FRIENDSHIP WITH FRANCE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21987, 11 January 1937, Page 5

FRIENDSHIP WITH FRANCE

MR CHURCHILL PROPOSES 'A TOAST GERMANY /WELCOMED AS EQUAL GUATJDIAN OF EUROPE . . . LONDON,' December 12. : A strong plea to Germany to join with Britain and France as equal guardians of the reconciliation of Europe was made by Mr Winston Churchill when speaking'at the annual banquet at Claridge's of the United Associations of Great Britain and France, at which the Earl of Derby presided. He assured the German people that Britain asked nothing for herself in collective security that she did not extend to their country. , Mr Churchill was proposing the toast of "France." He began with an amusing reference to the Hundred Years' War which, he said, would no doubt be going on now if only the civilians behind the front had not brought it to an end by a display of their customary shortcomings. "But those days are done," he said. "All the quarrels of the past are buried beneath the monuments which proclaim the sufferings, the sacrifices, and the comradeship of the French and British peoples in the worst and the latest of all human conflicts. "I said 'the latest'—can we not make it the last?'' he continued. "Surely that dear hope which glittered above

the trench-lines of France and Flan-1 ders ought, hot to die while' the generation of those \vho fought still lives. . The Strongest Tie ' "It is that hope of preserving peace, not by were: lip .service, hut by sober, just, .and patient conduct, by vigilant, prudent preparation, and ; upon occasion by. Wise and valiant, action which constitutes the strongest "tie between the British Empire and the French Republic..;, . ,'■',....-■'-:.,":, V ~,;■•.. y.. . ,:;_., "Let me presume in the name; of botht those not inconsiderable' organisations to say that'' nothing would give the: French' and British democracies more satisfaction than to welcome the German people as"a third and equal guardian of the reconciliation and prosperity :of all Europe," said Mr Churchill. •. ■ • • ' .:, ; . . , There were other ties which joined Britain and France. They were the two great democratic • parliamentary nations of-Europe. Across the Atlantic was another great democracy. 1 which had inherited ; British parliamentary freedom and French revolutionary equality. ; ' \. i 4.u "We must not ask too much of the United States." said - Mr Churchill. We must try to do the work ourselves. But we may find them with us at the end of the road. * ■'' * "Not only at the present moment is the >■■ world menaced ;■• by old-time nationalistic and predatory wars., bui a new set of perils has sprung upon us from those who, from -• the opposite ends of the political scale, challenge the rights of the individual. These are perils which affront .the dignity and stature; of mankind. ■•..;•••• . + . "It is not for us to interfere m the domestic affairs of any foreign country ; but never. '■ will you fasten upon the British and French democracies the stifling strait-jackets of communism or nazism," he added. ■'-- ' ' ■ '■

Strength in Unity ■■' "United we stand, divided we falL While we-stand together we shall be very "dangerous to molest and very hard to destroy, Those who embody the tradition and revive the force of Nelson's fleets and Napoleon's armies will hot in combination be found a helpless prey. " . ' A . "But if to these martial virtues they add the sovereign conceptions of justice and freedom springing eternal in the 1 human breast, v then indeed they will be unconquerable. I "Then' they will become the rallyingpoint of all states, great and small, who seek to prevent aggression by combined defensive strength. Then, indeed, it will be not only the salvation of Britain and of France which will be won, but the chance to lead all Europe, nay, the whole world, out of senseless panic and confusion into the long, broad reign of law and peace." M. Camille Chautemps, Frnech Minister without portfolio, speaking of the "great social ideal" of democracy which Britain and France had in common, said that the two countries had suffered too bitterly from wars of religion in the past to endure to-day ideological crusades which would increase the risk of war. "Our two democracies intend to devote themselves entirely to peace," he said. "If we arm it is not to threaten anyone else, but for our own defence. Of this the world is well aware, and whereas the armaments of some nations frighten Europe, ours hearten them." '. -