13 MAY 1922, Page 2

M. Barthou, in addressing the British journalists on Sunday, said

that France had done her utmost to collaborate loyally in the work of the Conference. Had she not desired it to succeed, she might have retired when the Germans and Bolsheviks " stabbed it in the back." The French Chamber strongly supported the Belgian protest against the confiscation of foreigners' properties in Russia. " It should not be said that France had chosen between two friends." She had acted on a question of principle. France, he repeated, wished to maintain the alliance with Great Britain, though she thought that Belgium took a truer view of the question of private property in Russia than the British Government did.