes, whose letter was published on Monday, also demands a- bold policy. He suggests that if France would evacuate the Ruhr and fix the German liability at fifty milliards, Great Britain should agree to cancel • all inter-Allied debts and put herself at the bottom of the list of the claimants upon Germany.
