THE EVE OF WAR.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 827, 27 May 1910, Page 5

THE EVE OF WAR.

FRENCH ILLUSIONS BEFOBE THEIR DEFEAT. Writing under the above heading in tho "World." il. Andre Movil says:— Jho ny of. aljsm sent up bv ' Mr. Blatchford in thf "Dailv Mail" 'on the subject of Germany has attracted a good ileal of notice in Franco. We sincerely hope onr English friends will avail themselves of the lessons wo were tausrht in 1870, and listen to those who take upon themselves the thankless task of opening their eyes. It is hccaiiso we would neither hear nor see, beoanse we would listen to no warnings, it is for having believed in a peaceful France that France fell. May England remomber it! Strangely enough, Hcino was the first to warn Franco against the "Germany of linden trees and little blue flowers," and ho added, "Whatever happens '.n Germany, keep yourselves ready and armed." After Sndowaj German ambition rose, and it was decided to attack Franco. Everything was set in motion on tho other side of tho Rhino to make ready for this war with incomparable method and precision. At the very moment when they were preparing to assail us everything was done to reassure and calm French public opinion, which fell ivitji great simplicity into all the traps that were prepared for it. In France itself an energetic propaganda was carried on by German agents in favour of _ disarmament. Tho blessings of universal peace wore proclaimed by them; some of tho most eminent men of tho day were deceived by these dangerous theories. Emile do Girardin, the celebrated publicist, declared that a war was an imaginary danger; men like Thiers, Gambetta, Jules • Favre, 'who later became ardent patriots in timo of peril— tho first two were the soul of the national defence—also adopted pacific ideas. Instead of strengthening the French army, their sole thought was to diminish.'it. When Marshal Niel, the Minister of War, laid before Parliament a law imposing universal military service, he wiia neither understood nor approved. Jules Favro in his famous apostrophe cried, "You wish to turn France into a vast barracks." To which the Marshal answered in a phrase no Jess famous, "And you, you wish to turn Franco into a vast cemetery." Some timn after, Marshal Kiel died. How his prophetic words have since reechoed in their oars! In-England, by a strange coincidence,'-it is also two men who have long borne the actual responsibility' of high command—Lord Roberts and Admiral Charles Borosford —who have warned their fellow citizens, demanding also that England should make an immense military effort to face the German danger. To tho optimists, to the blind, they also could repeat with all the authority of their names tho terrible retort liiado by Marshal Niel to Favre. Is it known in England thnt one month before tho declaration of war the. question of disarmament was being gravely discussed in the French Parliament? On Juno 30, 1870, Garnicr mado a famous speech, in which ho said:—-"Foreign Powers have understood that ruin was inevitable, and that it was necessary, first of all, whatever neighbours were doing and whatever they intended to do, to disarm." After asserting that England, Austria, and Italy were ready to adopt tho same measure, he added:— "What is taking place in Germany at' the present moment? You know there is a general and ardent struggle, of which the object is to diminish - the army. Attempts arc being made to force M. de Bismarck to reduce the forces of the Confederation of tho North; disarmament is desired and everywhere demanded—in Bavaria, in Wurtcmbei'!;. in all the, States of the South of Germany, and in Prussia as well. '■■ Wo should imitate tlieir excmplo." Fifteen days later war, in consequence of the infamous manoeuvre contrived by Bismarck with the complicity of Moltke, became inevitable. This is all very. striking. History is still the greatest source of instruction there is. Of course, Prussia escrt-cd . itself with .marvellous cunning, and with a power of dissimulation which amounted to genius, never to alarm France. On every occasion Bismarck was carcfiil to ■ make a show of the most peaceful sentiments. "Never," he said to the French Ambassador at Berlin, "would vro make war on you unless you came and fired point blank at us in our own country." ■ During tho Exhibition of 1807 he came to Paris with his Soveroign, and made, every effort to reassure everybody and convince all of his amiable intentions; so that when a. few people, after the wars against Penmark and Austria, grew afraid of Prussian ambition, mid of the danger of a German Empire rising next to us, they wore mocked at. Was not Prussia peaceful and moving towards disarmaniont? And was not France strong; her army, about which Marshal Leboouf asserted that not a gaiter button'was missing, was it not invincible-? Tho guns of Sedan were soon to bring these illusions to the ground and show tho dreadful reality. Again, I say, what a lesson!