FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11128, 21 January 1899, Page 3

FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

PBITISH RESERVE SQUADBON ■• DISPERSED. Beceived Jannaiy.Bo, lo.so a.m. „ Pabis, January 19. ■ " The larga Britisli reserve squadron! I mobilised during the acute -stage t>f the 3Tashoda incident has 'been tfispersed by xvrder of the Government, and the crews iOf the vessels (composing it have been granted a month's leave. This step has created a favorabls impression in Paris, where it is. interprated as an indication of a desire on the part of Britain for an amicable unden, . standing with the K«.iy&blic. ' The general situation in France is best •described by an interview 's-nich I have' had with the ex-Prime Minister, M. Rene Goblet, -who is just about to retire from political life (writes the Paris cotrespond<ent of the Sydney HeraU). lam an old friend of this pejperjr but thoroughly honest statesman and asked him point blank— Why? His answer and general' remarks were certainly instructive. "I • am not," Tie exclaimed, "stute'rfflig from i ' v Sassitnde. My health is ftdod enough in sny TOth year to 'allow we to hope for the political length o$ days of my great models in Europe, and especially Cttad■stone. I oonsider that Ministers- ought to be patriarchal. No, my real feeling is •one <w disgust. I am a victim of universal suffrage,, and yet I remain one of , . its supporters. The fact is that it was, rushed upon Franoe in '1848 without any, preparation. Then it floundered into the ' Empireof Napoleon 111,, which -was overturned in an afternoon. The Republic is ; at present in a dreadful mess. The Minis-; ifayeteered through international difficulties with a dignity which even Germany ! recognised. The Schnaebele and other pregnant foreign incidents were eased, and I kept up ttie best Splatiofcs with' European Powers,, although worried by . incipient Boulangism. I kept the clericals severely in order, although I never forgot that France is a . profoundly Catholio country. I did not fall like a love-siok woman into the arms of Eussia, as some I of my sucoasßors have done. My aim would have been to conquer the Triplice'— and please remember that Bismarck was all-powerful then— by a thoroughly cordial understanding between France, England, andßussia. And now I go as an exile from aßepublic which I have served stanclily, and which Is undoubtedly , on a far from solid ' fonwiation."-' Of course, just at ptsßent .it would be impossible to talk feo any ptiblic. man in Paris without shooting refund to the everlasting Dreyfus affair. M. Goblet being ottfc of office was a little less reticent than what may be described as the Nicodeinus politicians, who are waiting to see which - way the Picquart cat jumps. This was his response: "I do not hositate to assert, as a former PronUreur of the Eepublic and Steeper of the " Seals, that the Dreyfus scandal sprang from bad government and insolent militarism. It was initially tainted, clandestinely pushed on, and fearfully muddled. Above all, I cannot forgive the worldwide hubbub caused by this blunder of the century, coming after the unsavory |,i. Panama and other scandals. And here Vj let me remark that I consider that foreigners pretending to be friendly to us ought not to have dragged France in the mire. Still, on the English side it might be taken as a propaganda of reprisals, for the French Press has certainly out- . stepped all bounds in its display -of Anglophobia. And I cheerfully acknowledge that the British Press is us nearly as possible the ideal of truth, impartiality, andintegrity." As I took leave of M. Goblet ■ Ifelt that his withdrawal from the arena would bnly be temporary. He 'declares that the Senate is too humdrum for his militant temperament. Probably he may be offered an Embassy.