MR LLOYD GEORGE.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1923, Page 3

MR LLOYD GEORGE.

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THE VERSAILLES TREATY. AUSTRALIAN AM) N.Z. CARJ.L ASSOCIATION. Tlio following and all of Mr Llovd Jj. George’s articles, are copyright by United Press in America and all countries, copyright in Australasia by the Australian Pross, Copyright, in Britain by the Daily Clironicle. (Reproduction in full or part prohibited).

LONDON. June .‘lO. Mr Lloyd George "riles: “I recently had a special oppoi tunitv of appreciating the extent to which the Treaty of Versailles is not being read by those who have formed very definite opinions regarding its qualities. There is no justification for failure to

peruse this great international instrument. It is the most, important document of modern times. It reshaped, h r hotter or for worse, much of Etnop ’s geography. It has resurrected dead and Iniried nationalities. I( constitutes a deed, of manumission for tens of millions of Europeans, who has been bondsJ men of other races. It affects profoumlI lv the economics, finance, industrial and trade conditions of the world. It contains clauses upon which tuny depend the very existence of civilisation. Nevertheless, there are few men who can tell von what is in the Treaty. You f might have thought that, although men differed widely as to its merits, there should have been no difficulty in securing a measure of agreement ns to its actual contents. Thus it comes to pass that the real treaty has already disap-

peared. Several imaginary versions have emerged, and conflict, rages around * these. In France, there are two <r three school- of thought concerning it. There is a powerful section which haalways regarded it as treieounh!® pud, in which .M. ('lemcnce.iu g.\e away solid French rights, under pressure from myself and Mr Wilson. That is the Poiurare-ll.'irthoii-Pertinax school. That, is why they now, while they, in form, are engaged in enforcing the

treaty are carrying out a gigantic o| - eratinn for amending it without consulting the ether signatories. This comes out clearly in the Rhineland High Commissioner's report, disclosed by the newspaper ‘•Observer.” It is obvious, from this document, that the French Government were deliberately organising a plot to overthrow the treaty by setting up an independent Republic of the Rhine, under Fiance’s protection. It was u delilicrate attempt, to re-write the Treaty clauses in the terms of .Marshal Foeh's militarist demands el the Renee Conference. .Marshal Foeli, being the soul of honour, "aided ibis done openly and straightforwardly. What .Marshal Forh would have' done, like the gentleman he is, these conspirators would have I'ecomplished by deceit-, by deceiving their allies, and by being faithless to the '•rcaty to which their country had appended its signature. That is one school of thought which has brought Europe to its present slate cl pertur-

bation. ‘‘There is a second school, which roads into the Treaty power.- and provisions which it decs not contain, and never contemplated. These critics maintain that M. Briand and other French Ministers, except M. Poincare, betrayed their trust by failing to enforce these imaginary stipulations. They still honestly believe that M. Poincare was the first .Minister to make nav genuine attempt to enforce the French rights.

“There is a third school in the background, which knows exactly "hat the Treaty means, but dare n ;t say so in the present state tf French opinion. Perhaps its adherents think it hotter to hide their time. When that tune arrives, let ns hope that it will not he too late to save Europe trom a "oiler. “There are also in America two or three divergent trends of opinion, one of which regards the Treaty as an insidious attempt to trap America into In- European cockpit, so as to pluck tPpLs feathers, in order to line Fiench and English holsters. If anything could justify so insular an estimate, it would be the entirely selfish interpretation put oil the Treaty y one or two Allied Governments. Another American party, T understand, defends it as a great human instrument, second only in importance to the Declaration ol Independence. There may he a thi id party who think, on the "hole, that it is not a had settlement, but the o

are not as vocal a.- tho rest. ‘‘There are at least three schools in England. There are those who denounce the Treaty as a brutal outra.ee upon international justice, as a device for extoi tine incaleiilahle sums from impoverished Germany, for damages art:tieially worked up. There are at the other extreme tin- diehards, who think the Treaty lets Germany oIT much too lightly. They are incomplete agreement with the French Chauvinists. There is also a third party, which iegnrds the 'l’reaty as the host settlement lint, take all those variegated schools toeether. or separately, and you will not, find one in a thousand of their pupils who could give an intelligent, comprehensible summary of the main principles of the Treaty. Controversialists are satisfied to concentrate on articles of the treaty that are obnoxious or pleasing to them, ns the ease may 'he, ignoring the rest, however essential they may lie to a true judgment of the- whole. (Received this day at S a.m.) LONDON, dune .TO-

Hon. 1/loyd George continued For instance the covenant of tlie League of Nations was sometimes lilted l>ndil\ out of the text and delivered as a separate testament for the Inithlul, so that, a saint may not defile the hind with the polluted print, which exacts justice. They have now come to believe it. was never incorporated in the Treaty mid has nothing to do with that vile sanguinary instrument. The actual treaty has keen put out of bounds and you wander into its forbidden clauses on pain of being put into a guardroom. One or other of the intellectual faction's who patrol the highways and hyways of international polities take another large and important section completely ignored by critics, that which reconstructs Central

P',urope on the basis of nationality, v strategy and military convenience. A 'ibis section which liberates Poland. S-lroes the Danes of Schleswig and ' I'Temdimcn ot Alsaco-l.orraine. I'm . these the Treaty is the title deed of freedom.

'!..c:i there is the provision creating machinery to deal with Labour problems and raise the standard of life amongst industrial workers by means of a great international effort. No more benetieient or more frnittnl pro-

vision was over made in any treaty. Why are the sections which emancipate the oppressed races,, which seek to lift, the worker above destitution, degradation and which build a IneaUwater against raging passions miking for war, never placed to the credit of the treaty of Versailles. I venture to put in a humble, although I fear a belated plea, for the reading of the text, the whole text and nothing but the text of the Treaty of Versailles. It is the only way of arriving at a just conclusion on the merits of tho treaty, holding in its hands the destiny of Europe lor many generations.