FRENCH POLITICS

Southland Times, Issue 19459, 26 January 1925, Page 5

FRENCH POLITICS

M. BRiAND’S POSITION. SUPPORT FOR THE GOVERNMENT. THE STATE AND THE HOLY SEE. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright). (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) PARIS, January 23. Before a packed Chamber, eager to hear his first speech from the tribune since his fall, M. Briand killed any doubts as to his attitude towards the Government. In expressing his entire approval of the Cabinet’s foreign policy, except as regards the Vatican, M. Briand declared that it was to France’s interest to be officially represented at the Vatican, as well as at Moscow and at Geneva. Those were the seats of three great international movements. M. Briand urged M. Herriot to subordinate party considerations to the national interests, although it meant a breach of pledges given to the Left. M. Herriot had a trying ordeal through his leg, which still troubles him, compelling him to rest his knee on a footstool during his speech. He spoke for two and a-half hours in reply to M. Briand, amidst continual interruptions from the Right. M. Herriot vigorously defended his decision to abolish the French Embassy at the Vatican. Referring to the pro-German policy of the Holy See during war-time, he declared that the Papacy, if anything, was lees well disposed towards France since the restoration of the Embassy at the Vatican than before. He emphasised that the separation of the Church from the State was a fundamental principle of the French Constitution. M. Aristide Briand was Prime Minister of France from January, 1921, to January, 1922, when he was replaced by M. Poincare. M. Briand was also Prime Minister from 1915 to 1917. THE GOVERNMENT’S POLICY. REPUBLICANISM AND THE CHURCH. LONDON, January 24. (Received January 25, 7.5 p.m.) The Paris correspondent of the Morning Post states that M. Herriot, in the course of a two and a-half hours’ speech, with unwonted warmth and vigour reaffirmed the Government’s conviction that the connection between the Republican Government and the Church must be severed. France’s renewal during war-time of relations with the Vatican served no useful purpose. Continuing, M. Herriot said: “We should have bowed before the Papacy if it had raised the demand for Justice above the clamour of battle, as Gregory the Great did against the violation of the Synagogues, but Benedict XV displayed a 'curious type of neutrality, even in the face of atrocities. If, for political reasons, the Vatican was then silent, I am entitled to discuss the question from a political viewpoint.”