Established 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Tuesday, April 14, 1903. ANGLO-FRENCH RELATIONS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 86, 14 April 1903, Page 2

Established 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Tuesday, April 14, 1903. ANGLO-FRENCH RELATIONS.

According to the Paris correspondent of the London Times there is much more cordial feeling towards England and Englishmen noticeable in Paris than has been the case for some years past, and it is expected that the forthcoming visit of King Edward to President Loubet will be a great success. [ All this is good news, and we can quite believe that it is based upon an accurate comprehension of the position. It is undeniable that owing to a succession of misunderstandings there has been of late years much rabid AngloI phobia in Paris, and, indeed, although ito a lesser degree, throughout France. The French were very sore over the now halt forgotten Fashoda affair, but it is more than possible that the somewhat arrogantly worded despatches of Lord Salisbury—always antagonistic to France—had much to do with the creation of this animosity. The late Queen Victoria never concealed her anti-French and pro-German sentiments, and from the remarkable disclosures made in Mr Sidney Lee's frankly outspoken "Life of Her Majesty," it is now certain that she interfered on more than one occasion in diplomatic matters and betrayed a strong pro-German bias. This 13 no excuse to be made, however, for the foul attacks made upon the late Queen and upon English people generally by the gutter press of Paris ; but considering that a certain section of English people held, and still hold, that the South African war was perfectly unjustiQable, we can hardly blame a foreign nation for espousing the Boer cause. Nor should it be forgotten that tens of thousands of pounds were spent by Dr. Leyds in procuring the publication of these pro-Boer and antiBritish articles in the French papers. From the present tone of the Parisian press, especially anch high-class and really influential papers as Le Temps, Le Journal dos Debats, and others that could bo mentioned, it would appear that Frenchmen of all shades of, political opinion have been most favorably impressed with the policy of mercy, justice and liberality which has been and is being pursued in South Africa by the British since the declaration of peace. Frenchmen are beginning to recognise that no other Power would have behaved so generously towards a beaten but still bitter foe as the British have behaved, and consequently a much better feeling towards Great Britain is apparent. It is also being recognised by France that Great Britain is her best foreign customer, and that from motives of self-interest, if from none other, it pays France not to quarrel with her neighbor acrpss the Channel. These are a few of the factors which have contributed to a better- feeling as between country aud country. With regard to the King personally, he enjoyed, when he wa3 Prince of Wales, an astonishing personal popularity in Paris. He speaks French like a Frenchman; he was for many years a regular visitor to Paris, where he was a liberal patron of French art, French sport, and the French theatre, and in two successive French exhibitions he exhibited the liveliest possible peraonftl interest. Rightly or wrongly

the King ia credited in Paris with having used his personal influence to bring the Anglo-Boer war to a conclusion, and we notice be ia similarly credited with having expressed a de sire to see a very generous policy adopted in Ireland. To the Parisians the King, when Prince of Wales, was esteemed un hon gavcon, "a good fellow." As King Edward he appears to them in the character of a goodnatured, benevolent monarch, and as such ho will probably have, as we certainly hope he may, a very enthusiastic reception in the French capital. That his visit may inaugurate a new era for France and England, an era of mutual friendship and peace, is a consummation most devoutly to be wished, although the result may nob unnaturally be regarded with a rather sour face by the King's Imperial cousin at Berlin.. The Kaiser's game —the German game—has been to sow the seeds of enmity between England and the European Powers, but that little game is now perfectly well understood in London, and by no one, we suspect, more shrewdly perceived than by King Edward the Seventh.