13 OCTOBER 1917, Page 2

This, we think, is the moat obvious and maladroit attempt

the German Government have yet made to divide France and Great Britain. It is quite trite that we are pledged to Franco. It is also true that we shall not break our pledge. As Mr. Asquith said recently, the annexation by Bismarck of the French provinces was the cradle of all the European unrest which led to the present war. We do not want annexation. We want disannexation. As for the "glorious inheritance" from German "forefathers," the Foreign Minister cannot expect people to discover any sense in his words unless he is prepared to argue that the grandfathers of the present generation of Germans were Frenchmen.