The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1908. ENGLAND'S VISITORS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13607, 29 May 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1908. ENGLAND'S VISITORS.

.It • is not surprising that the! warm-hearted i generosity with which the- .French .• JPresi'clciit and liis escort. have been , received in . London, has .evoked the cordial recognition of - the ■ organs of public opinion ill France., Within the. last few years the Republic hius' had gbod reason to. be thunk- ; ful for the -existence of : the understanding with lier neighbour across the Channel, arid we ' darasiy that little notice will bfe taken, ; of the admonition of, " I/Eclaif." that the ■ animosity of -Germany should not' be excited by an undue, emphasis of i lio cordial relations so happily , established between the Governments. of Great lsi'itain and -France. If the Parisian .journal ' desired, to cstibuite the influence of the / Anglo-Ffencli entente upon the attitude of Germany towards its own country, it need only contrast Germany's behaviour in regard to Morocco no\V • with whit happened when the entente was % first contracted. There is no doubt that : in its . early stages. the Anglo-French agreement ■was .regarded as a. provocative political instrument by Germany which immediately adopted a desperate policy of driving a. wedge " : between Britain and France. In the full conviction that the agreement was directly' aimed at herself, Germany deliberately set about- intimidating' France into a renunciation of the compact. 'ln this design she was as- ' sisted up to a certain point" by the failure , of ,ths Russian arms in the war:- with Japan. Released - from anxiety as to the safety of her Russian. frontier, Germany was able to give her undivided attention to the task of breaking. doAvn the new friendship between Britain and JFrance, . and the - Moroccan question- • appeared to . 'afford the opportunity she iflesired. In terms of J,ho agreement, France?' had' been given practically a free hand in restoring > order and good government a .duty > which. ' rightly belongs to her among European nations in view of her predominant interests in the north-west of Africa. ' Germany, however,- insisted -upon her claim to be consulted in the matter, with the. -.result .that the Moroccan ques-tion-was re-opened- and submitted'to an international congress which met afc I Algeciras, and which endorsed the arrangement that had been arrived at between France and Great Britain in regard to the suppression of the.'aisorders iu Morocco. Ic is obvious ; to anyone who has followed -the history of the French attempts to discharge this duty during the last twelve, months that Germany's opportunities for playing a; harassing : iole have been infinitely more numerous than they were in .the preAlgeciras days when she did ' interfere. •"i«t with the • exception 'of announcing a few reservations in her sanction of , policy,, the has conspicuously refrained • ■.from turning to her , own account : . the ~ extraordinary difficulties -\vhich ' France has encountered in Morocco. This change of . attitude can, #plyi be ..explained on the j assumption thjit ! the ; Germans have satis- ; lied themselves both of me solidity of the Anglo-French entente, and of its innocuous intentions, as far. as ' they are . theniselyes concerned. The agreeineiit,. in fact, .is essentially.. an expression, iof the desire to maintain the peace- of Europe, and to preserve v the j existing liaj- ' aiice of power: , England lias tio ambitions ,in Luro_pe except the pacifiti one of helping \to maintain its ; equilibrium. France too, almost for the first tinie in modern liistoiy, lias thrown her full weight into the s.cale of peac.e. by the terrible experience of the FrancoPrussian war, her people have learned that war is not always gloriousor profitable, and have acquired a dislike of militarism which, , inconsistent* though it is. .with the history., of .France, -is-.nearly -universal. In the -sacrifice of her Foreign Minister, M. DelCasse, she showed lief | reluctance to encounter the risks of aggression almost toUhe point of timidity—a spirit which again .finds expression at this? juncture in the fear of "L'Eclair" Unit German susceptibilities may be provoked, by the present manifestations of goodwill exhibited in the entertainment of President Fallieres in London. l'lie entente, however, far from being an, incentive to war, has been the direct outcome of the desire of both countries tt» maintain and prolong the blessings tit pe^ce.