Unfortunately; we cannot quite follow our friends the optimists in
building great hopes upon this instance of Allied unity, for M. Poineare; instead, of untwisting the screw in connexion with reparations and the occupied territory, . has gone further than ever, and has declared that Fiance will not wit-lithe*, from German soil till she is satisfied that she is free from all' possibility Of German aggression. When can a country be said to be free from all possibility of aggression ? We shall have to wait for Heaven before we see that. M: Poincare's formula simply means " Never." We no longer have any hope of agree- ing with statesmen who argue -in this way, and we cannot imagine why the Government should seriously think it worth while, in the name of saving an entente which no longer works, to let Germany, who drags a large part of our trade with her, drift day by day into a deeper state of ruin. The very conditions- which' M. Poineare would now like to remedy by means of ultimatums and sanctions Were, of course, created by France herself.
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