From the outset his central objective was the restoration of
European security. He was the first to see that this object could only be attained by a relaxation of the military and economic, clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. From the very day that he arrived at Berlin he sought to secure a settlement of the Rhineland problem and a settlement of the Reparation problem. He received little support from the Government at home. Again and again did he urge them to take a strong line against Poincares policy of destroying the economic stability of the Reich. He well • knew that this would lead to inflation and the ruin of the German middle classes, 'and that from the resultant anarchy would arise an irresistible desire for revenge. He wrote angry letters to Lord Curzon regarding our supine attitude towards Poincares occupation of the Ruhr. " The only wise," he wrote, " the only honest and honourable, course is to say: ' England will have no part in and no responsibility for what it believes to be wrong.' His words passed unheeded. The calamity occurred. And although thereafter D'Abernon had the satisfaction of seeing his ideas embodied in the Locarno Treaties, in the Dawes and Young Plans, and finally in the Lausanne agreement, yet he would always remark sadly that these excellent trans-
actions had occurred at least three Years too late.
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