AN INTELLECTUAL ALLIANCE. N- EXT week Mr. Walter Runciman and
Mr. Boner Law, accompanied by Mr. Hughes, are to go to Paris to discuss econernie problems with representatives of the French Government. There will also be representatives of the Italian, Russian, and Japanese Governments. The main idea of the Conference is to devise measures for the common economic advantage of the Allied Powers, and especially for the prevention of the dangers due to German methods of commercial penetration. With these objects it is safe to say that there is universal sympathy in all the Allied countries concerned. In this country, at any rate, no political shibboleths will be allowed to stand in the way of well- considered measures for furthering a permanent friendship in the commercial sphere between ourselves and our Allies. What practical measures may be possible is another question. It will certainly be found that none of the countries concerned is willing to face the proposition of an absolute boycott of German goods. It is impossible to rule out of the world a great area of country, rich in natural products and inhabited by a highly intelligent and extraordinarily in- dustrious people. The utmost we can do is to aim at substituting inter-Allied trade wherever possible for trade between the Allies and the Central Powers. Further, we shall be wise to take measures, even at considerable economic loss to ourselves, to prevent the political dangers which arise from German commercial methods.
Doubtless a good deal can be done in these directions, and it is to be hoped that the coming Conference will evolve schemes for definite action which can be put into operation without delay. At the same time, we ought all of us to recognize that if we are to maintain a close and a perpetual friendship with France we must not look to trade alone. The idea that human relationships are based entirely, or even mainly, upon material considerations is one of the greatest blunders that statesmen can make. Even the Germans, whose gross materialism has outraged the moral sense of the world, are not fighting at this moment for material ends only. Indeed, it may be said that the main stimulus of their present action is a sentimental desire to dominate the world by German influences. Similar considerations apply perhaps even more forcibly to the conduct of individuals. Men will lay down their lives for an idea, but seldom for an extra profit.
It is therefore primarily upon the mental or intellectual side that we ought to work if we wish to make perpetual our present close friendship with ths French nation. Much has happily been done already by the Press on both sides of the Channel, but a good deal more can yet be done. One practical step is to bring about a closer intercourse between the educational forces in England and France respectively. It may be suggested that it would be an excellent plan for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to invite a group of representative French Professors to visit our two ancient Universities during the present summer. In the same way, if it could be arranged for a similar deputation of teachers in French lycees to visit our English Public Schools, the foundations would be laid for more regular friendly inter- course in future years. We have reason for believing that the French Government would be extremely pleased if visits of this character could be arranged during the present summer, but it is hardly necessary to point out that the invitation must come from this side.
Apart from the permanent advantages which would result from such visits, as marking the beginning of a regular ex- change of ideas between teachers in the two countries, there would be an immensely important temporary advantage in the opportunities that the visits would afford to Frenchmen to see how the war is affecting England. This consideration is specially important in the case of Oxford and Cambridge. As most of our readers know, both Universities have been bereft of more than three-quarters of their students. They, at any rate, are bearing their full share of the cost of this European War. In a lesser degree, but still very markedly, our Public Schools are paying a part of the price. The importance of allowing Frenchmen to see these aspects of English life cannot easily be exaggerated. There is some reason to fear that Frenchmen as a hody hardly yet understand the extent to which the war has affected both England and Scotland. It has affected France so much that some French- men almost imagine that it has affected us not at alL Unquestionably we have suffered less than the French. By the very nature of things it must be so. The sea and the British Navy defend us from the invasion which France has suffered, and the trivial damage which German Zeppelins and German naval raiders have done to a few of our towns is as tothing compared to the damage done to France by an invasion of some of her most valuable industrial and agri- cultural districts. At the same time, the French see the tremendous efforts their own people are making, not only on the field of battle but also in munition works, and some of them fail to observe that we also are making gigantic efforts on our part. In these circumstances it is quite natural that now and again a little feeling of jealousy should arise, and unfortunately this feeling has been intensified by the action of a portion of our own Press. It so happens that the English newspapers which are the best known on the Continent have made a persistent practice ever since the war began of depre- ciating the efforts of Great Britain. Here we understand the attitude and the argument well enough. It is our habit to depreciate ourselves, especially when we want to abuse our Government. But the French have not that habit. They believe that the obligation of patriotism is inconsistent with the practice of fouling one's own nest, and therefore when they see prominent English newspapers hinting that Great Britain is not doing her proper share they think that the statement must be true.
