The evening times., 1898-08-30
FRANCE CANNOT Forget
Memories Of Alsace-LOrraine
Balks Universal Peace.
CAUTION THE WATCHwORD
Ono Point of Consolation Il That
the Cxar of Russia FOrektallcd the
kniser of Germnny in the Pr0po-
siti0n That Has Startled the
World.

Paris. Aug 3O-The following. express
s,ve of the feeling In France concerning
the universal peace proposition of the
Gar Nicholas of Russia, appears in the
European edition of The Herald:
There Is but one voice in the press here
about the Cars proposition. THAI Is. that
France cannot consider 1t while her East
ern frontier remains as ISL left It. Al
sace-Lorraine must be restored first In
fact, the Matin really sums up the gen.
erai opinion in Its headline to Count Mu-
raviefrs note, which is "A Beautiful
Dream
OF course. all the papers applaud the
idea As an idea It Is one of those Utopian
schemes which the French love 50 dear
ly. There is some little surprise express
ed that such a radical proposition should
have come from autocratic Russia. as
many seem to forget that It was the Mus
covite Empire that first mooted the idea
of armed neutrality. that initiated asita-
tfon for reform in maritime lands and
that gave the signal for the congress at
Brussels that fixed and made mi!der laws
of war. STILL even the most enthusiastic
among the French journals find them
selves confronted with the Alsace-Lor-
raine difficulty when they begin to ex-
anime the question from its practicable
side.
The Temps says that the moment is
we'll chosen for the issue of such propo-
sition. Still ii continues. ''it must nev-
er be lost to view that IL France owes
it to herself to give her aid TO an attempt
of this kind there is another portion or
her moral patrimony that she cannot
abandon without imperiling her very ex-
istence. Right and justice. the right OF
the people and that of human beings. who
cannot be transmitted and put up at auc-
tion like cattle, and eternal justice. re-
ceiyed in 1871 wound that has not yet
healed.
$50 long as the scandal of this violation
of right may not be effaced. the descend
ants of the men of 1883 ought not to lend
their aid to the application of the prin-
cipIes voiced by Count Muravieff until
they have assured themselves. for the
very existence of France. of the repara-
ton of the past and of guarantee OF
the future.
The Dehats examines the difficulty IN
the way of comprising any practical soiu-
tion of the question. and advises the
French government to be cautious ana
prudent in its reply to the note OF the
Russian Emperor
The Debats points out that the note
docs NOT propose entire disarmament. but
merely diminution. Thus reduced. this
nrnnosi,ion becomes simpler and more
resiizable. Still at the bottom OF the
Debats' article Alsace-Lorraine Is FOUND
The Soleil is inclined to look upon the
nropositiop as an insult. III the frehch
government has been Informed OF tne
note beforehand. it says II ought 10
have obtained assurances that our iesi'i.
mate hopes regarding the East wonfd NOT
H., FORGOTTEN. Unless this has been done
NO ara in the presence of veritable treas
on of the republic toward France.
The Figaro has an article by NJ de var
frey who signs himself wv mist. on 'he
suh,ect. Whist makes very pracucai
observation. He says:
..,rbe mowers. invited by Frances ally
TO study the means of realizing universal
peace, are divided into two classes III
th. first must be included those wnom
the fortune of war has favored during
the last thirty years: in the second those
who have suffered cruel territorial mutiia-
tions. Adhesion to the international con-
ference is easy for the first, as 1t would
mean solidifying forever the conquests of
the mast but for the second II would
create more delicate and complicated
problems.
The Gaulois argues that universal peace
is a dream that has never been realized
and in which il would be well not to put
too much faith.
The Eclair SAYS the twentieth century
is going to open with the most magnifi-
cent problem that has ever been proposed
for the mediation of the people.
From their extracts it will be seen
that the Eastern frontier is the
keynote of the situation. 1t may
be added that several papers take
malicious pleasure in pointing out
that the German Emperor has been fore
stalled, as it is said he had an idea of
announcing the same proposition when he
arrived in Jerusalem. The idea that the
Gar has stolen the Emperor's thunder
tickles the people here immensely and al
most reconciles them to the necessity of
welcoming the project, which they are
bound to do, as it emanates from our
ally