The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1899. THE HATRED OF FRANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 273, 17 November 1899, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1899. THE HATRED OF FRANCE.

For the causa that lacks assistance, For the«*iong that needs.resistance For the.futuro in-the.distance, And tho good that "we can do.

The strong- feeling of hostility against Great Britain which appears to be animating the French people as a whole at this moment has, as %ye all know, been in process of development for some time. The foundation for this open'enmity that is displaying itself so prominently just now has always been present in the traditional distrust and jealousy with which the French have been inclined, even at the best of times, to regard their island neighbours. It never required much fuel to kindle Gallic wrath and indignation against Great Britain, and unfortunately, for certainly Eng'laml has no wish to quarrel with France, there has been within the last year a chain of circumstances calculated to rupture the relations, never too friendly, between the. two Powers. Our success in Africa generally, and especially our evident intention to oc* cupy the Nile Valley.and control the ftvnd of the Phadaohs. have»been causes' for constant irritation to the French. The Fashoda affair, which arose out of that feeling, made matters infinitely worse, and France withdrew from her futile attempt to defeat our plans in tha^t quarter <^f the world, full of the bitterness of humiliated, pride as well as failure. Great Britain's unofficial attitude towards the Dreyfus spandal was not a. whii. different from that of the othei1 European nations who saw in this business a terrible travesty of justice. But the French seem to have felt the adVest' "criticisms' of the British press much more than the comments or Germany,' Russia or Italy. The old rooted suspicion of England's real motive, the doubt of her honesty, led them to put a worse construction on her attitude than on that of their other neighbours.' Great as is the French hatred of Germany, it would appear that with very little provoea. tion they can be made to hate England more; and it is a fact that aftct Fashoda something of the nature of n rapprochement between Germany ami France seemed probable. It is indu, bitable that at the Peace Conference, in Asia Minor and elsewhere, the two nations seemed to be drawing closer together and farther away from England. The French press forgot its bitterness towards Germany, Mujo* Mareband declared that his countrymen should banish , Alsace and Lorraine from their minds and cherish Egypt, and M. Ernest Dudet summed up the position, "It is no longer Goi--many who is the.eneimy, but England." Xot more than three months

ago this view obtained currency in Europe, ami a writir in the Xational Keviev.-, in discussing* the matter, ex* deiivbured.toshow that the rapprochement was Mio most natural thing- in* the world, and that both the traditional policy of Germany and the private desire of the Emperor pointed in the direction oi! conciliating- the French. William was represented at> wishing to dot.ic'h France alike from England and Uussin, and as filmingfinally at a. great coalition to be used against England, and theu against RussiaIt is difficult to believe now, in view of the good understanding- between Germany and (.'real Britain which, there arc the best reasons for supposing exists at present, that the Kaisei was ever disposed to make an ally ox

b'runee. lie would eeu'tainly wem Co Imve been merely flirting- with liet-.

But Francs 1, Feverishly i?agt?v for a strong' I'riiMid of any .kind, took him in. all g'oot'l faith. One can understand then vvh'.ii a hlaw it must have Lcci» to her ihe other day when the Kaiser n« good as niuiounced ihat it suited him better to Iransicr liis attention tv |.-]nfi-krnd. It required nothing- more 1o !fan French animosity against Great Britain to the blazing point titan tn find that he!1 perfidious' neighbour had stolen.,: he v."]ovei1; No cloubt.it would be,more, logica) .if ,ghe. were to vent

her indignation on Germany, who has played her false, ..but' France,. like a woman robbed of her lover, burns for vengeance not so much on the faithless s'lvain aw.on her successful rivat

in his affections

From all om- can gather no step would be more popular in France today than war with Hiigiand, and were it possible for the Itepublic to engage in such a conflict to-morrow with such a fair hope oi.' success as the countenance amd probable aid of a strong ally would give, no considerations would deter her. Had she been certain of Germany on her side at this moment such an incident as that.of the Cordova might have had very serious results. As it is, France has no friend apparently who is willing to enter into such terms of close amity as would necessitate co-operation with her in her schemes. Indeed, the very fact of her headstrong character may

be one chief reason why she is so friendless. It hua been said of her over and over again that who constitutes the chief menace to the peace of Europe, and until some of the other Powers is-thirsting for war it is /improbable .that they will cultivate a too ■ close friendship with .so restless and j dangerous a neighbour. I There is not the least doubt that the j French hostility towards Great Britain j is the result of a wrong conception of | Great Britain's feeling- towards them, j The French are under the impression i that we entertain an undying hatred; against them, that we are constantly j on the look out for what may injure and hiuniliate them, and want nothing so much as the. destruction of j France. An anonymous-article, which appeared in the "Revue dcs ■ Deux Moiides" some nine months ago,, informed the. readers of that journal that England was thirsting for war with France. We were represented as dreading the completion of the German, Russian and French naval programmes, because we knew that an alliance of the - three Powers would under these circumstances mean our annihilation. Our object was to prevent that, and in pursuance of that object we had determined that France must be broken. The writer, having settled the very important poinit that England had made up her mind to wage war with France, then proceeded to show how she would set ai>ouft hexfell design, .and'wound up his article by an elaborate explanation of how she is to be met. This, he centemplates, is to be done by nothing' short of an invasion of Great Britain. The article is valuable chiefly as an indica-1 tion of how the French-misinterpreted us nearly a year ago, and of the bitterness of their feeling against us. There has been no diminution of that feeling of late; and we look to see still more virulent expressions of it than we have yet witnessed; for the very fact that the French feel themselves powerless to act will surely make them more prone to vent their anger in violent speech.