The situation is further complicated by the facts of com- merce. The shortage of merchant shipping, owing to the requirements of the Army, and in a lesser degree to the activities of German submarines, has sent up freights to an enormous figure, and as France has become an importing country to a larger extent than before her people feel the burden very keenly. As it further happens that the greater part of the merchant tonnage of the world is in British hands, some Frenchmen are tempted to believe that Great Britain is making a profit out of French needs. A similar difficulty arises with the question of the rate of exchange. France, whose policy in time of peace it was to restrict imports as far as possible by heavy Customs duties, has since the war began swept away a very large part of her Customs tariff. She was compelled to do this because of the impossibility of producing for herself under war conditions the commodities essential to the life of her people and to the provision of war material. Simultaneously the occupation of her manufacturing districts by the Germans has deprived her of a large part of her export industries, so that on the one hand she is buying more, and on the other hand she is selling less. Therefore of necessity exchange has turned against her. Instead of being able to buy a sovereign for a little over twenty-five francs, a French- man now has to pay nearer to twenty-nine. Here again the fact that many French purchases must be made in England, or through England, creates a feeling among the less reflective Frenchmen that their Ally is exploiting their necessities.
Among minor causes of possible misunderstanding is the comparison between the output of munitions in France and Great Britain. It is alleged that the French output is double our own, and in one form that statement may temporarily be true ; but it has to be realized that the output of French munition factories is dependent upon the supply of British steel, and if France is to obtain credit for the number of shells she finishes, we ought also to obtain credit for the amount Of steel with which we supply her. Steel is but shell in the making. Nothing would be gained for the common cause if we ceased to supply France with steel in order to devote mote energy to the later stages of the manufacture of shells. The French Army would then have to pay us for the completed shell instead of for the steel, and the French exchange would fall still further. This is not the occasion to consider what steps can be taken to improve the French rate of exchange, or to deal with the shipping problem, but in passing it may be mentioned that while all Frenchmen naturally take note of the large sums of money which they have to pay for com- modities which must be obtained from England or Scotland, some of them forget to notice the enormous sums of money which the British Government are paying to French railways, French factories, and French merchants for the maintenance and transport of a gigantic army primarily employed in the defence of the soil of France. The mere weekly expenditum of the pocket-money of something over a million " Tommies " must have a very appreciable effect upon French commerce. Our main point is that all these details, which might give rise to ill-feeling if misunderstood on this side or on the other, are all susceptible of explanation, but that the explanation cannot reach the ears which ought to hear it unless there is an organized machinery for making the facts known. Some- thing is already being done by the Press Bureaux on both sides of the Channel ; but more is necessary, and we believe that very valuable results could be secured by the suggested visit of French Professors and teachers to English Universities and Public Schools. Beyond this, as we have urged above, such a visit would help to lay the foundations for that intel- lectual alliance between England and France which is the only sound basis for permanent friendship.
Finally, to avoid even the faintest shadow of any mis- understanding on a matter so important, let us repeat that we do not for a moment suggest that the French Govern- ment, or the majority of the French people, make any com- plaint as to our action, or have ever attributed selfishness to us or any desire to exploit the misfortunes of France to our own advantage. Nothing could be better than the tone and spirit of the French authorities, either civil or military. Such misapprehensions as exist are solely to be found in the less well instructed sections of the French people. And even here the tone is quite friendly and courteous, even if a little perplexed.
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