French Security on the Rhine
Frenchmen are disappointed that General de Gaulle has not been invited to attend the meeting between Mr. Churchill, Marshal Stalin and President Roosevelt. Though they are realistic enough to recognise that this is a meeting between leaders who have behind them massive forces converging on Germany, and have to take decisions arising out of this fact, none the less they are right in insisting that France has an essential part to play in providing for the future security of Europe. In her view there are certain con- ditions which must be fulfilled if she is to be safe herself, of to make her contribution to general security in the West. At a Press conference last week General de Gaulle pointed to the lessons of geography and history to show that the military defence of France was on the Rhine ; French forces, he insisted, must be along the Rhine from end to end. The occupation to which he referred was military, not political, and his allusion to the presence of Allied forces may be taken as indicating that he might perhaps welcome a proposal which will be made by M. Spaak, the Belgian Foreign Minister, that Belgium should participate in the control of the Rhineland. If such an arrangement were made it would be natural that Holland should become responsible for a stretch of the Rhine- land where it approaches her territory. All this is looking far ahead, and anticipating provisions of a peace settlement in so far as it is concerned with the prime question of security. But it is not too soon to recognise that in considering the future military frontier, which is a matter of life and death to her, France already makes it clear, and rightly, that her voice must be heard.
