NEW TREATIES FOR OLD

France wants an alliance, a real "blood and iron" alliance. No mere protestation of affection will satisfy her. Some new composition of international forces must inevitably take place in Europe. But crystallization has been delayed by general chaos and instability. Now, however, that the economic debris is being cleared away, France makes the first move. For she is determined to be the center of the new alignment of forces, whatever they be.

With the France-Belgian treaty as a base, M. Hymans, Belgian Foreign Minister, suggests incorporation of England, making the alliance a three-cornered one. Behind the figure of M. Hymans stands the energizing force of France, eager, even anxious, to perpetuate the old Entente. Always jealous of foreign influence over Belgium. England has viewed the Franco-Belgian alliance with suspicion. Haunting memories of Louis XIV persist like Marley's ghost. Since the new head of the Foreign Office, Austen Chamberlain, is said to favor such a Triple Entente, the proposal is opportune, and naturally emanates from Belgium.

But political alliances have the uncomfortable habit of being formed against some power or combination of powers whose activities are feared. As for Belgium and France, it is easy to see that Germany, holding forth the possibility of a war of revenge, is the driving force behind their efforts. To England, however, Germany is no longer a menace. Germany's navy destroyed, her colonies confiscated, her commerce shattered, England is only too glad to forget the past. If the proposed Entente is to succeed, it seems that France and Belgium must offer some object of combination more acceptable to English taste than Germany. Apparently there is no other at hand. But perhaps there is "a nigger in the woodpile".