FRANCE AND THE WAR

Hokitika Guardian, 9 October 1929, Page 2

FRANCE AND THE WAR

TRACING THE ORIGINS. Through the courtesy., of the Consulfor France,inAuckland(M. Paul Serrp) the Auckland Star ?’ has received 'a' copy of Volume I. of .the - “ Diplomatiques Francaise ” issued 1 by the commission appointed by •./ French Government to prepare aijd publish .a histpiy, *>f. the . origins of Great War of lpl4. -The. work is on^a most comprehensive.; scale nnd the com-, mission has gone fight hack to,, IS/l io the Treaty df 'Frankfort ip o t r(}ef |}i fl | S*. just appreciation df. the fact, might be obtained. The present first of Series Three, ;abd .relates to. the period November'4,' lsilj' to February; 7, 1912. , date is -'that pKt|ie treaty ; .between ...France and. Germany oyer the; delicate Morocco.'question iapd the cession of' territories;.in . Gongojo.s The last date is that,df the .departure of Lord Haldane from London I'or. Berlin, where he weiit*to : 'study'.the 1 of. an arrangement• .between‘England, and Germany with a,: ; view to; the liinitation of naval arn}amenls. j • ; The material for. the volume is. dmwn almost wholly from dispatches- that passed between the Frerich Government and its European .embassies." .Giandjhgthrough the pages one is' struck;bythh r shrewd andraccurate estimate of |he trend • of affairs shown jay the Fre|ph ambassadors in the;important 'capitals, who were all . men of liigh; attainipchtii. Reading the dißpatches’jf rojn • Lchdnn one quickly realUajr hoiy. mqch w ih f Wt clearly the French - representative the meaning °f .things;than the representative' of Germany,/’yftoy .’it vllUtjid. rememhefed,; '.thoughahW ■;&s}•, was quite astray in,his of -ihb probable . action "of - England and 'jibe Dominions in the event:off a coflflidt. ion the Continent. ,;

ABLE COMMISSIONS.' ■1 . The commission -consists ; of;/M> {S, 1 Charlety, Rectegr v : .de bfe' Paris, as pi^^t ambasß»3bj^> ; l''l^|' 4 vih§m|Bi:B-^:^»^li t stitute • -de in the volume .Was ' thdvC'aim storm;: people vyho'js'^ype^^pllp,, knew; 'intuitiy%^|M going to happen :. bej'prg9ngij!?j|p^ one knew , people did putting, it dow.n .ah', HIP Looking bach one ' J inevitable war yyas,’ - and‘ rpjjjb' remembers how no one had . the courage 'to,4 tie, the out loud v'.iihali^war 1 • wilji must come. .Europe was atihderbbn, and it only required a spark Mo.sefM alight. Reading these vivid; d|spafches which, coming from north south, eaijt and west kept the- foreign Office informed of every move, op,e; rf|a;' Uses that iihthe spark ‘ had nd)ticohie from the “atfendat; de (the assassination, of the Austrian Arcp*duke) it might have come from’ a J do!?- ' en other incidents during th&t period of tejssidn.’ 4 r ' > V'4 's"■

TROUBLOUS TIMES/ There was- the' dispute ; , between France and Germany byef Morocbo, in which Spain was also cbhcefiibdlj; 'th'fere was the trouble between Italy' and Turkey over Tripoli, with the corollary disputes between Italy and, France concerning the seizure of the steamers Carthage, Manouba and Tavignano alleged to be carrying contraband ; the Russian policy! in the Near East.'the. unsettled state of the -Balkans; -the trouble in Crete, the difficulties that arose but of the Turish loan's and th'e Bagdad railway, and outside Europe there was the Chinese revolution.

It was an amazingly busy time .for the diplomats as one can read in the 659 pages which Volume 'I contains. One thing stands out very clearly, that the last people in Europe who wanted trouble were the French. Germany’s" strong hand can be traced all over 1 the story of that troublous time.

HALDANE CLEARED

These .dispatches are full of “ secret and confidential’* maticer, which would never have seen the light if it had not been (imperative to clear up the reason for the crime ctf August, 1914. It makes one realise that to be ambassador one would, require to, have a dash, of Sherlock Holmes in his make-up. People who misjudged that'much maligned man, Lord Haldane,, will rejdise how he must have laughed , up his sleeve when his furious countrymen so roundly abused, him for courting Germany. One remembers the joy with which his accusers hurled in his face the fact that he had said “Germany was his spiritual home,’’ and the criticism that was caused by his visit to Berlin in 1912. Most unexpectedly one finds the explanation in this matter-of-fac’p publication. The French Ambassador in London (the brilliant) M. Paul Cambon) writes to 1 his chief in Paris: “Lord Haldane has departed fpr Berlin accompanied by his brother, Professor Haldane, for a visit to the Berlin University, but that is merely a. pretext. Sir Edward Gray -told me yesterday that he had trusted his colleague and intimate friend to see Bethmann Hollweg, and even if possible Emperor Wil liam, to ‘fell the ground,’ and find opt if the recent overture of, the German Government for a limitation of armaments was at all seriously' meant. At the same time Haldane would have something to . say about the Bagdad railway. _‘lt is . not a question of opening negotiations,’ said Sir Edward’s princial secretary, ‘but we desire, to

find but the intentipps of 'the German Government, and above all'to find out about its naval programme.' In every case we will keep.; you fully informed. The 'British Ambassador at Berlin was called to London for a brief visit and was informed of the real object of Haldane’s visit, which was to he kept absolutely secret,*

PLOT THAT FAILED

l't is also interesting to read as late as February; 1912, M. Paul Cambon’s description of the efforts of. certain groups in England to bring about ' an agreement between Britain,- and Germany. The pro-German propaganda was very hotly pushed just at that time. The , names of very influential people figured in. the “Anglo-German Friendship Society,” and it even em listed the sympathy .of the socialists Who in England as elsewhere were sympathetic to the country of Karl Marx, The';; dispatch tells of the attempts to influence the Press, not through the proprietors, “but through the editors who are more responsive to their arguments of various kinds, many of which are of German origin.” But Cambon was too shrewd to be taken in by the noise and money of the AngloGerman crowd, and rightly foresaw that the agitation would come to nothing. For the student of history the volume is full of details showing how inev itably things were moving towards the terrible tragedy that began in 1914 and lasted for four years. Although it is still so near, it all seems so many years ago, that one can read those details almost as calmly as though it were ancient history, so fairly and impartially. has the French story been told.