FRANCE, BRITAIN AND THE SYRIAN QUESTION.

A FRENCH DENIAL. FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. PARIS, Friday.

It is unthinkable that the close accord which bound France and England in the struggle against Germany should suffer any loosening now that the war is over and the problems of peace have to be faced. It was perhaps inevitable that the making of the Treaty should lead at times to differences of opinion. In recent months a misconception in France as to British intentions in Syria, has led to unfortunate polemics in the Press, which during the last few weeks have sometimes revolved around the person of the Emir Feisal. Syria has become a tender spot of French honour, and the public, ignorant to a large extent of the real facts of the case, is impressionable to suggestions of absence of fair play. The surest way of removing possible misunderstandings is mutual straightforward enlightenment. This method, it seems, has been adopted by competent British authorities through the medium of the French Press. The special correspondent of the Matin sends from London a statement of views which he has been empowered to publish as coming from “authoritative British quarters”. This deals with various sides of the international situation and is therefore as interesting to the British, as to the French public. The informant of the Matin’s correspondent began by declaring that competent quarters in England had been profoundly grieved by the bitter polemics to which the Syrian question had given rise. The Foreign Office, he said, had been ready at any moment to talk over this problem with the French Foreign Office. At no time had England thought of trying to get out of the agreement with France of 1916; the views which she has always held were those expressed in the arrangement reached in September as to the evacuation of the French zones by British troops. Continuing, the personage in question threw some interesting light on what has taken place since the Emir Feisal came to Paris a week or so ago. In spite of the British attitude with regard to France, the Emir Feisal, he said, had, in effect, been told in Paris that the English were trying to create difficulties for France in Syria, that unconsciously he was their instrument, and that he must do what France wished. In London, the Emir had been told by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary on many occasions: “We have engagements with France and Syria which we look upon as sacred. Go to Paris and become the friend and collaborator of the French.” What, the Matin’s informant asked, must have been the Emir’s astonishment when in Paris he was told to sever the bonds that bound him to England and to follow the policy of France and no other? Was not the danger of provoking at this moment an Arab Nationalist movement apparent? To allow the warmth of Franco-british relations to cool on account of territory of which Great Britain has no need would, the personage in question added, be pure folly.

FATE OF THE TREATY.

The intimate accord between the two countries, he continued, with emphasis, was more necessary than ever, now that the Treaty was going to be put into force. Giving precision to hints which have been let drop from time to time in Conference circles here, he then stated that it was on the advice of the Military Command that the date of the entry into force of the Treaty had been postponed, since it was felt that at this moment the Germans were showing disquieting signs of illwill, and that is was easier to exercise pressure upon her while the conditions of the armistice, and not those of the Treaty, regulated the situation. But peace, he said, would have to be proclaimed – at any rate, with Germany. It was impossible to wait for America, and therefore the three Great Powers which had ratified the Treaty – France, Italy and Great Britain – must be ready to depend upon themselves. It would be their task to see that Germany carried out the terms and to settle the fate of Turkey. Turning to this point, the Matin’s informant stated that in the Turkish question the slow procedure of the Allies had created real dangers; the Nationalist movement had become powerful and had to be reckoned with. There was nothing to show that by February or March “when we shall finally have come to an agreement,” the Allies would not be faced by a Turkey supported by a powerful army which would simply refuse to submit.

FRENCH OFFICIAL REPLY. PARIS, Friday (Later).

The message of the Matin’s special correspondent in London about Syria has met with a rejoinder in this evening’s papers in the form of a Note which has been communicated to them. As it puts the French side of the question regarding the conversations which the Emir Feisal has had in Paris with the representatives of the French Government, it is as well to give the statement in full. It is as follows: “A morning paper has published, on the question of the conversations which have taken place recently in Paris with the Emir Feisal, declarations which are presented as emanating from authorised British quarters, and which are entirely contrary to the truth. “No representative of the French Government has ever used to the Emir Feisal language which is in opposition to the bonds of close alliance existing between France and England and to the agreements which unite the two countries and form the basis of their relations in Syria and Mesopotamia. “It is completely false to say that the Emir has been advised to sever his relations with England, in order to pursue with France alone a policy contrary to British interests. “The basis of the conversations results from the very proposal of the British Government to relieve the British troops in Syria and Cilicia by French troops, a relief which constitutes a purely military measure, the final decision on the Syrian question being reserved. “Contrary to the assertion of the newspaper, it has been repeated to the Emir Feisal that the Entente between France and England was intangible, and that no attempt made to find support in one of the two countries against the other could be taken into consideration for a moment.”