On Tuesday there was another debate on the Ruhr, opened
by Sir John Simon. In the division the Govern- ment's majority shrank to 48. The big Liberal guns were turned on and their effect- was perceptible: Sir John Simon, in a characteristically clear speech, made two points, one a legal, one a practical. First; had the Government con- sulted their legal advisers as to whether or not the French invasion was-legal under the Versailles Treaty ? Secondly, were they' doing anything to protect the interests of the important British trade with the Rhineland, which was being rapidly extinguished ? After several speeches from different parts- of the House, all of which attacked the GOvernment'a inaction from one side or the other, and a weighty reinforcement of Sir John Simon from Mr. Asquith, Mr. McNeill replied for the• Government. He seemed strangely- out of touch with- the situation; He remarked : " Few people would take the view that to march into the Ruhr as a sanction for a default in the Treaty was a thing .wrong in itself." His- answer to the legal point was practically an admission that the-Govern- ment did not' consult their legal officers lest the opinion should be that'the French had violated the Treaty.
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