We must now summarize Lord Curzon's speech. He said that
the British Government had consistently held that the final settlement of reparations could be achieved only by common action and common consent. The sum fixed by the Reparations Commission for Germany to pay—£6,600,000,000—had assumed an almost sacrosanct character, but it actually bore no relation to the money that Germany could really afford to pay. It was merely a lumping together of the demands of the various Powers. It was well known to be "a quite impossible sum which no sane person ever expected Germany would be able to pay in full." After tracing the British attempts to reduce this impossible sum Lord Curzon came to the occupation of the Ruhr, and declared that the sanguine expectations with which France entered upon that adventure had been "largely falsified by the results." The "sustained obstinacy and fury of passive resistance " had not been foreseen. The anticipated payments had not been forthcoming. Meanwhile as the expected yield of the occupation had become increasingly disappointing, so had the treatment of the inhabitants by the Franc.). Belgian authorities become increasingly severe.
