The Government, Lord Curzon went on, had never concealed from
France and Belgium their opinion, based on the advice of the British Law Officers, that the Ruhr occupation was outside the Treaty and was therefore illegal. For his own part he had never failed to impress upon the German Ambassador that the duty of his Government was threefold : to pay their just debts ; to agree to the fixing of a definite sum by a competent authority ; and to offer adequate guarantees. Coming to the memorable British Note of August 11th Lord Curzon said that it had been revised " with meticulous care," first by the Cabinet and then by the Prime Minister himself. The generous offer of the British Government about the remission of debt had been contemptuously rejected by France, and could not in the circumstances be repeated. Passive resistance, however, had ceased. "We do not grudge our Allies their victory—if victory it be."
The price of such a victory was the threatened disruption of Germany, and there seemed to be no prospect that the reparation payments by Germany would begin again.
France had caused this situation—and "the French Government know that we await and expect the next proposals from them."
