If he is out for reparations his policy will inevitably fail in comparison with that he so rashly threw over. But if he is out for trouble it has been a great success, and in future it will be an even greater triumph for his statesmanship. A permanent garrison in the Ruhr has possibilities of mischief which it does not require any special vision to foresee.

Enduring peace can only rest on a foundation of justice. It is just that Germany should exert herself to the limit of her strength to repair the damage wrought by her armies. She was the aggressor; she was the invader. Her aggression inflicted serious hurt on her neighbours. By the established precepts of every civilised law in the world she ought to pay up. A peace which did not recognise that obligation would be unjust and provoke a righteous resentment in the breasts of the wronged. That sentiment would have been inimical to the good understanding that is one of the essentials of peace. Moreover, it is not conducive to good behaviour amongst nations that they should be allowed to ravage and destroy without paying the penalty of their misdeeds. That is why I do not agree with those who would wipe out the claim for reparations entirely. On the other hand, civilised jurisprudence has also advanced to the stage where it forbids the creditor to attach his debtor's freedom and independence as security for the payment of the debt. The law that permitted a debtor to be sold into bondage for an unliquidated liability has now been voted barbarous by the more humane usage and wont of the day. That is why I protest against using armed force to occupy and control a country whilst the scourge of starvation is being used to whip its workmen into toiling for payment of a foreign debt. As Mr. Gladstone once said: "Justice means justice to all." The main difficulty of a just settlement of reparations comes from the growing disposition to take sides blindly in this dispute. One party sees nothing but the outrage of 1914-18, the costly vindication of right, and the just claim of the victims to compensation for their losses. The other party sees nothing but the harsh fury with which the victors in the cause press their verdict to execution. Peace can only be restored by a full recognition of the equities as well as the humanities—of the humanities as well as the equities. I have sought in these pages to deal fairly with both.

D. Lloyd George.

September 13th, 1923.

CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I: THE GREAT PERIL[25]
Post-war Europe Revisited—Impoverishment
and Taxation—Race Hatreds Unchanged—How
War Is Begun—Vengeance Is
the Lord's—The Churches and the
League of Nations.
II: EUROPE STILL ARMING[51]
Marshal Foch and the Cause of the Great
War—Navies for Defence—Strength of
Europe's Armies—Europe More Militant
Than Ever.
III: THE ERUPTION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN[59]
Dropping Hot Cinders in the Balkans—Seeing
War in Pictures—Force the Arbiter
of Right and Wrong—Limiting the
Activities of the League—Bottling up
the Adriatic.
IV: IS THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS A SUCCESS?[68]
Triumphs of the League—All Great
Powers Should Be in It—America and
the League—Treaty and the League—Ending
the Arbitrament of the Sword.
V: THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND ITS CRITICS[81]
Treaty Criticised But Not Read—America
and the Treaty—Labour and the Treaty—Treaty
and League of Nations Interwoven.
VI: 1922[95]
War Dance Still in the World—Ultimatum
Instead of Conference—Cannes
and Genoa—Enemies at Council Table—Talk
of an American Loan.
VII: WHAT IS FRANCE AFTER?[104]
Clemenceau and the Rhine—Annexation
and Revenge—Anglo-American Guarantee
to France—Poincaré and the Rhine.
VIII: WHAT IS FRANCE AFTER?[116]
Versailles Treaty and the Rhine Frontier—Foch
and the Political Frontier—American
and British Pressure—Sham
Republic of the Rhine.
IX: WHAT IS FRANCE AFTER?[130]
Bonar Law and Poincaré—Productive
Sanctions and Reparations—Moratorium
for Germany Fails—Britain Stands Aside.
X: REPARATIONS[136]
Reparations and the Treaty—Capacity to
Pay—Reparations Commission Changed—America's
Vacant Chair—Worthless "C"
Bonds for Britain.
XI: MR. HUGHES'S NEW HAVEN SPEECH[147]
Secretary Hughes's New Haven Speech,
a Timid Deliverance—Impartial Tribunal
of Experts—Offer of American Help.
XII: THE FRENCH INVASION OF THE RUHR[156]
What Germany Has Paid—"In Technical
Default"—Wrong Way to Make Germany
Pay—Ruining German Industry—France's
Secret Aim.
XIII: LOST OPPORTUNITIES[167]
French Failure in the Ruhr—Wild Oats
of Reparation—The Ruhr and the League
of Nations—The Bankers' Conference.
XIV: FRENCH SCHEMES[175]
Italy and the Ruhr—Iron Ore of Lorraine
and German Coal Deposits—Loucheur
and Hugo Stinnes—German
Workmen in Bondage.
XV: THE QUICKSAND[183]
Loucheur and the Ruhr—Lack of Leader
in France—Disregard of Allies—Aggression
and Security—Failure of Bonar Law.
XVI: THE FIRST GERMAN OFFER[191]
Does France Seek a Settlement?—Demand
for Submission in the Ruhr—German
Offer Inadequate—Keeping America
Out—Treaty Idea Not Followed.
XVII: THE SECOND GERMAN NOTE[202]
German Offer and the Loan to Germany—Can
Berlin Assent to Invasion?—Reintroducing
America—Weakening Debtors
Ability to Pay.
XVIII: THE NAPOLEONIC DREAM[213]
European Mind Unhinged—What Every
Frenchman Knows—Pickwick Follows
Snodgrass—Germany May Collapse—Undoing
the Work of Bismarck.
XIX: IS IT PEACE?[225]
Stresemann Man of Energy—Chaos Ahead
for Germany—British Unemployment—France
a Self-contained Country—Balfour's
Note a Generous Offer.
XX: WHAT NEXT?[234]
Pen-and-ink Jousting—Tory "Diehards"
and France—Poincaré and the Dove of
Peace—What "Pay and Stay" Means—France's
Minimum and Britain's Surrender.
XXI: THE BRITISH DEBT TO AMERICA[244]
Borrowing for Allies—British Taxpayer's
Burden—Creditor Nation Now Debtor—Britain
Must Pay Her Way—Her Currency
Not Discredited—Inter-Allied Debts.
XXII: INTER-ALLIED DEBTS[252]
Discovery of the Middle West—Legend
of British Wealth—1,400,000 Unemployed—The
Balfour Note—Can Britain Afford
To Be More Generous Than America?
XXIII: THE BRITISH ELECTIONS[264]
Minority Rule and Moral Authority—National
Liberals at the Polls—Danger
of England's Electoral System—Labour's
Prospects—Warring Liberal Factions.
XXIV: HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS[282]
Growth of Britain's Electorate—Women
Suffrage—New Voters Without a Party—Absentees
from the Polls—Freaks of
the Group System.
XXV: POLITICAL REALITIES[291]
Post-war Legislation—The Irish Cauldron—Labour
and Capital—Agriculture and
Industry—Socialism Courting Fascism.
XXVI: SHOULD WE MAKE PEACE WITH RUSSIA?[301]
Pre-revolutionary Russia—Corruption and
Betrayal—"Shaking Hands with Murder"—If
Turkey, Why Not Russia?—Need for
Russia's Exports.
XXVII: PALESTINE AND THE JEWS[312]
Stupidity of Anti-Semitism—Blighting Rule
of the Turk—The Jew as a Cultivator—Race
Equality in Palestine—Zionist Declaration.
XXVIII: THE TREATY OF LAUSANNE[322]
Turkish Fezzes in the Air—Blow of Prestige
of the West—Massacres and Misgovernment—Fertile
Country a Wilderness—Had
Wilson Succeeded—Lausanne a
Milestone, not a Terminus.
XXIX: THE SIGNING OF THE IRISH TREATY[339]
Gladstone's Home-rule Fight—Scene in
No. 10 Downing Street—Griffith and Collins—To
Sign or Not to Sign—Childers,
Sullen and Disappointed—Treaty a Pillar
of Hope for Future.
XXX: PROHIBITION[350]
The Lesson from Russia—Britain Not
Convinced—Experiments Difficult—Public
Uneducated—Outlook Not Encouraging.
XXXI: UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF "OFFICIAL" INFORMATION[361]
Julius Cæsar Began It—Self Defence and
Secret Information—The Versailles Decision—General
Rules and Special Cases.

WHERE ARE WE GOING?