THE PRICE OF PEACE:
BY the time these words are in our readers' hands, M. Herriot, unless delayed by some unforeseen crisis in:Paris, will be on his way to the Chequers and his week- end with the Prime Minister. It is said that no definite day has been fixed for his departure. He will stay till a united foreign policy for England and France has been hammered out. We like this decision enormously. It seems to be an earnest of everything that we are hoping for from that " New Spirit " in Europe of which Mr. Joseph Conrad was thinking when he wrote the words which he quoted three weeks ago. As he said, it is Europe's " formulas of international intercourse " that are dead. It is to create new formulas that such visits as M. Herriot's are designed. If only he and Mr. MacDonald can reach real agreement a great step for- ward will have been taken. But let us not suppose that such an agreement will be easy. M. Herriot may be asked to do many things which he will find difficult. He will need all the courage and leadership that is in him if he is really to agree to a European policy to which the Prime Minister can pledge this country.
M. Herriot will have to sustain the bitterest reproaches of " betraying France's just claims." -But if he is not prepared to bear them no real progress can be made. What signs have we, then, that the new leaders in France are really prepared to pay the Price of Peace ?
The most - impOrtant foreign event during the week has not been the election of M. Doumerguei instead of M. Painleve, to the Presidency. It has been M. Herriot's appointment of General Nollet as his Minister of War. To take the lesser event first ; the official candidate of the Cartel des Gauches for the Presidency, made vacant by the reluctant exit of M. Millerand, was M. Painleve.
But M. Gaston Doumergue, the President of the Senate and a member of the " Democratic Republican " party, which is roughly the S'enatorial equivalent of the Cartel des Gauches in the Chamber, was able to secure 150 votes _ _ from personal adherents amongst members of the Left bloc. With these and with the Solid support of all the parties of the Bloc National he was 'able to secure a comfortable majority. This was unquestionably a rebuff for the Cartel des Gauches. The Nationalist Press have affected to regard it as a triumph for the Right. But that the Bloc National should be rejoicing at the election of M. Doumergue shows how far the pendulum has swung in France. One hag Only t0" recall the controversy over his candidature for the PresidencY Of the Senate to make the present rejoicing of the Press of the Right seem almost incredible." For then such papers as the TeMps, the Figetio arid' the Gaulois could say 'nothing too bad of M. Dounergue. The _truth of the matter is, of course, summed up by a remark which, it 'seems, a deputy of the Right let drop in one of the coukirs of Versailles during the 'National sembly. "'Nous -fivions a choisir entre la- peste et le cholera ; nous aeons choisi le cholera." But if the affair has served to bring any hot-heads of the Left to their senses it has been useful: Certain it is, at any rate, that M. Doumergue will make an admirable President.
His first action was, Of course, to -send for M. Herriot, Who announced his MiniStry - with such promptitude as to Mille it Obvious 'that he had had it prepared for some time. As we have said above, by far his most important appointment was that of General Nollet to the Ministry of War. General Nollet was the head of the French Military Commission on German disarmament, and has been- in Berlin fiir thelatt year or so-. He has; it is- well known, made a report on the military condition- of Gerrnaity, which is at .present - before - the --Freneh Government. The effect in both France and Germany of this appointment has been considerable. In Franee it is considered to be a cleVer move, calculated to, silence in advance. inevitable attae' ks by the Bloc National on the new Ministry " for betraying the security of France.' On the other hand, General Nollet is well known to hold Liberal views: 'He is, for instance, in favour of reducing the period of Military service to one year. In Germany, on the other hand, the appointment appears to have caused considerable stir. The Nationalist Preis is up in arms over it ; calls the General " one of Germany's worst torturers, . . . with the exception of M. Poincare, the best hated Frenchman in Germany," &c. Indeed, the Times Berlin correspondent sent on Tuesday a some- what alarming despatch in which he said that it is widely feard " that this appointment may have a far-reaching effect on the settlement of the reparations questions and perhaps influence adversely . the ,policy hitherto pursued by the Marx-Stresemann Government." We do not know, however, whether the German Nationalist Press need be taken very seriously. They would certainly have protested if M. Herriot had made M. Romain Rolland his Minister of War. The more reasonable element in Germany should be well aware that General N011et is not- a hot-headed militarist. Everyone who came in contact with him during his work in Berlin seems to agree that he carried out a most difficult task as well and as reasonably as anyone could have. - Still the Nationalist outbreak upon the Noll-et appointment is a disquieting symptom of the present German situation.
The present German Government is palpably well intentioned. We dO not think that any reasonable man can come to another conclusion. It is even now preparing the draft laws to give effect to the Experts' proposals, and Herr Stresemann has just been pressing for the admission of Germany to the League of Nations. But it is equally certain that, at any rate, a proportion of the Nationalists neither desire nor expect a peaceable settlement and, criminally reckless of the consequences to their own country, would like nothing better than the complete breakdown Of the present negotiations on the Dawes Report. Just whether they form a high though proportion of the Nationalist Party to block one way or another the efforts of the present Government to put the Dawes Report into operation, is the crucial question. Probably when the time conies they will not prove quite strong enough or quite mad enough to- pursue their wrecking tactics to the end. But if they do, or worse, if- while not actually overturning -the Marx-Stresemann Government, they manage to make its efforts at agree- Ment with the Allies fruitless, there will be only one course open, namely, to dissolve the present Reichstag and put all to the test of a new election. This would be a bold—nay, a desperate—move, but it is not quite certain that, if it became necessary, Dr. Marx and President Ebert would not be the men to put it through. Three months ago a young German diplomat was asked for his opinion of Dr. Marx. His reply was, " A nice, kind gentleman." Such, indeed, was the universal opinion at that time. But since then Dr. Marx seems to have shown himself to be more than " a nice, kind gentleman." A typical man of the Catholic-Centre, it seems just possible that he-is developing some of those solid, moderate and yet dexterous qualities which are the essential- ones for the task of lifting a country from the slough of defeat and distraction ; some, indeed, of the qualities of Thiers. If it is necessary to have recourse to new elections in Germany, much would obviously depend on what had happened in the early- stages of the present negotiations. The Allies must try to give some tangible proof-of their fundamental good Will towards the German -Republic, to which the Republican parties can point. Perhaps the best of all such pledges would be the early evacuation of the Ruhr, even before the Dawes Report was in full operation. But it is not to be expected that France will agree to this. Indeed, M. Herriot has already said that he will not. Perhaps the next best thing would be an official declaration by the British and French Govern- ments that Germany should be asked to join the League of Nations and to have representation on its Council. We wonder if M. Herriot would have the courage to agree to this—to pay the price that alone can bring a real Peace to Europe.
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