52 A REVISION OF THE TREATY chap.

securing assent to the Paris Decisions, and Duisburg ,Euhrort, and Diisseldorf were occupied accordingly.In spite of the objections of her Allies France con-tinued this occupation when, by the acceptance ofthe second Ultimatum of London , the originaloccasion for it had disappeared, on the ground thatso long as the Upper Silesian question was unsettled,it was in the opinion of Marshal Foch just as well toretain this hold. 1 In April 1921 the French Govern-ment announced their intention of occupying theEuhr, though they were prevented from carryingthis out by the pressure of the other Allies. In May1921 the Second Ultimatum of London was success-fully enforced by a threat to occupy the Ruhr Valley. Thus, within the space of little more than a yearthe invasion of Germany, beyond the Rhine, wasthreatened five times and actually carried out twice.

We are supposed to be at peace with Germany, and the invasion of a country in time of peace is anirregular act, even when the invaded country is notin a position to resist. We are also bound by ouradhesion to the League of Nations to avoid suchaction. It is, however, the contention of France, andapparently, from time to time, that of the BritishGovernment also, that these acts are in some waypermissible under the Treaty of Versailles, whenever

1 At the Paris Conference of August 1921 Lord Curzon tried unavailinglyto persuade France to abandon this illegal occupation. The so-called" Economic Sanctions " were raised on October 1, 1921. The Occupationstill continues, though both the above pretexts have now disappeared.