The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-11-20
rhs un,ted states and France.

Of Kansas.
The United states and France.
In the recent talk about war with England,
the name of Napoleon has not been mentioned.
On former occasions, since theWestern alliance,
France and England have been coupled toge-
Their whenever the war question was mooted,
and the policy Of the one regarded as the po-
Icy Of the other. The omission Of France on
this last occasion may be chance, but it may
also be intentional
Certain it appears to be that of late France
has shown desire to conciliate this country.
When the Danish question was debated in
France, the pretensions of this country were
discussed temperately and in a tone of perfect
friendliness. Every indication of late has
pointed to the friendly feelings entertained for
the United States by the Emperor Of France.
This is as becomes sound policy and the best
interests Of Napoleon. 1t would be the height
of folly for France to allow England to dictate
to her policy on American questions. What
ever may be the effect of the community of
blood, race, language and religion which ex-
lists between the English and ourselves, there
can be no doubt but the United States and
Great Britain are, and must remain antagonis-
tic nations. From the very reason that their
pursuits are similar and their mode of
thought alike, they must be rivals, they must
interfere with each other. Where the one ex-
cells the other will excel likewise If England
builds up great trade, the United States will
do the like; if England's navy is powerful,
that of the United States cannot be insignif-
cant. Thus the points of contact and the op-
portunities for collision between the two are
multiplied by the very causes which philan-
thropists expect will secure lasting amity be-
tween the two nations.
Now, a sound French policy would turn this
circumstance to good account instead of al
lowing France to be made the instrument of
British antagonism to this country. A judi
cious French statesman would rather use the
United States as q counterpoise to British as
cendancy, especially on the sea, than submit
to receive the tone Of his own policy on Ame-
rican affairs from England. This was the sa-
gacious view of the elder Napoleon, and is to
be found asserted in many passages in his
writings. He invariably adhered to the doc
trine that the power of the United States
should be fostered, in order to coun-
terbalance that of his enemy across the
Channel. Nor was the view merely
theoretical. He sold Louisiana to the
United States, not alone because France
wanted the money, and did not want the land
but because he foresaw that each accession of
strength to the United States weakened in a
measure the political strength Of England.
Nor was he the inventor of this astute policy.
Choiseul pursued it with answering directness
for many years before the Revolution, and
during the war it was not abandoned. 1t
should be pursued STILL France stands as much
in need of counterpoise to the naval supre-
macy Of Great Britain now as she did in ITO
and in 1900. The Emperor has shown that he
is not blind to the fact. When the Eastern
war broke out, Napoleon proposed that the
Allied army should be led by French general,
and the combined feet placed under the com
nand of an Englishman. He foresaw that
what glory was to be won would fall to the
share of the land forces. Unhappily for his
project, the prospect was as clear to the eyes
of the British statesmen as to his own, and his
proposal was rejected. This shows how fully
alive the Emperor is to the necessity of coun-
terbalancing the power OF Great Britain.
If France, instead of coinciding with
England's opposition to the. extension Of the
United States, were to further that extension
by every means in its power--were to facil-
tate the annexation of Cuba, the Americaniza-
ton Of Nicaragua, and the acquisition by the
United States of portions Of Mexico-it is hard
to see how she could possibly suffer, aud quite
plain that she would assist in raising up an
adequate counterpoise to her natural rival.
That the need OF such countcrpoise will be
felt at some future perod-perhaps not far dis
tant--by the French Emperor, is too clear to
require demonstration Great Britain is help
ing France at present to reach her natural po-
siton as the arbiter of the Continent, just as
Russia is helping her against her will by her
losses and her checks; but both these allies
may soon cease to work for her. At any mo-
ment, new government in England might
shatter the French alliance, and without the
means Of controlling Great Britain, Napoleon
would find that oil his work would need to be
done anew The United States is the only
Power which can furnish Napoleon with those
means, and the stronger they become, and the
more closely they are drawn to France, the
less likely would it be that they would with
hold them.
1t is hardly necessary to insist on the far
greater analogy between the political institu
tions of France and our own, than that which
exists between those of Great Britain and those
of the United States. France is, and never can
be anything but democracy-under new
name and new conditions, it is true--but de-
mocracy still, the obvious and unbending foe
of all the old dynastic and feudal systems
The time does not appear to be yet ripe for the
adoption Of elective forms in France; and in