Grave anxiety has been occasioned in France by the failure
of the American Senate to ratify the Peace Treaty or the Franco- American Treaty. The French remember that, as Mr. Bonar Law told the House on Friday week, the Franco-British Treaty guaranteeing France against German aggression does not come into force until the Franco-American Treaty to a similar effect is ratified. The several Treaties are so tightly interwoven that, if the Senate were to reject the Peace Treaty and the special promise of help to France, the French would be left with no written guarantees except a Covenant deprived of the support of its chief author. It is obvious to a logical people like the French that this would be a perilous situation, and that France would have to reconsider her policy of national defence and to maintain her armaments, as indeed Italy is said to be doing. We feel sure that the French Press takes too gloomy a view of the Senate's inaction, which is very far from being tantamount to the rejection of the Treaty. But we are equally sure that the full consequences, for Europe and for America, of such a step are not clearly apprehended at Washington.
