We have dealt elsewhere with the economic aspects of Mr.
Chamberlain's speech at the dinner of the Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce, held last Wednesday. The rest of his speech was taken up with our relations with France; and here Mr. Chamberlain spoke with firmness and discretion. He expressed his satisfaction at the way in which the American and British Ministers had joined to protest against the attempt of France to extend her settlement at Shanghai. This extension was also, Mr. Chamberlain noted, opposed by Germany and Japan. In regard to Madagascar, Mr. Chamberlain pointed out how our Treaty rights had been ignored and evaded, and he went on to say that it was no satisfaction to us to know that France had by her action only destroyed the prosperity of her newest colony. Dealing with Newfoundland, Mr. Chamberlain sketched the history of the French attempts to extend their Treaty rights, and how they now claim a practical monopoly over eighteen hundred miles of the sea- coast of Newfoundland, and have attempted to prevent mining operations, the making of railways, and the erection of piers and bridges. Mr. Chamberlain, of course, fully admitted the right of France to exact her pound of flesh under the Treaty, but no more. We should, however, be willing to remove this cause of friction by arranging for the extinction of France's rights "on fair and reasonable terms of compensation." Let us hope that France will have the good sense to meet these overtures in the spirit in which they are made.
Previous page
