BRITAIN’S BOND WITH FRANCE

Southland Times, Issue 23774, 23 March 1939, Page 5

BRITAIN’S BOND WITH FRANCE

PRESIDENT’S VISIT TO LONDON

SPEECHES AT STATE BANQUET

TREMENDOUS WELCOME FROM CROWDS

(United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received March 22, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 21.

The toast of Franco-British relations had never been proposed with deeper sincerity or on a more significant occasion, said the King in his speech of welcome at the State banquet tonight in honour of the French President (M. Albert Lebrun) and Mme Lebrun, who arrived in London this morning.

The King assured the President of the cordiality with which the British people greeted him as the head of a great friendly nation. He added:

Our two peoples, united in devotion to the rule of law, are conscious of an identity of interests which makes the identity of each the common concern of both. Our statesmen are thus enabled to take mutual counsel with perfect confidence and I feel sure that in co-operation they will continue to give great services to peace. They are to the utmost anxious to agree on a solution of the world’s many grave problems, but they will not be party to a solution violating the principles which rightly govern international relations. We recognize the difficulties ahead, but we can look to the future faithfully and hopefully, conscious of our strength and of the immortal qualities of our peoples, in mind and spirit, which are manifest above all in an hour of danger.

The King proposed the toast of “M. and Mme Lebrun and the greatest prosperity of the glorious French nation.” M. Lebrun, who replied in French,

said: Sire, no mark of sympathy could be more precious than such expressions of welcome. London’s acclamations today responded to the cheers of Paris last July. The harmony between the two capitals symbolizes the friendship of two empires whose territories adjoin nt many points and whose moral frontiers blend. This friendship is a natural, necessary condition of existence to our countries and mutual understanding is ceaselessly strengthening 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 and the attachment of liberty to thought, speech and writing, the same solicitude for nonintervention in the internal affairs of other States and the same love of peace. Our voters become alarmed whenever such principles are checked and demand stronger armaments to reaffirm security and to promote general peace. British and French statesmen by their combined efforts will help the world to surmount its present troubles. M. Lebrun toasted the King and Queen, the Royal Family and the prosperity of the United Kingdom, and conveyed France’s best wishes to the Empire. BRILLIANT GATHERING The King wore an Admiral’s uniform and the Queen wore robed-style white slipper satin with a wide lace skirt, a diamond tiara, necklace and bracelets. 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-Louise, the Earl of Athlone, Mr and Mrs Neville Chamberlain, members of the Cabinet, the Leader of the Opposition (Major C. R. Attlee), ambassadors and diplomats. A crowd of thousands cheered M. and Mme Lebrun when they arrived at Dover this morning. They left for London by special train after being greeted by the Duke of Gloucester, and the King and Queen were at Victoria station to meet them.

Cheering thousands lined the streets to Buckingham Palace. The King wore a field-marshal’s uniform and the Queen wore a suit of the new mayflower shade of lilac and a hat surmounted by an ostrich feather. The King, M. Lebrun, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent rode in the first carriage and the Queen, Mme Lebrun, the Duchess of Gloucester and the Duchess of Kent were in the second carriage in the procession to Buckingham Palace. They were escorted by Life Guards and travelled by way of Whitehall and the Mall. M. Lebrun constantly acknowledged the thunderous cheers of the crowds. When the visitors arrived at the palace the Princesses were presented to them, and Princess Elizabeth, speaking in French, thanked the children of

France for sending dolls to her sister and herself.

In response to appeals from the crowd the King and Queen, the Princesses and M. and Mme Lebrun appeared on the balcony of the palace for three minutes and a-half.

A British Official Wireless message says that recent events added dramatic intensity to the warmth of the welcome given to M. and Mme Lebrun, and the spontaneous enthusiasm of the crowds was evident throughout the day. When M. and Mme Lebrun drove in the afternoon to Marlborough House to visit Queen Mary the people surged into the roadway and the visitors’ car was brought to a standstill when men and women pressed around, cheering wildly and waving miniature British and French flags. The distinguished visitors also visited the Institut Francais, South Kensington, and heard the building opened by the Princess Royal, who is co-patron of the institute with M. Lebrun.

The French Foreign Minister (M. Georges Bonnet) accompanied M. Lebrun and will have opportunities of personal discussions on the. international situation with Lord Halifax.

RECEPTION PLEASES FRANCE “ENTENTE MORE ALIVE THAN IN 1914” (Received March 23, 1.10 a.m.) PARIS, March 22. The entire Press is very delighted with London’s reception to M. and Mme Lebrun, which is regarded as clearest evidence that the entente cordiale is more alive than it was in 1914. LIBERTY AS BASIS OF EMPIRE UNCERTAINTY OF WORLD SITUATION (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 22. “Liberty is the very basis of the British Commonwealth and cannot be allowed to perish from the earth,” said the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in New Zealand, Sir Harry Batterbee, speaking to members of the Royal Empire Society and Victoria League in Wellington today. “Now as never before,” he added, “the principles in which we believe, the principles of liberty and democracy, of fair play and justice, of settling all questions not by force and violence but by reason and negotiation, are being tested.

“The present international situation is, I know, in all our hearts. Today cables which have appeared in the Press have shown the anxiety which is being felt by those in the Mother Country. I trust with all my heart that peaceful means may be found to check the spirit of aggression and of the challenge to liberty which has manifested itself during the.past few days. “The best service we can give ‘s to pray that the efforts of all those who are trying to preserve the principles of liberty and democracy in the world may succeed.”