21 MAY 1921, Page 2

M. Briand, the French Premier, took Mr. Lloyd George's speech

on Upper Silesia so much to heart that on Saturday he summoned the foreign correspondents in Paris to hear the French view of the situation. The French troops in Silesia had, he said, tried to maintain order, but the Poles had been excited by false reports to the effect that all the mining areas were to be given to Germany. M. Briand insisted that the communes with Polish majorities ought not to be put back under German rule. He made it clear that if German troops entered Upper Silesia the French would cross the Rhine at once, whether their Allies liked it or not. He agreed with Mr. Lloyd George that it was not for the Poles to settle the Upper Silesian problem, but he added that the Germans could not be allowed to interfere.