LET FRANCE EXPLAIN.*
IN this book Mr. Frederick Bailsman, who was formerly a member of the Supreme Court of the State of Washington, has drawn an indictment against France, who, he alleges, was the real instigator of the War. He is deeply impressed by the secret treaties between France and Russia, which the Bolsheviks Published after the revolution. He is, of course, trained in judicial methods, but we cannot honestly say that he observes them in this work, for we find a good deal more rhetoric than judgment. His general conclusions are that the Alliance of France and Russia was unnecessary to the safety of France and was hostile to the peace of Europe ; that France deliberately encouraged Russia to be aggressive against Germany ; that German armaments were rendered necessary by the wanton increase of Russian armaments ; that Russia had no motive in Serbia except to extend her Empire in the Balkans ; that Germany, after discovering that Russia actually would go to war as a result of the Serbian affair, did everything possible to avert war ; that the Russians, when they thought war likely to be avoided, hurriedly mobilized in order to make war inevitable ; and that France, in the few days preceding the War, did nothing to prevent the catastrophe.
Mr. Bausman seems to us to be unfair in general, and he is inaccurate in regard to particular facts. For example, the assertion that France did nothing in the last days of July, 1914, to avert war is not correct. She joined with Great Britain in a very earnest attempt. The bias of Mr. Bausman's mind is well illustrated by his very severe criticism of M. Paleologue. M. Paleologue was the French Ambeasailor at St. Petersburg in 1914 ; and when the War had been going on for several weeks M. Witte suggested to him that the time had come to make peace. M. Paleologue then declared that " if the world to-day is in fire and blood it is for a cause chiefly important to Russia, a cause eminently Slav, a cause which nowhere touches France or Eng- land." Mr. Bausman regards that declaration as a terribly significant admission. But surely he fails either to understand human nature or to read the words in their context. What else could the French Ambassador have said ? In September, 1914, the French armies were being driven back. If France had made peace then she would have become the vassal of Germany. It was M. Paleologue's simple duty as Ambassador at that desperate moment to brace up those in authority in Russia who were wavering, and to convince them that, even though they might be indifferent about the future of France, the future of their own country should give them pause. To interpret that statement as having the value of a literal exposition of the French view of the War is almost hopelessly non-judicial. Mr. Bausman continually asserts that France had no need to fear Germany before the War, but that, on the contrary, Germany was driven to make herself secure by the plotting of France and Russia. It is an unfortunate fact for this argument that the " Triple Alliance preceded by thirteen years the Franco-Russian Alliance.
Mr. Bausman, on the whole, exculpates Great Britain, though he thinks that Sir Edward Grey used unfortunate phrases in the negotiations immediately before the War. We believe, on the contrary, that Sir Edward Grey ransacked every possibility of keeping the peace. He even went so far—and here, we think, he went unjustifiably far—as to suggest at the eleventh hour that if Germany would produce any reasonable plan whatever for keeping the peace Great Britain would accept it even if France would not. It is conceivable that if Germany had seized that opportunity she might have been cunning enough to divide
• Ed France Explain. By Frederick Baseman. London: George Allen and [10s. 6d, net.)
France and Great Britain. She would then have been able to deal with us both " in detail." Our turn would have come when the French had been disposed of. Happily, the risk passed, and we are not sorry now to be able to look back on the record of those times and to reflect what dangers the British Govern- ment accepted in their efforts to placate Germany. Mr. Bails- man might also have said something of the repeated attempts by Great Britain to come to an understanding with Germany about shipbuilding. He more or less justifies the attempts of the German Emperor to lead the Tsar into an act of treachery to France. He quotes phrases from Tolstoy as though they were ordinary solid common sense. He writes with horror of the Russian strategic railways which were built up to the German frontier, but we think we are right in saying—though there is no index—that he makes no mention of the much more malign German strategic railways which were built up to the Belgian frontier. Schlieffen's railways were designed to violate the solemnly guaranteed neutrality of Belgium and enter France by a forbidden road. In spite of these railways Mr. Bausman thinks that France had no real cause to be alarmed !
Although this book is a misreading of history in the solemn garb of moral indignation, it would be just as well that the French should take note of it. There has been a very unfor- tunate change in the attitude of America towards France. The French legend, which dates back to the War of Independence, is losing its power. Modem Americans see in Frenchmen a restless, implacable people who find difficulties in every scheme for the appeasement and harmony of Europe. They were surprised and displeased at the tone of some of the French speeches at the Washington Conference. Now, a book like Mr. Bausman's may accentuate these tendencies in America. Strictly it ought not to do so, but nevertheless it may do so. If the French are wise they will remember that the enmities of. misunderstanding are quite as damaging as enmities based on solid fact. They will, in short, take even such an extreme book as this as a sign and a portent, and they will try to avoid all appearance of evil. They will search their hearts seriously to make sure that they are justified before finally deciding to play a " lone hand " in Europe.
Previous page
