“THE ENTENTE CORDIALE”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19840, 14 May 1927, Page 7

“THE ENTENTE CORDIALE”

A SAFEGUARD OF EUROPE

A CHECK ON GERMANY. LONDON, April 20. ■ “France and England to-,day are the leaders of European civilisation; so long as the two countries stand side by side anil the Entente is cemented it is a guarantee against war,” declared Baroness de la Grange, who gave a lantern lecture on “The French, Our Good Allies,” to members of the British Legion at the Brixton Club. The baroness, whose war work on behalf of our soldiers earned her the titles of “The Mother of the British Army” awl “The, Apostle of the Entente Cordiale,” was supported by General Sir Edward Bethune (in the chair), Lady Edwand Spencer Churchill, the Mayor of Lambeth, and Mrs Bathurst. In her lecture the baroness said that to-day nobody in France, whatever his political opinion, wanted war; they desired nothing more than to be. left in peace. But they could not help feeling anxious when they heard the rattling of swords across the Rhine, while the number of French officers was being reduced and the length of training cut down to a few months. Germany, however, would never risk war while she saw England and France united. It was therefore necessary that on each side sacrifices should be made to realise this union. The photographs from which the slides were prepared were mostly taken by the baroness herself during the war —some apparently at personal risk.