TOPICS OF THE DAY
FRANCE
FRANCE is in sad trouble again and has our heartiest sympathy. In her minor troubles we are often tempted to say, indeed we have said, that they are due to her own faults or mistakes. But in real difficulties and perplexities a cry of distress from France never fails to make us long to help. A man cannot define why his instinct is to aid a woman, and we are conscious that Latin races have feminine traits which appeal to us: Rut that is a small part of the matter ; so are the comparatively sordid facts that France is a customer for our trade and a debtor to our Treasury whoni our heads want to see rich and prosperous. In times like these the heart rather than the head influences Our feelings. France has long been our friend and ally, sharing our perils and knitting our heart with hers.
We had great hopes that she would submit to M. Caillaux as to a surgeon and carry out the treatment that he prescribed,. unpleasant though it was sure to be. We thought that she agreed with the opinion that we formed, mainly upon observation of her own opinion, that he was the best surgeon available and that his decisions must be accepted. But we are disappointed. M. Caillaux asked for autocratic power in finance. He certainly did not assume any persuasive modesty in asking. It is not in his nature to do so, and, indeed, his blunt masterfulness was not without its impressiveness as a gauge of the seriousness with which he addressed himself to his terrific task. We in Great Britain hate on principle the idea of dictatorship. In France there is far less hatred of that idea, but there is more bitter personal hatred of politicians than any we yield to here. Only a popular leader can lead the French in a crisis, and M. Caillaux has never sought popularity, nor has he ever had any illusions about the degree of popularity that his career has earned in the past. He probably had as shrewd an idea as anyone of the shrinkage in popularity that would follow the arrangement made a few days ago with the British Treasury. There have been times in our history when personal reputation rather than popularity, deserved or undeserved, has deprived us of the service of able men, witness King George's choice of the sober Addington instead of the infinitely abler Fox ; but the French have less reason to throw out the man who they know is fittest to set their house in order for them.
And what will M. Herriot do ? We can understand his objections to a Briand-Caillaux Government. He knows that foreign credits or loans will hurt French pride sharply and lead to fears of a Dawes Committee in France, but does he believe that France can do without them ? He knows that legislation by decree is contrary to the principles of Parliamentary Govern- ment, but is he such a stickler for Parliamentary principles that he can conceive of no moment when they might be momentarily overshadowed with advantage ? He knows that many of his supporters long to make trial of the Capital- Levy to save the. Treasury, but does he imagine that the moment to try it is when the chute of the franc is exacting a levy of nine-tenths of the taxpayer's capital ? We confess that we stand amazed at his daring. If he does well for France we shall rejoice at the result of astonishing courage, but at present we do not see whither he is going.
Naturally the air is full of _ rumours. Extremists, Royalists cc Communists prick up their ears or ask What they can catch in troubled waters. Rumour magnifies their efforts and their powers to do anything at all. Discontent can be stirred in the Army, and who. will get the control of that influence, always. much stronger in France than in Great Britain ? The Treasury grows emptier daily, and it needs but little to.make the Frenchman, and still less to make the Frenchwoman, begin to hoard against trouble. There is,. of course, an immense impetus towards the expectation of a real dictatorship. The little body, of French Fascists can persuade more and more people to call for a Mussolini. They are not the serious part of the movement. It is much more to the point to remember that Parliamentary Government has not among Latin races had, the same success, nor been the same part and parcel of their habits of mind, that we have made it. . To fly with enthusiasm to a successful General in war not ten years. past would not be to them the wild step that it would. be to us. Already we hear of one reluctant Marshal being begged to leave his tent and to save his country.
Outside France, Belgium dreads being drawn down a slippery financial slope with her ally and neighbour. Germany knows what are the process and effects of a currency disappearing into annihilation, and . she does not want to see any country undergo them on her borders. We, in Great Britain, ean only look on until the course of France is set in some new direction. . At present the winds and waves alone drive her along. Let her believe in our sympathy and above all remember that there is no English word for Schadenfreude because there is no such feeling here.
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