Honour to England—A Frenchman’s Tribute

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 261, 4 August 1928, Page 17

Honour to England—A Frenchman’s Tribute

The following letter of appreciation of Great Britain, written by a Frenchman (Professor Jean La Cecilia); appeared in the London “Times” recently. It is worth reprinting in full:

F W 1 HE ‘ Nobel . Prize; is an excellent institution, but I should welcome I ' the foundation of a prize to be awarded to the nation that since I the beginning of the nineteenth century stands as an example to ■ JL • ' the world by. her moral'qualities, generosity,' practical initiative, and devotion to the; interests of mankind. Although a good, patriotic Frenchman, if such a prize were instituted, I-sincerely think it-should be bestowed on England. To begin with, you delivered Europe and ourselves from the tyranny of Napoleon, whose reylarn has been called by a.'French thinker “the military orgy.” You succeeded in that great-undertaking, although you. had a very small Army and scanty resources at your disposal. But you knew how to make, a good, use of them, and nothing is more’admirabid than the Peninsular War. Italy and Belgium are indebted to England for strong support ; nay. you partly helped them to come into being. In 1873 Lord Granville stopped Bismarck from crushing France. Before 1914 the Entente Cordiale. simply meant that you were to support us by means of your powerful Fleet. Unfortunately we were not as ready as we should have been: 1870. nevertheless, might have been a useful preliminary warning of German intentions. We ought, ever since that .fateful date, to have acted as a strong, united people, forgetful of previous discblds, concentrating our attention ou our home defence' and sinking our party differences. Unfortunately it was not so. French heroism had to face an unprecedented ordeal. Well; you did not grumble at our lack of preparation and foresight'; you readily accepted a burden of increased responsibilities as an Ally—ami then you realised that wonderful achievement, namely, raising nearly six million men, training, arming, equipping them in the very coarse of war. It was a miracle of organisation thus to manufacture defensive weapons in the midst of a terrific struggle, when savagely attacked on all sides. England knows how to rise to any emergency. Now for British generosity. A considerable number of our political refugees, monarchs or private citizens. Charles X., Louis Philippe, Napoleon 111/and many others, found in England the comfort and assistance that were denied them in their own' country. England, be it said to her credit, does not banish her citizens. Although the majority of your people belong to the Protestant creed, the Roman Catholic congregations and Sisters of Charity ejected from Fra nee since 1900-03 have been kindly received m England. Sticli a fact speaks highly in favour of the moral standard of a nation.

After the Great War, although sorely tried yourselves and confronted with so many economic difficulties, such as 2,000,000 unemployed, you came to the help of France, adopting one hundred towns and villages of our devastated area. Mr. Bonar Law suggested that the Inter-Allied debts should be cancelled, but-M. Poincare declined the generous offer. Actuated by your Christian spirit, and also common sense, you declined to try to attempt to stamp Germany out of existence; you thought you must be merciful to those who are fallen, however cruel the enemy may have been to you and others in the past. The benefactress of mankind, England works with earnest zeal and more than any other nation for the success of the League of Nations. You endeavour to put 4Jic Bible and the Gospel into practice. This remark of mine may cause some of our sceptical boulcvardiers to sneer, but those who sneer at peace and charity are not worth noticing. ■ In reference to your home policy in the nineteenth century, youi’ statesmen were men of unimpeachable honesty; they worked for the public good and succeeded in satisfying the claims of your different social classes; they reconciled conflicting interests by their fairness and sense of public duty and justice. What was the result? Your history is an organic whole, a sort of harmonious development, the course of which is not marred or disturbed by sanguinary' and useless , revolutions, such as we in I lance have known too many. That unexampled record of a nation is due to many causes, chiefly to the ideal fostered by public spirit, tradition, and education. That ideal is summed up in those few words, “Be a gentleman”—that is to say, avoid doing what you should blush to do, love your country but be fair to other nations, be idealistic but also practical if you want your ideal to' be achieved and not to remain a vague Utopic conception of the mind. Byron unjustly said: “England, with all thy faults, I love thee still.” Ile should have said: ; “England, with all my faults, I love thee still." Other nations are frequently inclined to treat England unfairly; often your intentions are misinterpreted through ignorance and bad faith. England often reminds me of the picture of the just man in Plato’s Republic. Of course, I know that, according to the Greek philosopher, in the midst of his torments, the-'just man is supposed to be happier than those who persecute him. But such happiness is only negative. England is entitled to a better recognition for her services. It is high time that the other nations should pay to England the tribute she deserves.