7 JULY 1923, Page 9

The worst feature of the crisis is that we have

so little sea-room. The tide of time is running against us. Every day that passes diminishes the chances of Europe's salvation. Germany is on the brink of political, social and economic dissolution. And not only does the course of time bring this nearer. France's almost diurnal annexations and seizures intensify the peril. We are getting dangerously near the time when Germany will play her last card and tell the British Government that she puts herself unreservedly in our hands. That embarrassing duty we could not refuse. But it would bring things to an abrupt issue, and in a way which France would surely not desire.