* * * * In Tuesday's debate Mr. Snowden, after
attacking the " barefaced bribery " of the Budget, turned to Mr. Churchill's debt settlements with France and Italy. He described these as " shameful." He declared that France had " bilked her national obligations " and ruined many trusting Englishmen who patriotically, and in all innocence, had subscribed to French funds. It was not that Mr. Churchill could not have made better terms ; America had secured better terms from both France and Italy. If they could afford to pay America they could afford to pay us. No doubt many people, both Unionists and Liberals, agree with Mr. Snowden that Mr. Churchill made a bad bargain. And it is also true that the French transaction, not having been ratified, is not final. Such facts, however, do not in any way extenuate the indiscretion of Mr. Snowden in insulting France and spreading ill-feeling between the Allies. And he was guilty of something worse than his attack upon France and Italy when he proceeded to denounce the Balfour Note. That, in a special sense, has been accepted as an unchanging basis of our financial liolicy —the understanding that Great Britain will claim no more from her Allies and from German Reparations together than she has to pay to America. Mr. Churchill im. mediately pointed out the gravity of Mr. Snowden's language, but was unable to make him withdraw.
Previous page
