Le Petit Matin
- The Briand–Stresemann meeting
- Arbitration at The Hague
- The situation in China remains very grave
Le Petit Matin corrects speculation about Briand and Stresemann: the French delegation says their meeting was a courtesy exchange, with substantive talks still to come. Its Lotus passage sets out rival French and Turkish positions over jurisdiction and anticipates a Hague procedure. From China, it reports evacuations and a confrontation over detained British vessels. The three selections distinguish official denial, a newspaper's national legal argument and urgent dispatches about foreign security.
Translation
The Briand–Stresemann meeting
GENEVA, September 12.—The French delegation issues the following statement:
Several newspapers have published accounts of Mr Briand’s conversation with Mr Stresemann yesterday that bear no relation to reality. The meeting was purely a courtesy call. Mr Briand was returning the visit Mr Stresemann had paid him the day before.
No question directly affecting either country was examined during the conversation. Before the Assembly ends, Mr Briand and Mr Stresemann will very probably discuss the best means of making effective cooperation between France and Germany possible in the spirit of the Locarno agreements. So far, however, those conversations have not taken place.
This denial concerns reports that Mr Stresemann had asked Mr Briand to reduce the occupation forces in the Rhineland and evacuate the Kehl bridgehead.
Arbitration at The Hague
CONSTANTINOPLE, September 12.—The Turkish Cabinet will probably today appoint the diplomatic delegate who, with the French diplomatic delegate, Mr Fromageot, is to draw up the report on the Lotus affair for submission to arbitration by the court at The Hague.
As is known, the Turks consider themselves entitled to try offences committed against their shipping by vessels calling at their ports. The French position, by contrast, is that in the case of accidents on the high seas, or even in foreign territorial waters, French maritime law and international practice call for the person responsible—that is, the ship’s captain—to be tried by a court of his own nationality. Our position accords with international law, particularly English law, which is very strict on this point.
The situation in China remains very grave
All British ships have been shelled by the Chinese.
PEKING, September 12.—It is reported from Hankow that two officers and eighteen men have left the city aboard a cargo ship to help the American gunboat Monocacy evacuate foreigners living beyond Ching-King.
Shanghai also reports that all British subjects and other foreigners staying on the upper Yangtze have abandoned their homes and fled to escape Chinese bandits.
Practically all British vessels in the northern waters of the Yangtze have been shelled by the Chinese. Negotiations to secure the release of the British ships captured by the Chinese at Wanhsien have failed. General Yang Sen threatens to open fire on the gunboat Cokehafer if it attempts to free the ships or deliver an ultimatum.
Context
Why a courtesy call raised hopes of a Franco-German agreement
The League Assembly brought governments together in Geneva, creating opportunities for talks outside its formal sessions. In this report, the issues around such a meeting were concrete: the size of the occupying forces in the Rhineland and the Kehl bridgehead. The expectation of cooperation under Locarno therefore touched the practical aftermath of war and occupation. This helps explain why a courtesy exchange between Briand and Stresemann attracted speculation about concessions.
How a collision became a dispute between two states
On 2 August 1926, the French Lotus and the Turkish Boz-Kourt collided on the high seas; the latter sank with the loss of eight Turkish sailors and passengers. Turkey prosecuted the French officer who had been on watch as well as the Turkish captain. The dispute concerned which state could bring criminal proceedings for the collision. This background explains why the newspaper discusses diplomatic delegates and a court at The Hague: responsibility for a maritime disaster had become a disagreement over the reach of national authority.
Warships and merchant shipping on the Yangtze
The fighting at Wanhsien involved British merchant vessels held by Yang Sen and an armed British attempt to free them. A contemporary American diplomatic telegram records Chinese fire on the rescue force and British shelling of the town. Commercial navigation and military force were thus closely entangled. The evacuation reports belong to this setting, in which foreign ships and residents faced danger and foreign gunboats themselves took part in the fighting.
Original
L’ENTRETIEN BRIAND-STRESEMANN
L’ENTRETIEN BRIAND-STRESEMANN
GENEVE, 12 septembre. — La délégation
française communique la note suivante :
Un certain nombre de journaux ont publié
sur l'entretien que M. Briand eut hier avec
M. Stresemann des informations qui ne cor
respondent en rien à la réalité. Cette entre
vue fut de pure courtoisie. M. Briand ren
dait à M. Stresemann la visite que celui-ci
lui avait faite la veille.
Aucun problème intéressant directement
l’un ou l’autre des deux pays ne fut examiné
au cours de cet entretien. MM. Briand et
Stresemann s’entretiendront très probable
ment avant la fin de l’assemblée des moyens
les plus propres à rendre possible entre la
France et l’Allemagne une collaboration ef
ficace dans l'esprit même des accords de Lo-
carno. Mais jusqu’à présent ces conversations
n’eurent pas lieu.
Ce démenti vise certaines informations sui
vant lesquelles M. Stresemann aurait deman
dé à M. Briand la réduction des effectifs d’oc-
cupation en Rhénanie et l’évacuation de la
tête de pont de Kehl.
L’arbitrage de la Haye
L’arbitrage de la Haye
CONSTANTINOPLE, 12 septembre. — Il
est probable que c'est aujourd'hui que le
Conseil des Ministres turc désignera le dé
légué diplomatique devant rédiger avec le
délégué diplomatique français, M. Froma-
geot, le rapport sur l’affaire du « Lotus »,
qui sera soumis à l’arbitrage de la cour de
justice de La Haye.
On sait que les Turcs considèrent qu’ils
sont autorisés à juger les délits commis au
détriment de leur marine par des bateaux
relâchant dans leurs ports. La thèse fran
çaise est au contraire qu’en ce qui concerne
les sinistres en mer libre ou même dans les
eaux territoriales étrangères, la loi maritime
française et les usages internationaux re
commandent de faire juger le responsable,
c’est-à-dire le
tribunal de sa
d’accord avec
tamment avec
stricte sur ce
capitaine du navire, par un
nationalité. Notre thèse est
les lois internationales, no-
la loi anglaise, qui est très
point.
La situation en Chine reste très grave
La situation en Chine
reste très grave
Tous les navires anglais
ont été bombardé par les chinois
PEKIN, 12 septembre.— On signale d'Han
kéou que deux officiers et dix-huit hommes
ont quitté la ville à bord d’un cargo, pour
aider la canonnière américaine « Monoca-
cy » à évacuer les étrangers résidant au-
delà de Ching-King.
On mande, du reste, de Shanghai que
tous les sujets britanniques ou étrangers sé
journant dans le haut Yang Tse Siang ont
abandonné leurs demeures et se sont en
fuis pour échapper aux brigands chinois.
Pratiquement, tous les navires britanni
ques se trouvant dans les eaux septentrio-
nales du Yang Tsé ont été bombardées par
les Chinois. Les négociations pour obtenir
l’élargissement des navires anglais capturés
par les Chinois à Wan Ksien ont échoué, le
général Yang Sen menaçant d’ouvrir le feu
sur la canonnière « Cokehafer », si elle
cherchait à délivrer les navires ou à en
voyer un ultimatum.