IDENTICAL IDEALS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 95, 22 March 1939, Page 10

IDENTICAL IDEALS

BRITAIN AND FRANCE. FRIENDSHIP STRESSED. (United Press Association—B.v Electric Telegraph—Copy right.) Received March 22, 1.15 p.m. LONDON, March 21. At the banquet given to the French President and Madame Lebrun at Buckingham Palace, the King wore an Admiral’s uniform and the Queen was arrayed in robed-style white slipper satin, with a wide lace skirt, a diamond tiara, necklace and bracelets. President and Madame Lebrun sat at the right and left of His Majesty. Men in brilliant uniforms and women in costly gowns and jewels occupied the remainder of the horseshoe table. The guests included Queen Mary, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the Princess Royal, Princess Alice. Princess Helene-Victoria, Princess Marie-Louisc, the Earl of Athlone. Mr and Mrs Neville Chamberlain, members of Cabinet, Mr C. R. Attlee (Labour Leader), and Ambassadors and diplomats. M. Lebrun, speaking in French, said “Sire. No mark of sympathy could be more precious than such expressions of welcome. London’s acclamations to-day have responded to Paris's cheers last July. The harmony between the two capitals symbolises the friendship of the two Empires whose territories adjoin at many points and whose moral frontiers blend.” “This friendship is a natural and necessary condition of the existence of our countries; mutual understanding ceaselessly strengthens it. Our peoples draw from this ideal growing encouragement to serve it. Their principles embrace the same conceptions of honour, justice, human dignity, respect for treaties and the pledged word, attachment to liberty of thought and speech and writing; the same solicitude for nonintervention m the internal affairs of other States; and the same love of peace. Our voters become alarmed whenever such principles arc checked, and demand stronger armaments in order to reaffirm security and promote general peace. “British and French statesmen, in combining their efforts, will help the world to surmount its present troubles.” M. I-icbrun toasted Their Majesties, the Royal Family, and the prosperity of the United Kingdom, and conveyed Franco’s best wishes to the Empire. An earlier message appears on page 9.